U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, will visit Jefferson High School and Carver Middle School in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 7 to meet with students and school leaders. Both schools are recipients of a U.S. Department of Education School Improvement Grant (SIG), a federal funding program that supports school turnaround efforts for persistently low-achieving schools. During her visits, Dr. Meléndez de Santa Ana will underscore the importance of turning around low-performing schools, and how school turnarounds benefit students, families and the community. She will also discuss how the U.S. Department of Education is supporting states, districts and schools as they undertake this critical work.
Earlier today, Dr. Meléndez de Santa Ana addressed the 2011 Western Regional School Improvement Grant Capacity-Building Conference for School Improvement Grant (SIG) recipients. The conference is the first of four conferences being held over the next two months in Los Angeles, D.C., Chicago and Denver, to support state and local education agencies, as well as schools, in their efforts to successfully turnaround persistently low-achieving schools. The conferences will bring together practitioners, researchers and education leaders from across the country to discuss challenges and share promising practices and examples.