To that end, each of the district’s 73 middle and high schools will send a selected team of teachers, counselors, and administrators to represent their Site Team to the annual AVID Summer Institute in Orlando. This year the summer institute will be held on July 9-11, 2012, using a three-day model as opposed to the traditional five-day model used in previous years.

The AVID Summer Institute provides the Site Team members with updated training on AVID strategies with a focus on higher level courses and college/career readiness. The training relates to different content areas and culturally relevant topics. The summer institute also serves as the initial training for teachers who are new to teaching AVID at their school. The site team sessions with district personnel serve as a time for the site teams to plan for the year ahead and vertical articulation between the middle and high schools.

The training specifically addresses areas where evaluation data show our teachers would benefit from enhanced training and support - the components within Domain 3 of the evaluation rubric. Teachers will learn strategies to ensure student engagement, higher order thinking, and increased student learning. Additionally, at the Board’s request, the teams for each school will develop a schoolwide plan to implement AVID strategies across all curriculum areas.

The goal in training the site team is to build capacity within the schools and the district. This will allow us to be able to host large scale institutes such as AVID Summer Institute in Hillsborough County next year.

State law requires that Advanced Placement (AP) state funds be spent on teacher training and curriculum support. This training provides higher levels of support for AP and pre-AP strategies, allowing teachers to successfully present curriculum to students. This is the prelude to student success in college and career readiness.