What does it take to succeed in high school and beyond? From good study and organizational skills to a deeper focus on working through problems and teamwork, Fountain Hills High School teacher Willie Dudley said that the campus’ new AVID class is all about preparing students to excel.

Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, is all about empowering students to create their own educational and professional goals, then honing the skills necessary to tackle them.

The class was proposed by high school principal Cain Jagodzinski during the spring and approved unanimously by the FHUSD Governing Board. Jagodzinski said it’s a program he’s worked with at two previous districts and he’s seen firsthand how successful it can be.

This year, Jagodzinski was excited to get the program up and running on the high school campus. It’s primarily focused on the freshman class currently but, by next year, the plan is to have enough teachers trained in AVID to see it expand.

Jagodzinski said that he knew going in that the first two years of initiating the program would be costly, but the school found support from Dwight Johnson and the Verne C. Johnson Family Foundation.

“He basically showed up with a donation to fund the whole program,” Jagodzinski said. “The program is very affordable once it’s up and running, so the Foundation paid for those first two years upfront.”

Jagodzinski said that donation will help provide educational guidance for many high school students.

“Those 30 kids who are in there now are going to have an opportunity to get the extra help they need and the extra push they need to get into college,” Jagodzinski said. “This gives us an opportunity to work with the kids in an organized, proven method.”

Eight high school teachers spent part of their summer undergoing AVID training. Dudley is the first teacher and, according to Jagodzinski, the plan is to add a new teacher each year until there’s an AVID teacher for each grade level.

The classroom

According to Dudley, the first AVID class is already showing results. Dudley described it as a college-readiness system.

“It gives them the skills that are required but still lacking,” Dudley said. “We hear over and over again from universities that students come in as freshmen lacking some basic skills to do well.”

AVID has been around since 1984 and, according to Dudley, that’s uncommon for an educational program.

“I used to work with a guy who said ‘every time we get a new governor we get a new education reform,’” Dudley said. “There are certain things that come and go. But when you see something in education that’s been around for a long time, you know it stuck for a reason. AVID is one of those things; it’s tried and true.

“The students who go through the program are well prepared…AVID lets us raise the bar for students’ expectations.”

Dudley said AVID is based on another acronym, WICOR, which stands for Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading.

“Across the curriculum, we’re teaching AVID students those skills,” Dudley said. “All of the lessons are geared toward those areas.”

Dudley said AVID is the kind of class that can benefit a variety of students.

“I think the students who would benefit the most are not necessarily your straight ‘A’ students, even though it would be good for those students, too,” Dudley said. “The perfect fit is probably your ‘C’ to ‘B’ students who don’t feel like they’ve been challenged. This is a class that pushes them to achieve more.

“Some students come in and they’re instantly into it. Some are still trying to find their place in the academic world. They have the potential to get through and be successful, but they might be lacking in some of these skills.”

If students are willing to put in the work and stay dedicated, Dudley said he is confident they will see results.

“This course encourages students to write, to think, to assess and think everything through,” Dudley said. “The classroom is set up for them to thrive.”

Tutors

One of the strengths of AVID, according to Dudley, is the tutorial process. Students are still learning about the basics of this process right now and, in a couple of weeks, he expects they’ll be ready to put it into practice.

“The student will reach what we call a point of confusion,” Dudley said. “Whether it’s a math, English or science class; they say ‘I know A, B and C, but finding D is maybe where it gets fuzzy.”

The tutorial process encourages the student to think the problem through. They have to write out a request for a tutorial and, through that process, they have to outline everything they understand about the problem and where/why they are having issues.

“They can’t just say they don’t understand something,” Dudley said. “They have to show what they understand so far, what they’ve tried, that they’ve looked through their notes and asked questions and still aren’t getting it.”

From there, community volunteers serving as tutors help students work through their problems.

“We’re looking for folks to volunteer and come be a part of this,” Dudley said. “We’ll do tutorials on Tuesdays and Thursdays from about 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. They’ll guide students, no more than a group of six, through the process.”

Dudley said any potential volunteers will need to go through the standard application and background process to work with the students but, otherwise, he just needs a handful of folks willing to help students find their “Aha!” moments.

For those who are interested or with additional questions, reach out to Dudley at wdudley@fhusd.org.

Flags

Another AVID project involves gathering flags to fill the halls of Fountain Hills High School.

Dudley said he wants to show students all of the various places they can continue their education after high school and is encouraging community members to join in by donating a flag from their school of choice.

He said the process involves going to flagpro.com and picking a school to have turned into a flag. The coupon code FHHS will bring the flag to about $30. If a desired school is not available, it can be requested by sending an email to don@flagpro.com.

Dudley explained this is not a fundraiser for the class. Instead, the flags will be sent to FHHS where he aims to post them all over campus, starting with the AVID classroom.

Again, any questions can be directed to wdudley@fhusd.org.