“Next year’s incoming freshmen will have the opportunity to take it with their English one class and then each year, we will add it to the freshmen class until it is paired with English one through four then we will look into possibly pairing it with other courses such as science.” 

     The AVID elective is based heavily on collaboration and helps students break down and manage different problems. 

     “In the elective, students do something called a tutorial where students get in a small group and they help each other come to a solution whether it be an academic solution, social solution or maybe there having trouble at home or at school or maybe they just want to do something and they don’t have the tools to get there,” Brody said. “You just have a small group of students helping another group of students trying to achieve their own goals and AVID gives them the structure to do this.” 

     Brody said that this elective helps all students, no matter their background or where they stand academically. 

     Not all students will be able to take the actual AVID elective. Rose hopes to have 30 to 40 freshmen in the class and students who are interested can apply. 

     “Students will have to apply and then they will be interviewed and then a selection committee will decide whether the applicant is right for the program,” Brody said.

     Although every student will not be able to take the elective, AVID strategies will be taught and enforced in classes school-wide. 

     Lauren Ritchie is a science teacher at Rose, and she previously taught at North Pitt, which is an AVID school. Ritchie has been using a lot of the strategies and tools in her classes. 

     “Focused note-taking, annotating, socratic seminars, binder organization, vocabulary focus and time management are all tools that are used in classes,” Ritchie said. 

     By teaching these strategies in all classes, students will learn essential skills to help them succeed that otherwise may be missed.  

      “Learning these organizational skills and learning how to take your notes and use them as an actual tool benefits you when you go off to college when you don’t have anyone to teach you that anymore,” Ritchie said. 

     Brody and Ritchie both said that by enforcing the same tools and strategies in all classes students will know exactly what to expect from teacher to teacher. 

     Teachers who will be teaching the elective will need to be AVID trained, but regular teachers can learn the strategies without taking a specific course. 

     “To teach the elective it requires some training which can be done during the summer, however any teacher can teach some of the strategies,” Thomas said. 

      Brody, Ritchie and Thomas are all very optimistic about the changes Rose will see once becoming AVID. 

     “I want to see test scores come up, we know it works so it’s just a matter of waiting and watching it happen,” Brody said. “I also expect it to create a different social atmosphere at Rose; I think students will become more motivated and success will become the norm.”