 | | | Los Angeles Times' Reading by 9 Launches $1.5 Million Initiative | LOS ANGELES, September 7, 2000 - The Los Angeles Times' Reading by 9 literacy program has launched a three-year, $1.5 million professional development initiative, sponsored by SunAmerica Inc. and The Broad Foundation, to help school principals improve kindergarten-third grade literacy programs in their schools.
Known as the Principal Leadership Initiative (PLI), it provides Southern California principals with leadership and organizational training and tools to implement effective literacy strategies in their schools. Thirty-six principals have been selected to participate in the first leadership development program, which begins this month and concludes in August 2002.
A second group of principals will be selected next year to participate in the program from August 2001 to August 2003. The program will ultimately involve about 100 elementary schools in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
"The first 36 'Pioneer Principals' were selected from a group of more than 400 elementary schools throughout Southern California who were invited to apply to the Reading by 9 Principal Leadership Initiative earlier this year," said Lani Lattin Duke, director of Reading by 9. "These principals were selected because of their eagerness and commitment to make literacy the number one priority for their students and to become stronger literacy leaders with their teachers and parents. We look forward to working with them over the next two years."
Eli Broad, chairman and chief executive officer of SunAmerica Inc. and president of The Broad Foundation, noted that "more than a decade of school reform research demonstrates that academic achievement improves in schools led by principals who are strong instructional leaders. The Reading by 9 Principal Leadership Initiative provides a substantive and sustained professional development experience designed to strengthen principals' literacy leadership capacities, which in turn, are expected to positively impact student reading scores."
The UCLA School Management Program and the Educational Development Center's Focus on Results will serve as training partners in the program. Each principal will receive training and onsite coaching from experienced school personnel, including elementary principals or teachers, all of whom are noted for demonstrating measurable growth in student literacy.
Under the program, principals must also enlist a district administrator or other district employee who commits to attending at least two of the training sessions. Principals must also agree to a set of minimum growth objectives for student achievement and school leadership.
The following "pioneer principals" will be participating in the PLI beginning in August:
Beaumont Unified School District: Shawn Mitchell, Chavez Elementary
Corona-Norco Unified School District: Karen Hall, Parkridge School for the Arts
Downey Unified School District: Leslie Jones, Lewis Elementary
El Monte City Elementary School District: Cynthia Traino, Cherrylee Elementary
Garden Grove Unified School District: John Staumont, Riverdale Elementary
Little Lake City Elementary School District: Ed Madrid, Cresson Elementary; Margaret Johnson, Lakeview Elementary
Los Angeles Unified School District: Marian Fortunati, Camellia Avenue Elementary; Sandra Carter, Clifford Street Elementary; Zoe Jefferson, Coliseum Street Charter Elementary; Eleanor Vargas Page, Ninth Street Elementary
Montebello Unified School District: Ann Nemerouf, Bella Vista Elementary; Mary Norris, Potrero Heights Elementary
Newport Mesa Unified School District: Lorie Hoggard, Sonora Elementary
Norwalk Unified School District: Herman Mendez, D. D. Johnston Elementary; Sherry Herrera, John H. Nuffer Elementary
Orange Unified School District: Kathy Bruce, Prospect Elementary
Pasadena Unified School District: Abel Quesada, Cleveland Elementary; Judith Barnett, Loma Alta Elementary
Pomona Unified School District: Louise H. Ehresman, C. Joseph Barfield Elementary; Linda Delgado, Kingsley Elementary
Rowland Unified School District: Sandy Johnson, Rowland Elementary
Santa Ana Unified School District: Betty Tamara-Rios, Garfield Elementary; Eleanor Rodriguez, Lowell Elementary; Marisela Longacre, Andrew Jackson Elementary; Debra Sherman, Roosevelt Elementary; Anita Ford, Monte Vista Elementary
Tustin School District: Tracey Vander Hayden, Helen Estock Elementary; Kathie Nielsen, Marjorie Veeh Elementary
West Covina School District: Mary Donielson, California Elementary; Barbara Donley, Cameron Elementary; Cheryl Denoi, Merlinda Elementary
Whittier City (East) Elementary School District: Laurie Eastwood, Laurel Elementary; Lorna Nagata, Mulberry Elementary
Whittier City Elementary School District: Mary Salcido, Abraham Lincoln Elementary; Laurie Baccus, Daniel Phelan Elementary School
The Times launched Reading by 9 in 1998 in response to alarming illiteracy rates among the region's elementary school students. The Times is working with business, civic, education, government and media organizations to ensure that 95 percent of Southern California students learn to read in English at grade level by the age of nine.
Key elements of The Times' Reading by 9 program include extensive news and editorial coverage on the problem of child illiteracy. The Times program also focuses attention on instructional best practices, successful and innovative public-private literacy partnerships, and community and employee recruitment of reading volunteers. Reading by 9 is funded entirely through corporate contributions, in-kind support and foundation grants, including grants from The Broad Foundation and the New York-based Starr Foundation.
The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing company, has won 24 Pulitzer Prizes and is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country. It publishes four daily regional editions -- covering the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the San Fernando Valley, and Orange and Ventura counties -- as well as a National Edition.
SunAmerica Inc. is a financial services company specializing in retirement savings solutions and a member of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). To learn more about retirement solutions from SunAmerica Inc., visit the company's web site at www.sunamerica.com.
The Broad Foundation was established in 1999 with an initial commitment of $100 million from Eli and Edythe L. Broad. Operating as an entrepreneurial grant-making organization, the Foundation funds innovative efforts to dramatically improve governance, management and labor relations in the nation's largest urban school systems.
The Starr Foundation was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr, an insurance entrepreneur who founded the American International family of insurance companies known as American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG). The Starr Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States making grants in education, medicine and health care, public policy, human needs and culture.
More information about The Times and Reading by 9 is available on the newspaper's Web site, www.latimes.com, and www.latimes.com/readingby9. | |