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Solina Dyer used to have it tough. As a young girl, her mother would spend the family's money on drugs, and she didn't know her father until she was 8 years old, she said. "We moved around a lot, and before we came to Maryland, I never stayed in a school for more than a year," said Dyer, 15, of Silver Spring.

Dyer, who said she had a C-plus average in middle school, was unsure where her academic career would lead until she enrolled in Northwood High School's Advancement Via Individual Determination program — or AVID — which teaches potential college-bound students how to take notes, study and do research.

Launched by Mary Catherine Swanson in San Diego's Clairemont High School in 1980, the program focuses on C-minus students from low-income families, encouraging them to pursue higher education.

"It has helped me overcome my insecurities and helped me grow as a student," Dyer said. "AVID offered me [a] stable environment, and helped me meet new people and make friends who are positive and have the same goals as me."

Now, as a sophomore, Dyer has a 3.6 grade-point average, is enrolled in honors classes and hopes to attend Cornell University and study to be a veterinarian.

"I gained a lot of confidence that I will use to succeed and hopefully avoid bad habits that could [result] in failure," Dyer said. "I've also been able to realize [that] my dream of going to college is very much reachable."

The AVID college preparatory program has spread nationwide, and is in 4,000 schools in 45 states, said Ann Hart, director of the AVID Center's Eastern Division.

AVID "tries to target a group of kids who won't get targeted otherwise," said Charles Alexander, AVID coordinator at Northwood High School in Silver Spring. "There's this middle population that doesn't cause trouble; they go to class but are on autopilot. You don't get into this program unless you want to go to college."

Launched two years ago in the Montgomery County school system, the AVID program is "designed to support students who have potential to succeed in honors and [advanced placement] courses, but who may need additional support to be successful," said Erick J. Lang, associate superintendent of curriculum and instructional programs.

"Schools that had a high number of students with the potential of succeeding in advanced courses, but with limited financial resources or little history of college attendance in their families, were given priority," Lang said.

With 171 students, the county's AVID program operates at Rockville, Northwood and John F. Kennedy high schools, said Steven Baratte, a spokesman with the AVID Center in San Diego.

In Maryland, the AVID program is in 96 schools in five school systems: Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, Baltimore city, Montgomery and Prince George's, Hart said.

"We are looking for students in the middle, a pool of students sort of in the middle on their grades but who have potential to do so much more," Hart said. "Our goal is to help schools create a college-going culture and help students be ready to go to college."

Big dreams

Beatriz Jimenez wants to be the first person in her family to graduate from college. She hopes to one day be a lawyer and wants to attend Towson University or a University of Maryland campus.

Before joining Rockville High School's AVID program, Jimenez said she earned a 2.0 grade-point average or below. Now, she has a 3.2 GPA, she said.

"I really like the program," said Jimenez, 16. "It helps me get everything together. It showed us how to do our college applications and what is coming in college."

For Susana Campos, John F. Kennedy's AVID class has taught her how to be independent and stay focused, she said. She would be the first person in her family to attend college directly from high school. Campos wants to enroll in the University of Maryland to study medicine.

"I thought this was going to be a good opportunity for me to get organized and get a better idea of how everything is going to work in college," said Campos, 14. "If you don't understand a question, the tutors are there to help you."

Before joining the Northwood AVID program, Brittany Wood had a 3.0 grade-point average. Now, she has a 3.6 and hopes to attend Penn State University or Florida State University and study to be a pediatrician.

"Through AVID, I have realized that the bare minimum is not enough," said Wood, 16. "It doesn't just come to those who sit back and relax. And before I joined the program, I was the student who thought I could have it all without working for it. That didn't get me very far."

Torre Thomas said he used to be distracted in his classes before he enrolled in Rockville High School's AVID program. Thomas, who had a 3.0 grade-point average, now has a 3.3 GPA and is enrolled in honors chemistry, English and modern world history. Originally from Boston, Thomas wants to major in computer engineering at the University of Maryland, George Mason University or Boston College.

"It would be a great accomplishment if I go to college," said the 16-year-old. "When I go home, the AVID class is the first homework I do. To me, that's the most important. It's not only the class that pushes me, but it's the teacher that pushes me."

The ‘middle' class

At Rockville High School one Friday morning, the 16 students in Olga Shapiro's AVID 11 class were asked to debate a recent statement by President Barack Obama: "Parental involvement is the most important component in a student's education."

Few students agreed with the statement.

"It's the parent's responsibility to educate the student at a young age," Torre Thomas said during the debate.

Others disputed the president's sentiment.

"It's more on the students," said Zachary Ogunfolu, 16. "Kids in Africa and China don't need motivation. They hustle on their own."

During the debate, Keeta Coleman said her mother never pushed her to excel in school. "I'm not doing it for my mom," said Coleman, 17, the only senior in Rockville's AVID program. "I'm not doing it for anyone. I'm doing it for me."

For the 2008-09 school year, funding of the AVID program is about $40,000, which covers annual fees to use the program's curriculum and related materials, training staff at the three schools, training a district coordinator and stipends for tutors.

There are no plans to expand the program to other county schools, Lang said.

To determine AVID's success, school system administrators will examine the number of students enrolled in honors and AP courses, grade-point averages and college entry rates.

There are no senior AVID classes in the county, so the AVID Center does not have Montgomery data on the number of high school seniors who took college-level courses or exams.

"We are in still in the initial implementation of the program, so it is a little early to determine program success," Lang said.

Statewide, however, 88 percent of AVID students took an SAT or ACT exam, and 48 percent of those students took at least one AP or International Baccalaureate exam, according to AVID data.

As for college, 80 percent of the state's AVID students applied to a four-year college or university, while 65 percent were accepted, the data show.