AVID through student perspectives: a qualitative study on AVID students' experiences in the program
Date
2014-09-29
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Abstract
Description
The purpose of this research was to examine how Hispanic high school students
represent their experiences in one college readiness program, Advancement Via
Individual Determination (AVID), which is designed to prepare students in the academic
middle for four-year college.
Utilizing social and cultural capital theories, I examined student perspectives on
the supports AVID provided for them to gain the social and cultural capital needed for
success in school and entry to college. I conducted eight forty-five minute semistructured
interviews grounded in an ethnographic perspective. Eight participating AVID
students came from low socioeconomic backgrounds, were Hispanics in the academic
middle (GPA 2.0-2.9) in tenth grade. Utilizing the ethnographic principles of studying
cultural practices, undertaking contrastive analyses, and adopting a holistic perspective, I
conducted a four-level process of analysis to uncover the academic and personal supports
as the two overarching themes students signaled as key in shaping their AVID
experiences.
The findings demonstrate that interpersonal supports, which included familial
relationships with their peers and with the AVID elective teacher who also acted as a
mentor, enabled students to gain social capital. The social capital was then utilized to
gain cultural capital in the form of academic supports, including learning logs, debates,
Cornell Notes, and an AVID binder. Aspects of AVID which shaped the development of
both social and cultural capital included college knowledge, college aspirations, and high
expectations.
AVID helped students in the academic middle gain access to social and cultural
capital that they did not have before, in this way bridging the achievement gap for low
socioeconomic minority students. Being in the AVID program has made the participants
in this study feel that they can be successful and go to college; all they needed were tools
and knowledge that the AVID program provided.
Based on the research findings it is recommended that schools identify students in
the "forgotten middle" and place them in a college readiness program with supportive
teachers who act as institutional agents and help students develop the social and cultural
capital they need to succeed in school and in life.
PDF; 171 pgs.
PDF; 171 pgs.