OHS kicks off AVID program

For the first time in the history of Owatonna High School, there is a

specific program in place to prepare its students for what lies beyond high school doors.
After three years of vigor- ous research and multiple

Last summer, OHS took a group of 10 teachers to a Summer Institute, which consisted of a three- day training in Philadelphia, where they learned about how to implement the WICOR strategies and AVID program and brought back the knowledge and tools to other teachers.
The program consists of an elective course for a specific group of students, but is also implemented throughout the whole building in one way or another.
The program is designed to target a group of students and have them take the elective course every year they are in high school. This year, OHS decided to implement the program using 27 sophomores; next year a ninth-grade section and a 10th-grade section will be added and the current sophomores will continue on to be the junior sec- tion and the following year, the senior section.
“They are our students who are just kind of in the middle. They are good kids and they are doing pretty well in their classes, but they could use a step up,” said AVID Coordinator Erin Halverson. “Sometimes, they are the kids that test high, but maybe their grades aren’t real high, first generation immigrant, students whose parents didn’t go to college.”
“Academically, they have the potential to really stretch themselves further than being in the middle and they have the potential to be in the upper third, but they just haven’t quite figured out how to get there,” Randall said. “AVID is basically giving them the resources and skills that they need to re- ally access the rigor of high school and eventually the rigor of college.”
The course is designed so that Mondays,

Wednesdays and Fridays are instruction days and Tuesdays and Thursdays are tutorials. In tutori-als, students split into small groups and discuss a point of confusion for them from other classes. The students in their group help guide them to find the answers.
Students are constantly working on WICOR strategies inside and outside of the elective course and stay organized through the use of a binder, planner and Cornell notes.
“It is a very clearly defined process to taking notes and coming back and interacting with them,” Halverson said. “It gives them a way to interact with those notes and have repetition so they are learning the material better.”
Students outside of the elective course are not left out. Throughout the year, there are a number of staff development opportunities for teachers to learn more about AVID and there is also an AVID resource library, where staff can check out books specific to their subjects.
“The strategies are intentional. You are not throwing darts all over the place. It is very specific to a key area that can help student growth, whether it be the students in the elective course or building- wide,” Randall said. “Within the course, it is very specific and there is a specific scope and sequence to it. Outside of it, it is not as specific, but it is or- ganized within those WICOR strategies to provide a little bit of direction.”
Some of the advantages of the program are the vast amount of resources available for staff and the ability to collaborate and speak the same language with other teachers.
“It is giving a common language to all of our

teachers in the building. Now we are all looking at it the same way, we are all talking about it the same way and students are hearing the same things from all their teachers,” Halverson said.
Randall added, “It has been really good to col- laborate and have that consistency (with staff.) We meet every month and that constant follow-up and collaboration has been just phenomenal.”
Randall and Halverson agree that students and staff have responded well to the program.
“They are really coming together. You really see the family atmosphere,” Halverson said. “In the be- ginning, it is getting that buy-in and trust-building. We are at that point now where we are seeing alot of aha moments and they are seeing the impact on their grades as they are improving and they are

looking at taking more of the rigorous courses next year.”
Randall added, “When they start, they don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and the benefits, and the benefits take time. So as they start to develop the strategies, the hope is that they start to see some success, but they might not see it im- mediately but over time.”
Halverson added that the staff has been very interested in the program and they are constantly asking questions to learn more about it.
In the future, OHS might add multiple elective groups per grade if the need is there, but for now, there will be one elective per grade with no more than 28 students.