New Professional Learning Community Helps Educators Navigate Technology While Keeping Students at the Center of Learning Experience

SAN DIEGO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AVID, the national nonprofit with a 40-year track record of improving teaching strategies for K-12 educators, is launching a unique online professional learning program designed to help educators prepare for technology-enabled teaching for this summer, Fall 2020, and beyond. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) will open its professional development to all educators and schools, even if they are not AVID schools.

"Whether schools return in-person or continue remotely in the Fall, the pandemic has underscored the urgency to better support our teachers in using digital tools to reach all of our students," said Dr. Sandy Husk, AVID Chief Executive Officer and former school superintendent. "Effective digital teaching and learning practices have held great promise for educational equity--making it possible to differentiate and personalize instruction. More than ever before, those practices are now essential to ensuring all students can thrive."

Rooted in AVID's proven methodology to help 85,000 teachers each year close the opportunity gap for all students, AVID Discover: Digital Teaching and Learning prepares teachers to effectively and equitably teach with technology, while keeping meaningful human interactions and relationships at the center of the learning experience.

AVID Discover offers a combination of three intensive days of professional learning this summer, participation in a community of practice aligned to a participant's teaching focus, on-demand content, and one-on-one coaching throughout the school year. Designed for teachers grades 3-12 in all subject areas, it will provide best practices for teaching in a blended learning environment and foster digital citizenship and digital literacy.

Any educator can register and can attend by themselves – or with a group of colleagues - without any affiliation with AVID.  

"AVID professional development has been a game-changer for our district," said Trisha Evens, Director of Secondary Education in the Grants Pass School District in Oregon. "AVID has helped us focus on the importance of relational capacity between students and staff (as well as staff to staff).  We have become stronger together, and AVID professional learning has been a catalyst to the change."

As a community for educators to recharge, learn best practices, and find support, AVID understands that learning - for both teachers and students - is premised on strong relationships. Its expertise has been in modeling effective teaching strategies for K-12 teachers and delivering engaging, hands-on, and practical professional learning that sticks. Teachers will leave with a toolkit full of teaching strategies that can be implemented immediately.  

"Even before COVID, our research found that 78% of teachers named how to use technology to differentiate instruction as a top wish-list item for their professional development," said Thuan Nguyen, AVID Chief Operating Officer and former district technology leader. "Today, that need is even more urgent. Our high-touch, high-tech learning experience makes digital teaching and learning more accessible to all educators and students."

AVID has also launched AVID Open Access, a source for free, practical grab-and-go digital teaching and learning and STEM tips, tools, and classroom activities. 

To learn more about AVID Discover: Digital Teaching and Learning, visit www.AVIDDiscover.org.  

About AVID  
Best known for its acclaimed Summer Institutes, AVID is a national nonprofit that delivers professional learning to more than 85,000 educators each year so they can close the opportunity gap and prepare all students for college, career, and life. Educators rely on AVID for professional development in leadership, instructional best practices, social and emotional learning, culturally relevant learning, STEM, and more. In turn, these educators help to close the opportunity gap for more than 2 million students each year.  

SOURCE AVID

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