LAEP "Excellence in Education Awards" provide grants of up to $10,000 to honor educators and community members for exemplary and effective efforts

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL TEACHERS as well as schools and learning communities were honored Thursday at the inaugural LAEP Excellence in Education Awards in downtown Los Angeles.

Nearly 400 invited guests gathered at the awards recognition dinner at Los Angeles' Inter-Continental Hotel and paid tribute to more than 50 educators, school administrators and parents who demonstrated exemplary educational practices in pre-K through 12th grade. Award winners received framed plaques as well as grants of up to $10,000.

The purpose of the Excellence in Education Awards was to recognize and reward the effective efforts of educators and community members and to promote educational practices that can improve student learning. The awards were made possible through a major grant from the Ahmanson Foundation.

"Our hope is that tonight's awards will help to create understanding about the importance of excellence in public education," said Dr. Judy Johnson, associate director of the Los Angeles Educational Partnership, herself a veteran educator. "Excellence, is not a luxury for the city of Los Angeles or an offering to be made only to a few lucky students. Instead, excellence should be viewed as this city's most important priority -- essential to the personal well-being of all children and crucial to the civic and economic growth of our community."

Seventeen teams of teachers, schools and communities were selected for the awards from nearly 100 applications from teachers, schools and communities in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Recipients of the Excellence in Education Awards were selected based on their proven effectiveness with students and the excellent practices used in the classroom, at the school site, or in the community. Award winners were selected from those applicants who best exemplified the California Standards for the Teaching Profession and could document student progress and achievement. A screening committee of educators and community members chose finalists from the applicants, and all sites were visited by a member of the screening committee.

"This award is evidence that when everyone - parents, teachers, administrators - have high expectations that everyone wins," said Ana Escobedo, a second- and third-grade teacher at Magnolia Avenue school and the recipient of an Excellence in Education "Teaching Award." Escobedo, along with two other colleagues, created a system of individual language arts groupings amongst their students which resulted in most students reading and writing at grade level by the end of the year.

"The cooperation of all the stakeholders in the group really made this possible," she said. "Parents, school administrators and teachers can take great pride in this accomplishment."

Sherry Kuhn, who also won one of the Teaching awards, said that her and her colleagues receipt of the excellence in Education Award says that she is doing her job.

"I'm a teacher and I love being a teacher," she said. "Often teachers work so hard, but are never recognized, but not tonight. Everyone here can be proud."

The Excellence in Education Awards reflect the belief of the Los Angeles Educational Partnership that excellence in education requires accomplished teaching, well-managed schools, and strong connections between schools and their communities. The Awards aim to support and foster improvements in public education in each of these areas.

The Excellence in Education Awards were developed by the Los Angeles Educational Partnership with the funding and support of the Ahmanson Foundation. The Los Angeles Educational Partnership (LAEP) is a non-profit organization that works with educators, business leaders and community members to foster and support improvements in public education in the Los Angeles area.

"Everyday we witness extraordinary educators at work," said Peggy Funkhouser, president of the Los Angeles Educational Partnership. "We think those educators deserve the thanks and support of the Los Angeles community. We hope that this awards program will help to honor their efforts and make the public more aware of the excellence that exists in Los Angeles public schools."