| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Sellers Middle School in the Garland Independent |
|
|
School District earned designation as an AVID National |
|
|
Demonstration School in January 2013, marking the third time the |
|
|
institution has secured this distinction; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Advanced Via Individual Determination, or AVID, is a |
|
|
college readiness program designed to increase the academic |
|
|
performance of underserved students and make college enrollment |
|
|
more attainable; with the support of the school's faculty members, |
|
|
participants learn organizational and study skills and practice |
|
|
critical thinking, and they are required to take at least one |
|
|
honors, pre-AP, or AP course; students also receive academic |
|
|
assistance from their peers and college tutors; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In 2003, with a $25,000 grant from the BEST |
|
|
Education Foundation, Sellers Middle School became the first |
|
|
Garland ISD campus to employ the AVID program, and in 2007, and |
|
|
again in 2010, it was named an AVID National Demonstration School; |
|
|
the initiative was started by former principal Janice Howard, now |
|
|
the AVID director for the district, who noticed that very few |
|
|
minority learners took advanced placement classes; over the years, |
|
|
Sellers implemented the program schoolwide, and today AVID |
|
|
strategies are applied in every classroom; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Expansion to other campuses has also followed, with |
|
|
AVID currently part of the curriculum at 14 other Garland ISD |
|
|
schools; less than two percent of AVID institutions are recognized |
|
|
as National Demonstration Schools, however, and Sellers is one of |
|
|
just 19 such sites in the entire state; the exemplary results at |
|
|
Sellers have served as a model for AVID programs in other Texas |
|
|
cities as well as for schools in Minnesota, Florida, and |
|
|
California; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Sellers Middle School has demonstrated an |
|
|
outstanding commitment to academic excellence and college |
|
|
readiness, and its accomplishments are making a positive and |
|
|
lasting difference in the lives of countless Garland students; now, |
|
|
therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby congratulate Sellers Middle School on earning |
|
|
designation as an AVID National Demonstration School for the third |
|
|
time and extend to its students, faculty, and staff sincere best |
|
|
wishes for continued success; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
|
prepared for the school as an expression of high regard by the Texas |
|
|
House of Representatives. |