AVID Portfolio

After discovering AVID and what it offers, I realized that I wanted to be a part of the program the rest of high school. My fear that neither of my parents went to college nor did I have a true notion about it, were contributing catalysts that pushed me to enroll in AVID.

I became part of the AVID program in eighth grade, I had no clue what the program was about; most of the time we worked on subjects that we needed help on, learned how to be organized, and practiced public speaking by having small socratic seminars. In a way, the tactics that my eighth grade AVID teacher taught me helped me become successful for my college preparation it helped improve my grades in the classes that I was struggling in and pushed me to take challenging courses. In my sophomore, junior, and senior year of high school, I spent my time reviewing different schools around the state and out-of-the state browsing through the financial aid assistance, majors and minors, location, and diversity to choose from. Junior year was the best

The most important experience that has positively impacted my academic performance is being in AVID for the past 5 years. AVID is an acronym that stands for advancement via individual determination, a college preparatory class that helps prepare you for college, get organized, and set goals. I have been enrolled in AVID since 8th grade learning how to become a better student, improving study skills and the way I communicate with the students and teachers around me.

Being a part of AVID means I am able to challenge myself and take AP classes while having the support of my peers. Considering following the path of either becoming a math teacher or accountant, I am taking AP math classes now to gain a better understanding of what I am expected to know and how I feel on the subject. I’ve always being fond of math, AVID has helped realized that I am considering this route.

William G. Tierney, Zoë B. Corwin, Julia E. Colyar, (2005), Preparing for colleges, pp 200-264

Determining college readiness is an essential part in determining who will qualify as a good candidate for admission into a college or a university. The last thing that colleges want is for students to qualify for admission and drop out, this affects drop out rate and graduation rate. According Robin Chait and Andrea Venezia (2009),

The district created a new position, Graduation Coach, at semester to work with seniors who were in danger of not graduating. She was responsible for being a liaison between the student and their teachers. She kept up with grades, and met with the students daily to keep them on track to graduation. The Alternative Learning Environment provides a an extra support system for students who are not successful in the regular classroom environment. They receive all instruction, from district teachers, in one location. The number of students allowed to participate in the program is limited, to ensure the students receive the attention they require.

Ever since middle school, I have been taking advanced classes. Taking these advanced classes classify me, as well as the others in these classes, as being a capable minded student looking towards college. This puts us in a subculture at our school in which we all share common values of our education. Taking these advanced classes also shows to others that we are dedicated students to our education, and have benefited us when applying to college or for jobs. These benefits also extend out to receiving scholarships, as the advanced students are more likely to receive certain scholarships that other students may not be available

The Early College Experience Program (ECE) is one of the many opportunities offered at RNTHS. Our students are given the operrtunity to thrive in the rigorous test of college life between their Junior and Senior year. A few of the students who have excepted this challenge, of taking college classes, are Samantha Alderson and Payton Wells. Both were enrolled in English Composition I at the beginning of the year and then were given the option to take Honors English Composition II. I sat down with both students to ask them about how the program has not only been beneficial for their high school career, but how it is also preparing them for their future by teaching them about professionalism. Payton claims that, "The program gives you jump start

There are number of projects that I could include in my professional portfolio, but I have narrowed it down to three artifacts that I think would stand out. The first artifact that I choose is DD report, which I conducted in intro to motor behaviors class, the second piece is a fact sheet epidemiology and the third piece is a virtual child project from developmental psychology. The reason why I am choosing each of these is because they all are from different departments and areas of study. One project is from my major class, one is from my minor and the last one is from an elective class.

At Ardrey Kell High School, students are often confused about whether or not to take an AP class. One might see your GPAs and feel that it is not high enough to get into that dream college. One might just want earn college credits early so one can save money when college rolls around. One might also take these classes simply to learn more about subjects about which he or she are passionate. No matter the reason for taking these classes, they require a momentous commitment to work hard and an extreme amount of effort in order to pass. Students can cope with these requirements by managing time efficiently and becoming organized, which will help them achieve a higher assignment completion rate and score higher on tests and quizzes.

The academic middle, as defined by AVID, are students whose GPA is 2.0-3.5 and are proficient on Standard Tests for ELA and Math. In addition to serving the academic middle, the AVID program also aims to close the achievement gap among predominantly minority and low-income students without a family history of college attendance (Galindo, Green, Kupczynski, & Mundy, 2013). AVID’s college readiness design is to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges and universities through the AVID support system, which includes the AVID elective. At the secondary or high school level, AVID students are also enrolled in rigorous courses such as Advanced Placement® (AP).

Offer early college high school or dual or concurrent enrollment programs or courses designed to help ELs achieve success in postsecondary

“Advancement via individual determination.” When I first heard those words, I was a freshman sitting in Mr. Fulton’s Avid class. I did not know much about Avid, but I was told that it would look good on my college application. I was also given the false idea that the class would be easy. That idea quickly ceased to exist as I was given that wonderful piece of paper called a tutorial request form. At first I struggled with them and I was terrified of the thirty second speeches, but eventually I learned. If that wasn’t enough, next came the binder checks and the avalanche of Cornell notes. Every single week we had a binder check and two days that were dedicated to tutorials. For the longest time I hated them, I felt that they were just a waste of my time. Reflecting back upon my

On the other hand, the report each student receives has a clear overviewand transparent evaluation of the necessary abilities for a college, as it is exemplified by the four sections and the diagram for each skill listed in the report. These sections are ‘Key Cognitive Strategies’, ‘Learning Skills’, ‘Key Content Knowledge’ and ‘Transition Knowledge’, in which I received ‘ready’, ‘mostly ready’, ‘ready’ and ‘ready’, respectively. As a result, I can assume that my readiness for college matches the criteria, despite of ‘Learning skills’ section, which I consider to be improving through the entire life.