Heritage Middle School students in Colleyville use paper planners to manage assignments, athletics and weekend plans as part of a district program woven into daily classroom routines.

Grapevine-Colleyville ISD provides the planners to all its middle school students, and Heritage has built the tool into structured weekly check-ins, according to the district.

Students record weekly assignments posted by teachers each Monday, then revisit the planners throughout the week to highlight tasks, jot notes and check off completed work.

The practice ties into Heritage Middle School's status as an AVID National Demonstration School, a designation the campus website dates to 2020.

AVID, short for Advancement Via Individual Determination, operates in more than 7,400 schools nationwide and builds its curriculum around five pillars: writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading.

The planner program targets that organization piece directly. Teachers have added academic resources to the pages, including note-taking strategies and email etiquette guides for professional writing.

Principal Sheila Shimmick said staff don't just distribute planners and hope students use them. Teachers weave planner check-ins into instruction so the habit sticks. "It becomes a part of their routine," Shimmick said.

"Hopefully, they will use it in high school and then use it in college. It's just a good life skill to have."

English language arts teacher Lindsey Baca described the planners as weekly checklists students use to identify their tasks and build on them class by class.

The habit starts in sixth grade. Seventh grader Lilly-Kate Kelley said she first received a planner last year and has leaned on it more over time. Kelley records not only class assignments but also athletics, weekend plans and study reminders.

In one example, she wrote herself a note in Texas history class to use vocabulary from a slide presentation on an upcoming assignment.

Classmate Alhan Budhwani said the planner helps him track his schedule, assignments and other tasks.

The planners also serve as a window for families. Parents can flip through the pages to see what their student needs to prepare for and what events are coming up.

Heritage Middle School, located at 5300 Heritage Ave., earned a separate honor earlier this year. The campus was named a 2026 Schools Transforming Learning honoree by the N2 Learning Principals' Institute, one of 17 Texas schools recognized at the organization's annual conference in Lakeway on May 4.