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Wall of Fame As public education declined and many Americans despaired of their children’s futures, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Freedman volunteered as a writing mentor in some of California’s toughest inner-city schools. He discovered a program called AVID that gave him hope. In this work of creative nonfiction, Mr. Freedman interweaves the lives of AVID’s founder, Mary Catherine Swanson, and six of her original AVID students over a 20-year period, from 1980 to 2000. With powerful personalities, explosive conflicts, and compelling action, Wall of Fame portrays the dramatic story of how one teacher in one classroom created a pragmatic program that has propelled thousands of students to college. This story of determination, courage, and hope inspires a new generation of teachers, students, and parents to fight for change from the bottom up. “Jonathan Freedman tells a moving and inspirational story of real reform in education—the ‘radical’ remedy of believing in kids of every background and challenging them to reach their potential.” —Robert J. Caldwell, Editor San Diego Union Tribune’s “Insight” section “If you are skeptical about all school-reform efforts, read Wall of Fame. It is a compelling story that educators throughout the nation need to hear. It describes AVID and its founder, Mary Catherine Swanson, and how a program to help disadvantaged students prepare for college is helping reform secondary schools across America. At a time when interest and concern about schools is at an all-time high, AVID is a great success story that demonstrates thoughtful school reform can make a difference for kids.” —Gary K. Hart Former California Secretary of Education “For thoughtfulness, fairness, and an unshakable drive to be a solution- oriented journalist, I admire few reporters more than Jonathan Freedman.” —Colman McCarthy ©1999, The Washington Post Reprinted with permission. “A powerful tribute to the difference one dedicated, caring, organized teacher can make on the lives of thousands of students for generations to come. A must-read for educators who really want to break the cycle of failing kids, failing schools!” —Dr. Mary G. Jarvis 1996 National Principal of the Year “Real life, real education—a story that demonstrates the power of teaching, learning, and commitment. Never have I read a book that so clearly communicates that success can be taught. This book offers concrete tools and strategies to guide all students and teachers to be their best. It answers the often-asked question, ‘Why teach?’ Because you change lives!” —Sandra McBrayer 1994 National Teacher of the Year “Jonathan Freedman has captured the essence of a true educational reformer . Mary Catherine Swanson inspires all of us . to follow our hearts, but use our minds to tackle seemingly intractable problems in education . As a high school principal who supported one of the earlier AVID programs in my school, I can honestly say AVID helped us change teaching practices schoolwide and alter students’ lives forever.” —Dr. Doris Alvarez 1997 National Principal of the Year “A moving account of AVID’s . uniquely effective record of educational reform. Amid the chorus of voices talking about improved student achievement, here is a program that actually walks the walk. This book is especially meaningful to me as President of San Diego State University, as many AVID graduates have enrolled and graduated from our university.” —Dr. Stephen L. Weber President, San Diego State University, 1996–2011 “Wall of Fame is not a memorial to a tragic war, but a living tribute to children who overcame prejudice, fear, and violence to become the first in their families to go to college. A powerful metaphor for a new generation determined to succeed by the rigorous standards of the twenty-first century.” —Dr. Gerry House 1999 National Superintendent of the Year Other Books by Jonathan Freedman From Cradle to Grave: The Human Face of Poverty in America Atheneum Publishers, New York, 1993 Collected Essays: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Editorials on Immigration Reform Copley Newspapers, 1987 The Man Who’d Bounce the World Turtle Island Press, 1979 Wall of Fame One Teacher, One Class, and the Power to Save Schools and Transform Lives Jonathan B. Freedman Copyright © 2020 by AVID Center Wall of Fame Second Edition Cover design: Ben Liddi First Edition Published: 2000 Copyright © 2020 by AVID Center All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. ISBN-13: 978-0-578-68726-1 www.avid.org To Isabelle, Madigan, Nick, and Genevieve: the four chambers of my heart. It is the visions of our students— their courage, determination, and triumphs— that awakens our most cherished memories. It is the visions of youth at its most impressionable, when teachers and students gather nectar, that causes flowers to bloom, weaving garlands of their most wondrous lives. —Mary Catherine Swanson Foreword by Dr. Sandy Husk Reflections: Seeing Comes Before Believing When I became AVID Center’s third CEO in 2013, AVID had already achieved notoriety for closing opportunity and achievement gaps, supporting students typically left behind. Indeed, AVID and its founder, Mary Catherine Swanson, had received numerous awards and had been featured on 60 Minutes and in many national publications. I had embraced AVID as a superintendent—in Salem-Keizer Public Schools, Oregon; Clarksville- Montgomery County School System in Clarksville, Tennessee; and Mapleton Public Schools in Colorado—and saw how its teaching strategies helped transform campuses, making them more student-centered and empowering underserved families to dream of college for their children. I was moved by not only the transformation of campuses and students, but by the transformation of teachers. AVID brought them back to why they went into teaching in the first place, and it armed them with the resilience and the grit they needed to not just survive in the classroom, but to face adversity and thrive as coaches and mentors who care deeply about every single one of their students. These educators play a pivotal role in connecting students to opportunities they never thought were possible. Sometimes, these educators take on the nickname of “AVID moms and dads” for being the support in these students’ lives, and for guiding them to become successful in college and career. The education opportunity gap is the line in the sand between the advantaged and the disadvantaged, the haves and the have nots. For 40 years, AVID has worked to erase that line. The original 32 AVID students were not expected to succeed yet, when given the opportunity and the support, they performed and thrived in the most rigorous classes offered. With over two million students today, AVID has been the educational leader in closing the gap. What does it mean to serve more than two million students? It means engaging 85,000 educators each year in dynamic professional learning. Across the nation, AVID is now in 47 states, and serves 7,300 public and charter i schools at the elementary and secondary levels, as well as post-secondary. This scale requires a staff—many of whom are former teachers, principals, district administrators, and superintendents—who provide guidance, resources, and support to campus Site Teams, and who work with policy makers and communities to understand how AVID can make a difference. For most of AVID’s 40 years, the organization has run Summer Institutes, which became wildly popular, and known among educators as “the best professional learning on the planet.” As Summer Institutes scaled from one single Institute attended by hundreds to twelve large-scale conferences in major cities, each attended by thousands, our organization has honed deep expertise in professional learning designed to leave every educator excited and recharged with a new sense of purpose and belonging. AVID reveals the remarkable in human beings and builds their capacity to act. We see this in teachers who understand that teaching is not just about delivering content; it’s about reaching the student. And to do so, teachers build relationships with students that are trusting yet firm, caring yet demanding, supportive yet empowering. Teachers believe in students so they can believe in themselves. They advocate for students until they can advocate for themselves. Through this relationship, students begin to see themselves differently. They start to see how remarkable they are, to believe in the potential that their teachers see in them, and to act on their own behalf. That’s why we know seeing comes before believing. With our professional learning, AVID helps educators to see differently because they work with practitioners who have already built their capacity and are taking actions that result in student success. Together, educators give one another energy and insight to tackle the challenges of closing opportunity and achievement gaps, and they practice a common language to drive their goals and actions. The AVID College and Career Readiness Framework defines, identifies, and articulates what students need to be successful and what educators must do differently. The framework stays true to Mary Catherine Swanson’s original philosophy, “Rigor without support is a prescription for failure. Support without rigor is a tragic waste of potential.” As Jonathan Freedman so artfully describes in Wall of Fame, AVID challenges the beliefs of educators, policy makers, and communities with its decades of data that prove all students can and will succeed in college and career when they are given the opportunity and the tools to do so. ii AVID challenges the beliefs of students by providing them with the rigor, support, and roadmap so they are equipped with the confidence and the tools they need to reach their full potential.