III.  Combination Student-centered and School-centered Programs

High School Puente
The Puente Project was instituted in 1981 to increase the numbers of Mexican American/Latino students transferring from community colleges to four-year colleges and universities.  The University reports that 56 percent of the community college students who complete Puente transfer to four-year colleges and universities within three years.  This transfer rate compares very favorably with a transfer rate of less than seven percent for non-Puente students.

In 1993 Puente began a high school version of the program that currently operates in 18 California high schools.  High School Puente provides intensive writing instruction, a focus on Latino literature, academic counseling, community mentors, and parent workshops.  There is an extensive teacher professional development component to Puente.

A three-year evaluation of High School Puente is being conducted, including intensive case studies in three high schools.  One focus of the evaluation has been on the extent of program implementation.  Results of this portion of the evaluation have shown a generally high level of implementation in the case- study high schools.  Relative strengths and weaknesses of program components are also being identified.  The instructional components of the program have received very high ratings so far, while the mentoring component has been identified as the most difficult component to implement.  The study has also identified a need for additional efforts to assist parents in translating their high aspirations for their children into specific support.

The evaluation includes extensive data collection on student outcomes for a cohort of students who were ninth graders in 1994-95.  Data on Puente students will be examined in relation to a comparison group of students in the same schools.  It is too early to assess the impact of High School Puente on student performance.

Alliance for Collaborative Change in Education in School Systems (ACCESS)
ACCESS is a UC Berkeley Lawrence Hall of Science initiative designed to assist Bay Area schools in making various improvements focusing on instructional and counseling programs.  The program provides both school-based assistance and direct student services including instruction, tutoring, academic counseling, and admissions test preparation.  During 1994 ACCESS operated in 25 junior high or middle schools and four high schools.

ACCESS has been evaluated by an examination of changes in participating schools, numbers and percentages of students completing college-preparatory mathematics courses,  taking the SAT and scoring above 500 in mathematics.  Results show substantial increases on all criteria.

The professional development components of ACCESS have been evaluated through faculty and staff surveys and interviews.  This portion of the evaluation shows positive effects in the areas of building collaboration and strengthening professional community.

The California Academic Partnership Program (CAPP)
CAPP is a curriculum-improvement program coordinated by the California State University.  The program provides grants to school districts that promote partnerships between K-12 faculty and college and university faculty.  The program also supports direct instruction to students, tutoring, advisement, campus visits, and parent involvement.  Services vary by project site.

A major goal of CAPP is to increase the number of underrepresented students enrolling and succeeding in college preparatory courses.  However, data on student outcomes were not included in the 1996 CPEC report, nor in the 1993-94 independent evaluation report on CAPP.  Earlier qualitative evaluations of CAPP have focused on factors that enhance effective school-college partnerships.

Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID)
Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) is a comprehensive program which combines many components of student-centered outreach programs with systemic curriculum improvement and professional development.  In other words, AVID integrates student-centered and school-centered strategies.  Begun in San Diego by a high school English teacher, AVID has grown throughout California and in other states and countries.  It currently operates in 265 California high schools and middle schools. 

AVID demonstrates that a crucial factor in improving the college preparation of underrepresented students is to get them enrolled in rigorous college-preparatory classes and then support them to be successful in those classes and in planning for college.  Students who are identified for AVID are perceived to have high potential despite average grades.  The AVID class operates as an elective in the student's daily schedule.  AVID provides intensive student support study skills, college student mentor-tutors, test preparation, college information, family involvement, and motivational activities. 

When compared with the evaluations of most other college-preparation programs, the evaluations of AVID have been quite extensive.  Longitudinal studies of cohorts of high school AVID students have shown strong relationships between participation in AVID and four-year college enrollment and persistence.  These outcomes have been demonstrated for Black and Latino students and for students of low socioeconomic status regardless of ethnicity.  Studies have shown relationships between the number of years students spend in AVID and various performance indicators including college attendance.  The college-going rate for students completing AVID is more than twice that of local and state rates for similar groups of students.  Overall 98 percent of AVID graduates in the San Diego region go on to college, with about half attending four-year colleges.  Studies have also examined persistence rates and college grades of AVID graduates with positive results.

Hugh Mehan, a faculty member at UC San Diego, and others have analyzed the outcomes for AVID students in relation to program components in an attempt to explain what makes AVID effective.  There appear to be multiple factors that contribute to AVID's success. Some are relatively specific, such as study skills and teaching the college-entry process.  Other factors are attributable to the intensive nature of the program class period every day over several years with a group of AVID students and a teacher-advocate and college student tutors. 

It may well be that it is the synergistic effect of all the elements in the comprehensive program sustained over time that accounts for the positive outcomes for AVID students.  Mehan et al. state that "AVID coordinators are engaged in an explicit socialization process in their classrooms that parallels the implicit socialization process that occurs in well-to-do families." (p. 10).  Mehan et al. state further that "AVID coordinators explicitly teach aspects of the implicit culture of the classroom and the hidden curriculum of the school. Furthermore, they mediate the relationship between families, high schools, and colleges by serving as advocates and sponsors of AVID students." (Ibid.)

The AVID program is also noteworthy for its attention to maintaining integrity of the program in its replication and dissemination.  The literature on innovative programs is replete with examples of highly effective programs that deteriorate in the process of being adapted in other settings to the point of being recognizable in name only. An infrastructure of professional development support for AVID dissemination has been developed through regional centers in California.  These regional centers provide support to schools implementing AVID.  The AVID Center in San Diego has also instituted a certification process for reviewing local AVID programs.  The combination of certification and ongoing staff development for school teams operating AVID help to ensure faithful program implementation.

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