Thursday, September 9, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                           

John Legend Salutes 100 Top Performing LAUSD Teachers
The Show Me Campaign, John Legend’s non-profit organization, rewards teachers for their success in raising students’ test scores   

Los Angeles, CA— John Legend, humanitarian and Grammy award winning singer and songwriter, honored the 100 top performing elementary school teachers in Los Angeles Unified School District for their success in raising their students’ test scores over a seven-year period.  Legend and his non-profit organization, the Show Me Campaign, which aims to break the cycle of poverty by fighting for equal access to quality education in the United States, rewarded the 100 top elementary school teachers with gift cards to Lakeshore Learning Materials to be used to purchase additional supplies to benefit their students’ education and increase their ability to teach effectively. 

“Great teachers can make all the difference in a child’s education,” said John Legend. “But too often those teachers are rarely celebrated for their hard work and commitment to student achievement. They deserve to be recognized for their efforts in the classroom.”

The names of the top 100 teachers were taken from the value-added rating data released by the LA Times on August 28, 2010.  The Times rated about 6,000 LAUSD elementary school teachers based on their students’ progress on the California Standards Tests for English and math. 

About John Legend

Recording artist, concert performer and philanthropist John Legend has won six Grammy awards and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

Throughout his career, John has worked to make a difference in the lives of others. In 2007, John Legend launched the Show Me Campaign (ShowMeCampaign.org), an initiative that uses education to break the cycle of poverty. John sits on the Boards of The Education Equality Project, Teach for America and the Harlem Village Academies and Co-Chairs of the Harlem Village Academies’ National Leadership Board with Rupert Murdoch.

Inspired by his work in education reform, John wrote the song “Shine” for Waiting for “Superman”, Davis Guggenheim’s epic documentary about domestic education reform. Waiting for “Superman” will be released on September 24, 2010.

About The Show Me Campaign

Created by Grammy award-winning artist John Legend, the Show Me Campaign is a nonprofit organization that fights poverty using proven solutions.  Believing that equal access to quality education is the civil rights issue of our time, the Show Me Campaign fights for education reform in the United States. More information can be found at www.showmecampaign.org.

For more information: Maggie Neilson, [email protected], 206.979.7872