Support Services » Supports for All Learners

Supports for All Learners

 

Alma’s High Demand, High Support Model

Alma scholars sitting in classroom

A critical part of Alma del Mar’s crew code is “High Demand, High Support.” This pillar of the crew code is how we approach scholar support at Alma. Alma del Mar makes sacred promises to families and scholars. When our staff agrees to educate children, we are entering an unconditional agreement. We agree to provide the support necessary to ensure that all of our scholars grow up to be service-minded leaders. We embrace the understanding that not all scholars enter our school with the same tools to meet this goal. 

The scholar support team at Alma delivers inclusive, specialized, and all-encompassing services to rigorously meet the needs of every scholar. It is our privilege to ensure that we develop our scholars' unique abilities.

Alma strives to partner with all families, including those with scholars who receive special education services or are multilingual learners.
The mission of the Alma del Mar's Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) and English Learners Parent Advisory Council (ELPAC) are to continually work toward identifying, honoring, and celebrating what sets Alma apart from other schools in the area. Alma's SEPAC and ELPAC actively seek to solve problems within the school environment and identify and address scholar challenges through collaboration and open communication between families and the school. Finally, the SEPAC and ELPAC support Alma's larger mission of affirming scholar identity and closing performance and outcome gaps. Click the "Upcoming Family Meeting" button on the right-hand side of this page to view Alma's calendar, which includes upcoming SEPAC and ELPAC meeting details.
 
Special Education and Section 504
Campus Scholars with an IEP Scholars with a 504 Plan
Sarah D. Ottiwell Campus 23% 6%
Frederick Douglass Campus 19% 7%
 
Scholar Support Staff
  • Literacy Specialists
  • Math Specialists
  • ESL Specialists
  • School Counselors
  • Speech Therapists
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Physical Therapist 
  • Paraprofessionals
  • School Nurse
  • Registered Behavioral Technicians
  • Board Certified Behavior Analysts
 
Learn more about our Special Education program and how you may request an evaluation for your child in our Scholar & Family Handbook (beginning on Page 32):
Scholar & Family Handbook
Manual Escolar y Familiar
Multilingual Learners

Alma works with families to ensure that all scholars develop English proficiency, content knowledge, and academic language skills to prepare them for success.

Alma offers direct instruction in English Language Development as well as Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) instruction to students who require ELL support. All Alma teachers receive their SEI endorsement, and all Alma classrooms support English Language Learners to be academically successful across content areas.

More than 50% of our scholar population speaks a language other than English at home.

Alma ensures that all parents receive written and oral communication from the school in their preferred language. This includes translation of written documents and interpretation services.

Stacked bar graph shows the percentage of current and former multilingual learners in each grade at Alma del Mar for the 2024-2025 school year