WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.375 --> 00:00:03.625
( bright upbeat music)

2
00:00:09.620 --> 00:00:12.060
Hello, Sandy and Thuan. Welcome.

3
00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:14.253
And thank you for agreeing to talk to us today

4
00:00:14.253 --> 00:00:15.965
about AVID's goals,

5
00:00:15.965 --> 00:00:18.581
how AVID has driven business model innovation

6
00:00:18.581 --> 00:00:20.120
during the pandemic.

7
00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:22.450
as well as the incredibly strong impact

8
00:00:22.450 --> 00:00:25.580
you've been able to have in a very short amount of time.

9
00:00:25.580 --> 00:00:28.870
Perhaps let's start, Sandy, with you.

10
00:00:28.870 --> 00:00:31.020
Could you tell us a little bit more about AVID

11
00:00:31.020 --> 00:00:34.960
and the goals you were pursuing before COVID-19?

12
00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:36.790
Hi Nithya. Great to be here with you

13
00:00:36.790 --> 00:00:39.430
and Thuan today. Thank you so much.

14
00:00:39.430 --> 00:00:43.690
So historically AVID has been a very successful nonprofit,

15
00:00:43.690 --> 00:00:45.590
providing professional development,

16
00:00:45.590 --> 00:00:49.280
systemic support to educators across the nation.

17
00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:52.770
When I started back in 2014,

18
00:00:52.770 --> 00:00:57.270
we were impacting about 700,000 students a year.

19
00:00:57.270 --> 00:00:59.250
And prior to COVID, we were at

20
00:00:59.250 --> 00:01:02.290
about 2.2 million students a year.

21
00:01:02.290 --> 00:01:06.850
So February is about the time where we're really focused

22
00:01:06.850 --> 00:01:09.910
on kicking off our spring and summer sessions.

23
00:01:09.910 --> 00:01:13.120
So all of our behind the scenes planning has happened.

24
00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:16.753
We were registering educators for the summer work.

25
00:01:16.753 --> 00:01:20.353
We had just finished a really productive board meeting.

26
00:01:20.353 --> 00:01:22.910
Our budget was adopted, our year end indicators

27
00:01:22.910 --> 00:01:24.470
look really good.

28
00:01:24.470 --> 00:01:26.730
And then, of course, was the end of February.

29
00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:28.640
I think it was February 27th.

30
00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:32.890
We started to see the impact of COVID across the world

31
00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:35.990
and the beginning impact here in the United States.

32
00:01:35.990 --> 00:01:39.158
So our chief operating officer, Thuan Nguyen,

33
00:01:39.158 --> 00:01:41.810
quickly put together our response plan.

34
00:01:41.810 --> 00:01:44.250
And a week later, we kicked off

35
00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:48.830
our daily emergency command center meetings focused

36
00:01:48.830 --> 00:01:50.810
on the health of our employees,

37
00:01:50.810 --> 00:01:53.400
the health of the educators we serve,

38
00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.970
and started figuring out our response plan for how

39
00:01:56.970 --> 00:02:00.150
we were going to continue to serve educators,

40
00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:03.000
but also do it in a very different way

41
00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:04.810
than we're used to doing.

42
00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:09.590
Well, you've clearly developed a turnaround success story.

43
00:02:09.590 --> 00:02:12.710
So Thuan, maybe could you tell us a little bit more

44
00:02:12.710 --> 00:02:15.560
about what you did, how you did it?

45
00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:16.880
I'm curious about the types

46
00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:20.860
of offerings you all created, how you mobilize teams.

47
00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:23.970
Very early on we realized the significant impact

48
00:02:23.970 --> 00:02:25.500
that COVID-19 was having

49
00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:29.290
on just the greater education environment.

50
00:02:29.290 --> 00:02:33.140
And so when we worked on developing our products and plans,

51
00:02:33.140 --> 00:02:35.260
one of the things that we identified was

52
00:02:35.260 --> 00:02:37.940
the immediate need to help as many educators

53
00:02:37.940 --> 00:02:40.870
as we possibly can across the country.

54
00:02:40.870 --> 00:02:42.770
Given the number of schools that were shutting

55
00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:46.440
down and classrooms being forced to go virtual,

56
00:02:46.440 --> 00:02:49.130
and recognizing that that's just not a condition

57
00:02:49.130 --> 00:02:53.050
or an environment that our educators have ever really faced.

58
00:02:53.050 --> 00:02:54.570
And so we went into it with kind

59
00:02:54.570 --> 00:02:57.560
of three different product lines in mind

60
00:02:57.560 --> 00:02:59.760
or offerings in mind.

61
00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:04.350
The first was really this free available set of resources

62
00:03:04.350 --> 00:03:07.610
that any educator could access across the country.

63
00:03:07.610 --> 00:03:10.140
And we knew we couldn't do it on our own

64
00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:13.090
in the timeframe that we wanted it done.

65
00:03:13.090 --> 00:03:15.620
And so we partnered with MIT, Amazon,

66
00:03:15.620 --> 00:03:19.350
Microsoft, Elementary for engineering,

67
00:03:19.350 --> 00:03:21.740
folks who have experience working in this space,

68
00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:24.460
but, more importantly content, that is ready.

69
00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:25.520
And where they could really lean

70
00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:27.680
on our expertise was really working directly

71
00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:31.900
with educators and what educators needed in that moment.

72
00:03:31.900 --> 00:03:34.530
Then the second offering we really wanted was,

73
00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:37.330
AVID's professional learning has traditionally been closed

74
00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:41.100
to our members only. And knowing the challenges

75
00:03:41.100 --> 00:03:44.240
that were facing our country, we wanted to make sure that

76
00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:46.590
the offerings that we created was available

77
00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:49.530
to every educator in the country.

78
00:03:49.530 --> 00:03:52.670
And then the very last piece, as Sandy references:

79
00:03:52.670 --> 00:03:55.380
Over the summer, we trained the majority of our educators.

80
00:03:55.380 --> 00:03:58.170
And so we took the opportunity in a very short period

81
00:03:58.170 --> 00:04:00.420
of time to just rethink and reimagine

82
00:04:00.420 --> 00:04:03.590
what AVID professional learning could be like online.

83
00:04:03.590 --> 00:04:07.450
And so we developed an entirely new catalog of offerings

84
00:04:07.450 --> 00:04:09.610
that's significantly more individualized.

85
00:04:09.610 --> 00:04:12.110
And because it's digital and there's no travel involved

86
00:04:12.110 --> 00:04:14.380
for our districts and our educators,

87
00:04:14.380 --> 00:04:15.970
we also made it year-round.

88
00:04:15.970 --> 00:04:18.410
And then there's a significant data strategy

89
00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:21.460
that we've incorporated as well, knowing

90
00:04:21.460 --> 00:04:24.430
that it's digital, to be able to better survey our educators

91
00:04:24.430 --> 00:04:27.560
in terms of the results of the experience itself,

92
00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:29.820
the challenges that they're facing in the classroom,

93
00:04:29.820 --> 00:04:32.260
and their hopes and dreams when they get back.

94
00:04:32.260 --> 00:04:34.370
And we're planning on using that data to assist

95
00:04:34.370 --> 00:04:36.830
with the coaching followups, to make sure

96
00:04:36.830 --> 00:04:39.610
that we're able to help them navigate the challenges

97
00:04:39.610 --> 00:04:41.780
as they return back to the classroom.

98
00:04:41.780 --> 00:04:44.260
As well as being able to send that to their administrators

99
00:04:44.260 --> 00:04:47.490
to let them know the challenges that their teachers

100
00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:49.210
are anticipating so that they can lean in

101
00:04:49.210 --> 00:04:52.723
and assist with making that implementation better.

102
00:04:53.640 --> 00:04:56.480
In terms of the challenges that we faced,

103
00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:57.543
it was significant.

104
00:04:58.490 --> 00:05:01.250
There was this significant timeframe and time constraint.

105
00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:03.450
And so we just stopped everything that was happening

106
00:05:03.450 --> 00:05:06.240
in the organization and systematically,

107
00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.600
within about a 72-hour period of time,

108
00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:11.470
we got in front of our teams to share the plan

109
00:05:11.470 --> 00:05:14.130
on the new direction we're headed in,

110
00:05:14.130 --> 00:05:16.930
got in front of the board and board leadership

111
00:05:16.930 --> 00:05:19.230
so that they understand where we're headed

112
00:05:19.230 --> 00:05:22.440
and could give us guidance and feedback and that support.

113
00:05:22.440 --> 00:05:26.990
But then after that, it was really the ongoing check-ins

114
00:05:26.990 --> 00:05:31.430
with staff to update them on decisions that have been made,

115
00:05:31.430 --> 00:05:34.223
right? No matter what the plan is, it's gonna shift.

116
00:05:35.330 --> 00:05:37.980
I have to say, this is such a remarkable story.

117
00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:42.190
And not just how quickly you all created a response plan

118
00:05:42.190 --> 00:05:43.380
given the situation,

119
00:05:43.380 --> 00:05:46.990
but also mobilized resources within the team,

120
00:05:46.990 --> 00:05:50.090
within the board, to be able to execute on this so quickly.

121
00:05:50.090 --> 00:05:52.333
So Sandy, if you step back just . . .

122
00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:55.470
What Thuan outlined is a remarkable story.

123
00:05:55.470 --> 00:05:59.540
How do you describe the impact that AVID has achieved

124
00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:00.373
as a result?

125
00:06:00.373 --> 00:06:05.060
In a traditional year--at least 2019 and '18--

126
00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:09.220
we would impact about 80,000 educators over the summer

127
00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:10.870
and spring and early fall.

128
00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:15.260
And so this year we're already at 112,000 educators.

129
00:06:15.260 --> 00:06:19.310
And most importantly, we're gathering immediate feedback

130
00:06:19.310 --> 00:06:22.860
and able to adapt to what it is they currently need.

131
00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:24.670
That's really wonderful to hear.

132
00:06:24.670 --> 00:06:27.440
Congratulations. I'm personally excited

133
00:06:27.440 --> 00:06:29.930
to see what's ahead with AVID.

134
00:06:29.930 --> 00:06:30.930
Thanks, Nithya.
Thanks, Nithya.

135
00:06:30.930 --> 00:06:34.097
(bright upbeat music)