Tracking Texas High School AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Students Into Texas Public Higher Education

• In Event: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Innovative Programs for Secondary and Postsecondary Students

Abstract

No Child Left Behind requires schools to ensure that all students are afforded educational rigor and support towards college readiness. Minority students have been shown to be less likely to enroll in college and less likely to persist. This study uses data from 494,000 Texas high school graduates of 2008 and 2009 collected in the Texas public educational databases to assess the effectiveness of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) college-readiness program to facilitate the enrollment and persistence in college of students often underrepresented in higher education. Findings suggest that for such minority and low-income students participation in AVID increases their likelihood to matriculate and persist in higher education and that longer participation in AVID further increases that likelihood.

Authors

• Colby Stoever, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

• Dennis Andrew Johnston, AVID Center