Background

Dr. Noma LeMoine’s career in education spans over 40 years.  She is a nationally recognized expert on issues of language acquisition, literacy, and learning in African American Standard English Learners (SELs), and other students for whom Standard English is not native.  She has written and spoken extensively on the topic and is a highly sought-after consultant to colleges, universities, and school districts throughout the United States and Canada.

Dr. LeMoine’s vast experience in education includes serving as a Language and Speech Consultant to Head Start Programs, with primary responsibility for training teachers of inner city pre-school students in instructional methodologies that facilitate language and literacy acquisition.  She has served as a Language, Speech and Diagnostic Specialist, a Classroom Teacher and “Mentor Teacher,” and as a Program Director, Administrator, and Consultant.  Dr. LeMoine served over ten years as Adjunct Professor at California universities and colleges, two years as Commissioner on Education for the California Speech, Language and Hearing Association, and ten years as a member of the National Citizen’s Commission on African American Education, an arm of the Congressional Black Caucus Education Brain Trust.

Dr. LeMoine has over 25 years of experience in administrative positions including serving as program Administrator and Coordinator of the Los Angeles Unified School district’s Speech, Language and Aphasia Programs, and as Principal, Investigator and Director of Operations of the NASA funded Maxine Waters Saturday Academy for Student Advancement in Math, Science and Communications, a proposal she wrote and was awarded $600,000 by NASA to implement.

For twenty years, Dr. LeMoine served as Director of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP). The AEMP implemented in 81 schools, is a comprehensive, research-based program designed to address the language acquisition and learning needs of Standard English Learner (SEL) populations.  The Program supports teachers, administrators, and Para educators in effectively incorporating culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy into core instruction.  Under Dr. LeMoine’s visionary leadership, the Academic English Mastery Program became a national model for addressing the language, literacy and learning needs of African American and other students for whom Standard English is not native.  The Program has been featured on 60 Minutes, in periodicals including Education Week and Teacher Magazine, in the PBS Documentary “Do You Speak American” and has been lauded by linguists as the exemplary instructional model for addressing the language acquisition needs of African American SELs.

Dr. LeMoine served ten years as Director of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s “Closing the Achievement Gap Branch.”  In this role, she oversaw implementation of the District’s closing the achievement gap initiatives intended to eliminate disparities in educational outcomes for under-achieving students.  During this period the District saw improved academic achievement scores in both African American and Latino/Hispanic student populations.

She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Southern California with a specialization in Language, Literacy, and Learning, a Master’s degree in Language and Speech Pathology and Audiology from California State University at Los Angeles, a second Master’s degree in Education, from California Lutheran University, and a third Master’s degree in Practical Theology, from The Kings University & Seminary. She is the recipient of a Bachelor’s degree in Language and Speech Communications from Pepperdine University and an Associate of Arts degree from East Los Angeles Community College. Dr. LeMoine also completed eight summers of study at St. Anne’s College in Oxford as part of The King’s University “Oxford Experience.”

Dr. LeMoine’s research interests and expertise include language and literacy acquisition in Standard English learner (SEL) populations and methodologies for improving language acquisition and learning in culturally and linguistically diverse students. Dr. LeMoine writes curriculum, designs and conducts professional development for Teachers, Administrators, Speech/Language Pathologists and Para-educators, and consults with institutions of higher learning and K-12 schools relative to advancing learning in SEL populations. She has conducted short courses, seminars, and been guest lecturer at Colleges and Universities throughout the United States including Harvard University, Stanford University, and Dartmouth College, the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and many others. Dr. LeMoine has served on numerous California State Department of Education committees including as a member of the California State Department of Education’s Exemplary Schools Committee, and over 5 years with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Her work has taken her on educational exchanges to Africa, India, China and the Caribbean.

Dr. LeMoine is the recipient of numerous professional honors and awards including, the California Speech, Language and Hearing Association, “Outstanding Achievement Award” (1988), the “Lois V. Douglass, Distinguished Alumnus Award” from the Department of Communication Disorders at California State University, Los Angeles, 1991, and in April of 1992, Dr. LeMoine was named Fellow of the California Speech Language and Hearing Association, one of the organization’s highest honors.  In June of 1995, Noma was the recipient of the NAACP. Legal Defense Fund’s “Black Woman of Achievement Award” and in 1997, Mount St. Mary’s College awarded Dr. LeMoine the “Cultural Fluency Award” in recognition of outstanding contributions to the development of cross-cultural understanding in the Los Angeles Community.  In June of 2005, the Association of California School Administrators bestowed upon Dr. LeMoine the Region XVI Valuing Diversity Award for her work in Los Angeles Unified School District toward closing the achievement gap and in February of 2008, the Southern California Chapter of the California Alliance of African American Educators bestowed upon Dr. LeMoine, the Asa G. Hilliard III, “Will to Educate Award” for distinguished service on behalf of African American students.  In June 0f 2009, Dr. LeMoine was honored with the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education “2009 Trailblazers Award” and in November of 2009 she was the recipient of the “Distinguished Educator Award” from the Southern California Affiliate of the National Council of Negro Women.

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