Educators 4 Excellence-Los Angeles

For far too long, education policy decisions have been made without a critical voice at the table—the voice of classroom teachers. In order to truly improve a public school system that fails far too many students, we must amplify the voices and ideas of teachers who are dedicated to the success of their students.

Reversing a top-down approach to education reform is a paradigm shift—one that positions teachers as agents, not subjects, of reform. As with any meaningful, long-lasting change, it’s not enough to have five or even five hundred teachers challenging the status quo in education. We needed a large and diverse movement.

This was the genesis of Educators 4 Excellence, also known as E4E. We are a movement of teachers elevating our voices, students and profession. Our movement is built uniting Los Angeles teachers around a common vision for change as E4E members, a vision outlined in our Declaration of Teachers’ Principles and Beliefs. This broad set of teacher-written beliefs is the starting point for an honest conversation about how teachers can shape the policy and legislative changes that are and aren’t happening in education.

Today, our local movement is over a year old and has already grown to more than 2,000 members spread across 450 schools in Los Angeles. We provide teachers flexible ways to engage in our movement while remaining in their classrooms. Thousands of our members learn online by exploring education news, research, policy and peer policy ideas. Hundreds network with peers and policy leaders at our teacher-led forums, roundtables and summits. E4E members have taken action by participating in our leadership, policy programs and advocacy campaigns. In addition to leading local advocacy, our Los Angeles members are tapped into E4E’s broader national movement of over 9,000 educators who are sharing policy recommendations and best practices for raising student achievement.