Great question. I can't speak to AVID's practices today (it's been over 10 years... damn I'm old) but for me it created a much-needed structure. Students within the program could take AVID variants of core classes similar to how they might enroll in Honors or AP. The curriculum favored collaborative exercises like group projects and peer review. The idea was to encourage many of the social and professional tools we often take for granted (collective problem solving, resource management, etc.) to at-risk students. We also had regular one-on-ones with instructors within the program who would track our academic performance and help guide us along the way. Finally, higher education was a major focus of the program and took the form of anything from SAT prep sessions to projects where we would have to research colleges and universities we planned to apply to as part of the assignment.