Lawndale presenters describe Summer Language Academy and classroom data work, drawing district praise

Presenters at the DLAC meeting described classroom-level work that the district says supports multilingual learners and drew interest from educators across California.

A presenter (S1) outlined Lawndale’s Summer Language Academy, run by “Miss Julie,” which serves newcomers, long-term English learners and dual-immersion students. S1 said visiting educators asked how Lawndale organized an academy that made teachers want to participate and students want to attend: “I would want to work there. I would want to learn with you. I would want my kid to attend that program,” S1 said, describing positive feedback from conference attendees.

Speakers from Anderson and Roosevelt (S4) and another Lawndale presenter (S5) summarized a hands-on student-data analysis session in which teachers reviewed writing samples from newcomer and long-term EL students (grades 1, 3–5 and middle school). Participants compared samples to target writing, used a rubric to score work, recorded patterns of strengths and needs, circulated in teams and discussed instructional implications. S5 said teachers left the session planning to use the tool with their teams: “This is something that we feel like we can use with our teams, on a Monday and really start moving those students.”

District staff also noted internal recognition: an ED Services newsletter item and district leadership praised the team’s deep knowledge and supports (coaches/alerts at each site). Presenters said they hoped to share their practices beyond Lawndale so other sites could adopt similar models.

Ending: Presenters encouraged attendees to share practices at their home schools; Rogers Middle School’s presentation on academic language was noted as a later board presentation date.