AVID Partners with Packback to Offer Free AI Writing Coach to Grades 7–10

  • By Kate Lucariello
  • 08/01/23

Student success preparation company AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) has teamed up with digital writing tutor Packback to provide free access to Packback’s AI-enabled platform for AVID middle and high school teachers through the 2023-24 school year.

The platform will be available to AVID Excel Elective grade 7-8 teachers and AVID Elective grade 9-10 teachers to help students strengthen their critical thinking and writing skills.

The Packback digital writing coach relies on Bloom’s Taxonomy to foster critical thinking and assigns students a “curiosity score,” the company said. It uses “instructional AI” rather than generative AI, AVID notes.The AI gives students individual feedback as they write and helps them recognize and correct errors in real time. A detection tool for both traditional and AI-generated content alerts teachers so they can see how students are using AI for assignments.

"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,” said Thuan Nguyen, AVID CEO.

AVID teachers who opt to use the platform will be given training and support, the company said. Packback has already been added to 12 AVID Weeks at a Glance lessons and 12 digital planning guides. In addition, a live webinar on the new integration will be hosted by leaders from both companies and those who have used the platform on Thursday, Aug. 3, at noon PT.

Visit this page to learn more about the partnership and to sign up for the webinar.

About the Author

Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.

Featured

  • tutors helping young students with laptops against a vibrant abstract background

    K12 Tutoring Earns ESSA Level II Validation

    Online tutoring service K12 Tutoring recently announced that it has received Level II validation underneath the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The independently validated study provides evidence of K12 Tutoring's role in creating positive student outcomes through effective academic intervention and research-based solutions.

  • elementary school boy using a laptop with a glowing digital brain above his head and circuit lines extending outward

    The Brain Drain: How Overreliance on AI May Erode Creativity and Critical Thinking

    Just as sedentary lifestyles have reshaped our physical health, our dependence on AI, algorithms, and digital tools is reshaping how we think, and the effects aren't always positive.

  • student reading a book with a brain, a protective hand, a computer monitor showing education icons, gears, and leaves

    4 Steps to Responsible AI Implementation in Education

    Researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Innovation, Design & Digital Learning (CIDDL) have published a new framework for the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence at all levels of education, from preschool through higher education.

  • a cloud, an AI chip, and a padlock interconnected by circuit-like lines

    CrowdStrike Report: Attackers Increasingly Targeting Cloud, AI Systems

    According to the 2025 Threat Hunting Report from CrowdStrike, adversaries are not just using AI to supercharge attacks — they are actively targeting the AI systems organizations deploy in production. Combined with a surge in cloud exploitation, this shift marks a significant change in the threat landscape for enterprises.