What Does College and Career Readiness Mean?
No matter what postsecondary path high school graduates choose, students must develop certain essential skills to design their own futures: critical thinking, collaboration, reading, writing, and relationship building. The development of these skills is rooted in belief in self. If students believe they are capable, there is a foundational confidence to learn and a resiliency to overcome setbacks.
Ensure Student Success
Over 45 years, we have seen that when school leaders focus on rigorous instruction, insist on access and equity for all students, align work to a common vision, and believe in students’ potential, student outcomes improve. In addition to graduating more college-bound and career-ready students, schools are equipping their students with the social and emotional faculties they need for life and career success. By placing students in a learning setting that engages them in rigor with support, opportunities to explore their future pathways, and deliberate instruction in self-management and leadership, students develop the agency and skills that will serve them for life. With AVID, students excel regardless of their circumstances, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or English proficiency.
Inside the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework
What Students Need
AVID students receive intentional support and mentoring in three major areas that help them become confident individuals who can successfully navigate life and career:
- Rigorous Academic Preparedness — Students develop academic skills and can successfully complete rigorous college and career preparatory curriculum and experiences.
- Opportunity Knowledge — Students research opportunities, set goals, make choices that support their long-term aspirations, and successfully navigate transitions to the next level.
- Student Agency — Students believe in themselves and act intentionally to build relationships, persist through obstacles, and activate their academic, social, emotional, and professional knowledge and skills to reach their potential.
What Educators Do
Teachers and other adults on a school campus play an important role in student success. To bring about this transformation, educators must:
- Insist on Rigor — Educators provide learning experiences in which every student is challenged, engaged, and develops a greater ownership of their learning through increasingly complex levels of understanding.
- Break Down Barriers — Educators actively identify and work to eliminate structural and perceptual barriers that limit students’ access to relevant and challenging learning opportunities.
- Align the Work — Educators increasingly align policies, practices, and beliefs to the shared vision of all students succeeding in college, career, and life.
- Advocate for Students — Educators extend social, emotional, and academic support to students and challenge policies, practices, or beliefs that limit potential.
Collective Educator Agency
Collective Educator Agency happens when educators take intentional actions based on shared beliefs and trust that, together, they can increase opportunity and measurable success for all students and each other. When Collective Educator Agency develops on a campus, the learning environment transforms into one where students are challenged, supported, and provided the tools needed to succeed.
Relational Capacity
Relational Capacity is the connection among individuals that develops over time when interactions are built on respect, trust, and authenticity. When educators connect with students and colleagues, and students connect with peers, learning and confidence are activated among all on a campus. All three connections are instrumental in helping students grow to see their capabilities and find their own way.
