MADISON — Students in Madison’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) and Teens of Promise (TOPS) program achieve higher GPAs, higher enrollment in AP courses and higher attendance rates than their comparison group, according to new data from the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE).
WISCAPE’s annual assessment of the program also tracked students over their high school career and found that the longer a student is in the program, the greater the effect is on GPA, attendance, AP enrollment and graduation rates.
“AVID/TOPS made a big difference for me because it helped me with so much behind the scenes work needed to apply for college,” said Daniel Yancey, a 2013 La Follette graduate and Edgewood College freshman who participated in AVID/TOPS for four years. “Even from the first day of my college classes this fall, I have been taking Cornell notes, because it’s what I learned in my AVID classes in high school. I write questions next to my notes and it’s helping me study. I’m doing really good!” the college freshman added.
AVID is a college readiness system that includes an elective course focused on organizational strategies, study skills, critical thinking, tutorial support, and career and college awareness. In MMSD, AVID is partnered with the TOPS program through the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. TOPS provides full-time student coordinators in each of the four high schools, summer internships, after-school mentors, funding for more than 40 tutors during the elective course, and a variety of college and career field trips.
"We worked especially hard this year to make sure that the really promising impacts of AVID/TOPS can be attributed to the program rather than other factors,” said Sara Goldrick-Rab, Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies & Sociology at UW-Madison and Senior Scholar at WISCAPE. “With a more rigorous research design in place, the results suggest that public support for AVID/TOPS is well-deserved: it is generating sizable positive improvements in student achievement, especially for our most vulnerable kids. This year, we were even able to detect impacts on high school graduation, and next year we will figure out whether there are effects on college attendance as well."
“We are incredibly focused on our vision as a district – that every school will be a thriving school that prepares every student for college, career and community,” Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham said. “AVID/TOPS is helping to make that vision a reality for many students, and as part of our strategic framework, we’re working to expand AVID strategies in our middle and high schools.”
“The strength of AVID/TOPS is evident in the WISCAPE results and we’re excited to see that students who stay in the program three years are 21% more likely to graduate from a Madison high school,” said Nichelle Nichols, Chief Academic Officer for the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. “This is huge news for our district,” Nichols added.
For WISCAPE’s full analysis, visit http://www.bgcdc.org/what-we-do/avidtops/.
