AVID joins forces with Packback to expand access to digital writing coach that helps students hone their unique voice; enables instructors to focus on higher-order skill-building

SAN DIEGO, July 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a national nonprofit that supports over 100,000 educators and millions of students across more than 8,000 schools annually to prepare students for postsecondary success, today announced a new initiative that will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to help students across the country strengthen their critical thinking and writing skills. Designed in partnership with the writing and discussion platform Packback, the effort will provide AVID Elective teachers for grades 9-10 and AVID Excel Elective teachers for grades 7-8 with free access to a unique AI-enabled coach that offers real-time feedback and support to help students throughout every step of the writing process, as well as build their confidence and sense of inquiry.

“When it’s used thoughtfully, AI can play a powerful role in helping teachers save time and provide effective and meaningful feedback to students,” said Marta Connally, AP Language Teacher at Mesa Public Schools in Arizona and former AVID Coordinator. “Packback’s platform has made the work of giving good feedback so much easier and more manageable, particularly by helping me navigate multiple standards and grade the conventions area. It made me not dread the grading process, and I’m glad that more teachers around the country will have access to it.”

Packback already works with school districts in the country to help build critical thinking, writing, and discussion skills, including in Hamilton County School District (TN), Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL), and Portland Public Schools (OR). According to a recent pilot study, students who used Packback’s platform produced higher-quality writing and also saw higher levels of academic engagement; the research also found that Packback’s platform reduced the time teachers spent assessing writing assignments by 60 percent. The new partnership will offer eligible AVID middle and high school teachers access to Packback through the 2023-24 school year.

“The rise of generative AI has sparked questions from educators and administrators about the role of AI in the classroom. AVID has been experimenting and learning about this emerging technology for over a year. Packback’s approach puts teachers and students first and recognizes that technology is only effective if it is designed to support the deeply human experience of teaching and learning,” said Dr. Thuan Nguyen, CEO of AVID. “Packback will help students with their individual learning needs and free up time for AVID teachers to provide students with thoughtful feedback on their content and ideas while also demonstrating what the effective use of AI in the classroom can look like.”

Packback’s approach to supporting student writing, rooted in the well-known cognitive framework Bloom’s taxonomy, assigns students a “curiosity score” in real time to help cultivate critical thinking skills. The platform acts as a digital writing assistant that provides students with individualized feedback as they write discussion posts, essays, and research papers, building students’ confidence while helping them identify and address common errors before submitting for a final grade that is provided by the teacher. This real-time writing assistance will be especially helpful for long term English learners in AVID Excel classrooms. Their technology also includes an AI-detection tool that can identify the vast majority of AI-generated content posted on the platform, with a false positive rate of just 0.04%, which helps educators understand how their students might be utilizing AI in the classroom.

“AVID shares our commitment to helping students learn and master the process of writing, as opposed to just focusing on the end result,” said Kasey Gandham, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Packback. “While AI is only becoming more powerful, it will never be able to replicate a student’s unique voice: what a student is trying to say and why they care to say it. We’re honored to join forces with AVID to use this emerging technology in ways that help students build not just the skills, but also the confidence, to share their voices with the world.”

AVID Elective teachers for grades 9-12 and the AVID Excel Elective for grades 7-8 are currently eligible to benefit from this partnership and will receive training and support from Packback. In order to ensure a seamless start for teachers, Packback has been integrated into 12 AVID Weeks at Glance lessons and 12 Digital Planning Guides. AVID and Packback will host a live national webinar on Thursday, August 3. at 12 p.m. PT to share more about the partnership and its benefits for educators and students. Register now to hear directly from AVID and Packback leaders as well as AVID partners who have used Packback in the classroom.

About AVID
AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a national nonprofit organization that supports more than 100,000 educators and millions of students across more than 8,000 schools annually to prepare students for postsecondary success, college, careers, and life. To learn more, visit www.AVID.org.

About Packback
Packback is a digital writing tutor for every student, along with a digital grading assistant for every teacher. Packback’s mission is to harness the power of AI to help educators implement high quality pedagogy at scale. Packback’s AI-enabled platform helps students build and master foundational skills such as critical thinking, writing, and research. Packback’s proprietary AI and machine learning technology provides inquiry-based online discussion and long-form writing support to over 8,000 instructors and over 1.5 million students, and is being used in hundreds of K-12 and higher education courses. To learn more, visit http://www.packback.co.

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SOURCE AVID