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Palo Alto Online
With a newly adopted pathway for students in the Advancement Via Individualized Determination program – better known as AVID – Palo Alto Unified School District teachers are attempting to close achievement gaps.
Students in AVID courses, who are often first-generation or lower-income students, are taught organizational skills and encouraged to enroll in rigorous courses, like honors and Advanced Placement. But in order for those students to excel in more difficult classes, they need help from their peers, not just teachers, said Lucy Filppu, Palo Alto High School AP Seminar teacher.
“Kids helping kids is an extremely powerful mentorship model,” she said.
Filppu, along with teachers Aparna Sankararaman and Mary Sano, founded the peer mentorship pathway in 2023 to create long-lasting connections that cross economic and opportunistic bounds.
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Following the research of Raj Chetty, creator of educational research organization Opportunity Insights, the pathway aims to pair students of different backgrounds to disrupt “friending bias” – the idea that students stick with the same groups throughout their education.
According to Chetty’s research, when students create mixed-class relationships, their chances of educational success rise.
In the high school pathway, AP Research students mentor students in AP Seminar, which is a prerequisite for the advanced research course. Mentors, who are typically a grade above their mentees, will meet weekly to discuss their coursework and offer feedback.
After they complete the pathway, mentees become mentors.
Anya Greene, a former Paly student who is now a freshman at George Washington University, was unsure about how the less-structured pathway would work at first, but said she and her mentee immediately clicked.
“Because we were so close, she knew she could reach out to me for anything,” she said. “And she still reaches out to me for help, with college applications, her current work and to talk about her relationship with her mentee.”
Greene said she made a life-long friend, who she is actually planning to meet up with soon.
Teachers take a hands-off approach to the pathway, which was difficult for Filppu at first, she said.
“We want them showing that agency and learning how to guide another student and accept advice,” she said.
Student-centered and focused on personal connection, the pathway could be an opportunity for unexpected bonds rather than competition, Filppu said.
“It was a new way to gain a friend in a place I normally wouldn’t,” said Alaap Nair, former Paly student and freshman at UC Berkeley.
The pathway came naturally to him, Nair said – he made a lot of mistakes in AP Seminar, and was ready to pass on what he learned to another student. The advice he gave was advice he wished he had received in prior years.
On the other hand, his mentee gave him a fresh perspective on his AP Research course.
Nair and his mentee are still friends today, he said, and often talk about finals and college applications.
Over 95% of students in the program re-enrolled, according to Filppu, and AVID students saw a 90% pass rate in their classes, with very few absentee issues.
She hopes that the peer mentorship program will expand to other grades and courses.
“Our data is pretty compelling,” Filppu said. “Peer mentorship works.”
Lisa Moreno is a journalist who grew up in the East Bay Area. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Print and Online Journalism with a minor in Latino studies from San Francisco State University in 2024…. More by Lisa Moreno
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