LISD Academic Advocates

1. Call to Order and Pledge. President E. Frey called the meeting to order at 7:05. Those present recited the pledge.

2. Secretary's report. Minutes for November 19, January 28 and February 25 were reviewed. C. Cavalli moved approval, R. Cowperthwaite seconded and the minutes were unanimously approved as read.

3. Treasurer's report. No report.

4. Scholarship committee report. C. Cavalli reported that we have received 12 student and 4 staff scholarship applications. A Counselor is still needed for the review team. We agreed to fund up to 4 $250 student scholarships and one staff scholarship based on our funds and the applications.

5. Nominating committee formation. C. Kay, R. Cowperthwaite and C. Cavalli agreed to form the nominating committee.

6. Program: Cynthia Crawford, Dobie Middle School AISD :Turning Underachieving Students into AVID Learners. Ms Crawford described the AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination), begun in the 1980's by Mary Catherine Swanson in California, as it is implemented in its 6th year in Austin ISD. The program is available as an elective and students must apply for acceptance. Key criteria for acceptance include the willingness and ambition to be the first in the family to attend college. At-risk students with good potential are targeted to participate and approximately one third of Austin's eligible middle and high schools participate. The program is based on direct student support through learning study skills, tutoring by university students (paid initially by a federal grant, now covered by the Dell Foundation) and provision of honors and pre-AP curriculum so that the students can be properly prepared for the college experience. Students receive extra reading and writing instruction, focus on higher level thinking through practice in Socratic dialog and other critical thinking skills, participate in 2 or 3 family workshops each year and have guest speakers from the community every week to encourage them in their goals. Students also visit several college campuses on study trips. In many programs, students who have completed AVID and are successful college students come back to their local schools and provide the tutoring for the next generation of students. The campus provides an AVID site team with representatives from each discipline and a trained counselor and strong support from the principal is a key element for success. The presence of the AVID program in a school provides an atmosphere focused on academic success and achieving goals that is beneficial to the entire student body.

To learn more about AVID, Ms Crawford suggests the following: Dr. Missy Tobia (414-0300) is the AISD district coordinator and can provide statistical data. Dr. Karen Watt (watt@panam.edu) is the Texas state coordinator and Dr. Chuck Powell (capowell@mail.utexas.edu) at the University of Texas Dana Center for Education is heavily involved as well. The national website is http://www.avidonline.org/ and Jonathan Freedman's book Wall of Fame describes 20 years of AVID success.

7. Announcements:
a. Next meeting, Wednesday, April 21, 2004 7 p.m., CPMS Library on Texas Scholars Program
b. April 3 World Language Festival at Running Brushy Middle School for 4t-8th grades including competition in art, music and skits as well as a spelling bee, all in French and Spanish.


8. The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Erika Mittag
Secretary