Richard Vladovic, Board President; Austin Beutner, Superintendent; George McKenna, LAUSD Board Member; Robert Whitman, Community of Schools Administrator; Andre Spicer, Access, Equity and Acceleration Unit Administrator; Alison Towery, LAUSD Interim Chief Academic Officer; Kandice McLurkin, Academic English Mastery Program Administrative Coordinator; Jamila Gillenwaters, Access, Equity and Acceleration Coordinator
Operating under the premise that literacy is essential tool for equity, the Academic English Mastery Program strives to counter the opportunity, achievement and rigor gaps that have contributed to a vicious cycle of underperformance for Standard English Learners throughout the district. In Los Angeles Unified, African American, Latino groups, Pacific Islanders and Native American students who demonstrate limited English vocabulary and syntactical, grammatical and phonological differences indicative of a distinct language group are identified as SELs. Through AEMP, supports for SELs are provided through the delivery of differentiated support and resources to teachers and administrators through professional development trainings, the receipt of culturally empowering instructional materials to support effective implementation of curriculum, and the provision of a Parent and Community Representative at each AEMP school. During the 2018-19 school year, 61 AEMP schools showed significant growth in academic outcomes for SELs on the Smarter Balanced English Language Arts Assessment.