FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Keziah Moss, Director of Community & Employee Engagement, (510) 667-6202, kmoss@slusd.us

San Leandro Unified Recognizes African American and Latino Academic Achievement

SAN LEANDRO, CA – San Leandro Unified School District will host a series of recognition nights for African American and Latino students who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement throughout the 2018-19 school year. Almost 1,300 fifth through twelfth grade students from all 12 district schools will be recognized at formal evening events over the next several weeks. “We are proud of the hard work all of our students put in throughout the school year,” said District Superintendent Mike McLaughlin, “But our Latino and African American students continue to face significant challenges in our society. They deserve special recognition for defying statistical averages and overcoming a persistent achievement gap, which is really more accurately described as an equitable access gap.”

Efforts to eliminate these gaps and barriers have been a primary focus for the district over the past five years. Key initiatives in the SLUSD strategic action plan in support of these efforts include:

• Implementation of a districtwide Graduate Profile focused on developing ethical and cultural leaders who validate their home culture and language, who can communicate and lead across cultural and linguistic differences
• New ELA and Math standards-aligned curriculum that foster rigor
• Integrated career pathways including work-based learning and internships with local businesses and nonprofits
• Equity-based grading professional development
• Dual Language Immersion program
• S.T.E.A.M. programming
• State of the art technology infrastructure for every classroom in every school
• One-to-one student to device ratio for all students
• Multi-tiered intervention framework for academic and behavioral support
• School-based health center with wraparound emotional and physical health services
• Systematized parent engagement including parent facilitators and empowerment academies
• Modernized libraries at every school site

The district also provides the PSAT and SAT college admission exams for free, during the school day. This universal access is a central component of the district’s commitment to college and career readiness for all. “We must remove barriers for our students,” said McLaughlin, “We want all students have equitable opportunities for success.”

San Leandro Unified recently received national recognition for their equity work, earning the “Advanced Placement​®​  District of the Year” distinction from the College Board for expanding access to Advanced Placement Program ® (AP ® ) courses while simultaneously improving AP Exam performance. One aspect of that recognition highlighted significant increases in the percentage of traditionally underrepresented minority students earning a 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam from 59% to 72%. SLUSD was the only district in the state and one of only three in the nation who were honored with this recognition.

All of the achievement night events will be held at the San Leandro High School gymnasium starting at 6:30 pm. Dates for the specific events are as follows:

March 21 - Latino Achievement Night for Bancroft Middle School, Jefferson, McKinley, Roosevelt and Washington Elementary Schools, and Lincoln Alternative Education Center

April 11 - Latino Achievement Night for San Leandro High School, John Muir Middle School, Garfield, Madison, Monroe and Wilson Elementary Schools

April 25 - African American Achievement Night for all SLUSD schools

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About the San Leandro Unified School District

The San Leandro Unified School District operates a comprehensive TK-12 program and an adult school at 14 campuses throughout San Leandro. The district educates its students by utilizing state-of-the-art technologies and innovative teaching strategies to help students achieve academic excellence and become collaborative and competitive in a global society. For more information, visit www.slusd.us