Speakers at a Lee's Summit R-VII meeting described AVID as an elective class that teaches college- and career-readiness skills and aims to close opportunity gaps for students.

AVID, short for Advancement Via Individual Determination, was presented as a course that builds student skills for both longer-term goals such as college enrollment and immediate classroom success. "AVID is an elective class that stands for advancement via individual determination, which means that you yourself have to want to succeed," said Speaker 1, Speaker.

The program was summarized by another presenter as one that provides practical skills and access to rigorous coursework. "AVID is a college and career readiness program, and we basically are just giving students the skills that they need to pursue whatever future that they want. Whether that is going to college or getting like a market value asset right out of high school. So it's kind of a win win," Speaker 2, Speaker, said. Speaker 2 added that the course helps students with current core classes while preparing them for advanced classes later: "Part of the AVID framework is we really try to give students access to rigorous content, building student agencies."

Presenters explained how students are selected for AVID. Speaker 2 said the program looks for "good attendance, good behavior," and often prioritizes students who are first-generation college students so the course can represent groups underrepresented in higher education. The speaker also said a central mission is to "close the opportunity gap" by teaching students to advocate for themselves and by sharing "opportunity knowledge."

A third speaker gave a brief endorsement of the class’s benefits for both school and life skills: "AVID is a great class to take because it will teach you skills not only for school but for life in general," Speaker 3, Speaker, said. Speaker 2 added that AVID fosters peer support: "It helps you meet new people and make new friends. I always tell my students we're trying to build a network of like minded people So that way when you go to high school, you can rely on each other to continue moving towards whatever your goals are, whether that's college or a career at a high school." (Transcript punctuation and capitalization preserved in quoted material.)

No formal motion, vote, or policy change related to AVID was recorded in the transcript. The discussion was informational, describing program goals, selection criteria and classroom benefits.