Charles County Public Schools staff told the board that AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) has grown from a small post‑pandemic program to a multi-school initiative that now includes an elementary pilot and several middle- and high-school elective classes.

Teresa Peck, AVID instructional program support specialist, said AVID Elementary launched this year at Indian Head Elementary for fifth grade; AVID Secondary runs as an elective in five middle schools and five high schools. Peck said AVID’s purpose is to close opportunity gaps by teaching students organizational, note-taking and inquiry skills and by encouraging college- and career-readiness.

Peck described AVID’s alignment with the district strategic plan: AVID supports instructional capacity, relational climate, educator collaboration and family/community partnerships. The district highlighted quick metrics: 77% of sixth-grade AVID students were enrolled in at least one honors or high-school credit-bearing course (excluding math), and roughly 11% of ninth-grade AVID students were enrolled in at least one AP or Project Lead The Way (PLTW) course in the dataset the presenters shared.

Stoddard Middle School teacher-leader Casey Clary explained local practice: Stoddard expanded from a single eighth-grade AVID class to multiple sections across grades 6–8 and uses AVID strategies schoolwide. Stoddard also pairs AVID instruction with school initiatives, provides student ambassadors and uses a career coach to connect students to pathways. Clary and Principal Robert Griffiths said AVID alumni have returned to speak to current students, and the school uses AVID certification and a “collab lab” model for adult learning.

Principal Capel and teacher-leader Joseph Burton described a high-school model where weekly 35-minute planning sessions are calendared for departments, with agendas issued the week before and a dedicated “collab lab” space; school leaders said departmental goals and artifacts are displayed in the lab to reinforce ownership.

District staff said they expect to expand training by using internal AVID-trained staff to deliver professional learning modules during PLT time and to encourage principals to send staff to summer AVID training where feasible. Board members asked about target populations, recruitment and tracking; presenters said AVID elective enrollment uses teacher recommendations and student applications and that the AVID certification tool captures instructional indicators, course-rigor participation and first- and continuing-year AVID cohort data to allow schools to measure progress.

Ending: District and school leaders said the program will continue to grow where principals fund site coordinator roles or reallocate existing school-improvement funds, and they asked the board to support training and feeder‑pattern alignment so students can continue AVID across elementary, middle and high school.