MELBOURNE, VIC, Dec. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Australia prepares to implement the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, bringing significant new funding to schools nationwide, it's timely to reflect on what we've learned about driving improvement at scale. A forthcoming evaluation of AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Australia offers insights that may be helpful to others facing the challenge of lasting system change.
School Improvement: What the AVID Journey Revealed
AVID has supported schools across Australia since 2011. An impact evaluation led by Dr Pete Goss demonstrates that AVID's whole-school approach is delivering significant, lasting gains for students across Australia. But a deeper look shows that meaningful change in schools is rarely quick or linear. Improvements in student outcomes-such as those seen in NAPLAN literacy and numeracy-took years to become visible and were only sustained through ongoing commitment, patience, and adaptability.
What stood out most was not a "magic bullet" or specific pedagogical approach, but a combination of factors working together over time. The greatest progress was made where schools built a shared sense of purpose, invested in evidence-based practices, and fostered cultures of trust and empowerment. These lessons seem especially relevant as Australia prepares to make the most of new BFSA funding.
Five Overarching Themes
Rather than offering prescriptions, the AVID evaluation surfaced five overarching themes that seemed to underpin successful, long-term change in a variety of school contexts:
- Shared Mission: The clear mission to help every student succeed helps schools align around a common purpose and create the enabling conditions for change.
- Whole-school Improvement: AVID is a system of improvement that is evidence-based and comprehensive, yet flexible enough to adapt to different local and jurisdictional contexts.
- Integration: AVID's different elements ('domains') are mutually reinforcing, helping schools create a coherent and contextualised approach that balances fidelity and autonomy.
- Guidance and Support: AVID supports and guides school leaders as they work to transform Instruction, Culture, Systems, and Leadership Practices in their school.
- Long-Term Capacity Building: AVID provides long-term support, building capacity and capability as schools embed AVID and collective professional efficacy grows.
These themes are not unique to AVID, nor are they a checklist for success. Instead, they reflect patterns and the observations from the schools themselves about how their partnership with AVID Australia helped them deliver and sustain improvement, often in challenging circumstances.
A Call for Shared Learning
As new funding flows into Australian schools, the hope is that these reflections can contribute to the broader conversation about what it takes to drive system change.
The AVID experience suggests that patience and persistence are vital. Sustainable improvement relies as much on cultural and systems change within schools as it does on instruction and leadership. It also highlights the value of looking beyond short-term results and focusing on building the foundations for lasting progress.
AVID Australia welcomes opportunities to share what was learned and to connect with others who are committed to the long view in education.
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