Creekside High School Earns Top AVID Distinction

In 2013, Creekside High School faced some academic challenges. By 2017, the school had made remarkable progress—just one year after implementing the AVID College Readiness System. The program has transformed the way students are prepared for success in college and beyond. Creekside High’s use of the AVID techniques and strategies has become an exemplary model for other schools across the Southeast to follow.

AVID designated Creekside High as a demonstration school. The program provides Creekside with professional development resources to support students across grades 9-12. Each level has its own standards and curriculum to follow. The foundation is built on five core principles: writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading, known as WICOR. AVID targets students considered to be in the academic middle, an area where AVID Coordinator Patti Lee saw an opportunity.

“What we found is that there are a lot of programs for the top-tiered kids and a lot of at-risk programs,” Lee stated. “A lot of students in the middle kind of get left behind. AVID does a great job of supporting those students.”

Creekside’s AVID curriculum started out with about 100 students. It has more than doubled over the years to 277 students. The college readiness system consists of 11 AVID WICOR elective classes. AVID participants are chosen mostly through teacher recommendations. Students are exposed to guest speakers, college visits, and other resources that teach them about potential post-graduation opportunities. They are also taught how to evaluate their transcripts and GPAs, write college essays, and complete HOPE scholarship applications. AVID students even participate in student-led tutorials that encourage them to lean on each other to solve their own academic questions.

Each AVID student at Creekside is enrolled in the most rigorous courses that are appropriate for that student. They meet in their AVID elective class every week, but the curriculum is also used on non-tutorial days as well so they can build on the five core principles. Even students who are not part of the AVID curriculum are touched by its school-wide reach.

“Our motto is ‘whatever you decide to do we’re going to create a plan to be successful,’” Lee said. “One of the things we’re most proud of is that everybody’s receiving support. We really wanted to make sure every student is supported in their college and career readiness.”

Getting teachers to buy into AVID was an easy sell for Creekside High principal Dr. Terrell Awak.

“We weren’t bringing them something that they couldn’t connect to,” Dr. Awak said. “They see value in implementing it in their classrooms. We see AVID as the plate. It’s where professional learning starts.”

Creekside’s school-wide approach to AVID is one of the reasons it was designated as a demonstration school. Creekside has also showcased strong evidence of improved student academic performance. With this distinction, Creekside High now serves as a learning center for other schools in the southeast region that are interested in implementing or improving their own AVID systems.

“The proof is in the numbers,” Lee stated. “Our accelerated enrollment and our content mastery have increased. All of these things since we really pushed a lot of these strategies school-wide have had a positive impact, not only on the school culture, but also on our CCRPI with the state.”

Dr. Awak would now like to see the curriculum grow to include double the number of current students. According to her, Creekside has a 100% graduation rate among AVID students, but she would like to see that same growth reflected in the school’s total graduate rate of 89.9%.

“There’s no reason that we can’t sustain that,” Dr. Awak proclaimed. “We have so many resources to ensure that students are successful, and it’s aligning the adults with the mission of supporting the kids so that those outcomes are our reality.”