Some students may not even realize they are part of an AVID school. Common lessons at the elementary level are organization — such as how to use and sort binders, how to keep a planner ...

Monday — AVID tutors scrub student binders to check on the quality of their note-taking. Also, guest speakers, including AVID alumni in college or in the workplace, give talks. Tuesdays ...

a schedule in front of the binder and so on. As students progress, the focus shifts more to notes and general organization, according to Melfi-Smith. An important purpose of AVID is to keep ...

maintain the AVID binder with assignment/grade record sheets and daily notes in all classes; and complete all homework assignments and commit to studying every night. “To me, the greatest ...

Students also said AVID had helped them become much more organized. "When arriving as a freshman, I remember receiving a big binder, known as the all-in-one binder," said sophomore Esther Borba.

AVID is just a 50-minute period of pure busy work. We're talking Cornell notes kept in a three-inch binder, tutorials and - okay, enough of the garbage can theories and misperceptions already!

"It keeps you organized," Humberto said of his binder, part of a new AVID program being piloted at two Wichita elementary schools. "There's a lot of room, so you don't just shove papers anywhere." ...

With three major components — tutorials, Cornell notes and an organizational binder — AVID encourages organization and confidence over material that might otherwise be daunting to students.