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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Challenge accepted

By Hailey Heinz
Journal Staff Writer
       Fiona Nguyen, 13, had to start her algebra problem over. She was working on it in front of a small group, and had gotten a wrong answer because of a dropped negative sign.
    On her second try, she discovered, correctly, that X equals -12.
    Nguyen's teacher, Melissa Roche, nodded approvingly.
    "Explain the steps you took to the group," she said, then turned to the others. "Can you guys check and made sure she really gets it?"
    Nguyen is an eighth-grader at Van Buren Middle School who is taking algebra, a challenging class she likely wouldn't be taking without the help of a new pilot program.
    AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, was established nationally in 1992 and came to certain Albuquerque schools this year.
    It caters to students in the "academic middle" who have the potential to succeed in college but may lack the study skills and home support needed to get on a college track. It also largely targets ethnic minorities, and Superintendent Winston Brooks said it will help narrow the achievement gap between Anglo and Hispanic students, as well as minority students.
    Roche said the program plants the idea that college is possible for students who might not have considered it otherwise. "A lot of them didn't think they'd ever go to college," she said, adding that many have parents who didn't finish high school or even middle school.
    Highland and Manzano high schools have adopted the program, along with Hayes, Van Buren and Wilson middle schools. Brooks said if it's successful, he hopes to expand it to other schools.
    Nationally, 52 percent of AVID seniors surveyed last year were Hispanic. In New Mexico the number is even higher, with Hispanic students accounting for 74 percent of those in AVID last year. Another 19 percent were American Indian, 6 percent were Anglo and 1 percent were black.
    Although this is the first year AVID has been in APS schools, it first came to some New Mexico schools in 2002 and is now in 10 districts, including Los Lunas, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe.
    And according to data provided by AVID, all 35 seniors who were enrolled last year graduated from high school and completed the entrance requirements for a four-year college.
    Students in the program take a special elective in which they learn how to take good notes, keep their work organized and cultivate study habits. They also are enrolled in challenging classes.
    With the added rigor comes added support. During their elective time, students have college-age tutors available to help with homework or concepts that are giving them trouble.
    Recently in Roche's class, students wrote problems on the board and worked together to solve them.
    In one group, Andriana Jackson, 13, got some help with a problem when Julian Chavez, 13, jumped in with suggestions on how to get the variables on one side of the equal sign. Their tutor, University of New Mexico graduate student Sanjib Doreswamy, let Chavez guide the session until he got tripped up on negative numbers.
    "I can never tell if it's a negative," Chavez said, hesitating over whether to add or subtract a term.
    Roche, who teaches seventh-grade math most of the day, teaches two eighth-grade AVID classes and said she sees real improvement in the students.
    "They just are different this year," said Roche, who taught many of the students as seventh-graders. "They take school more seriously."
    Brooks is a firm supporter of AVID. "It's a very powerful program," he said. "It can change the culture of a whole school."
    As class wrapped up, Jackson and another student went up to Roche to give her high-fives.
    "I really learned today," Jackson said.

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