Diversity has a New Home with ‘Improving Learning Resources through Diversity’ Initiative

 

diversity.aepweb.org provides resources for implementing a diversity initiative within educational publishing companies, both big and small

 

LOGAN TWP, NJ—June 11, 2009—The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) is launching the Improving Learning Resources through Diversity (ILRTD) initiative as a way to attract and retain diverse populations to the field of educational publishing. Designed to address the needs of students in K-12 schools, especially those in large urban areas where minorities are the majority, the project was funded by a grant through the state of Pennsylvania.

The ILRTD initiative will kick off at the AEP Summit’s Out of the Box Breakfast being held from 7:30 am ­ 8:45 am on Thursday, June 11, 2009 at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC. The breakfast is sponsored by Follett Digital Resources. To attend the launch of this initiative, please call 410-975-9638 or email kati@kehcomm.com.

 

The AEP represents supplemental educational publishers, a nearly $3 billion industry that creates the materials most students use in classrooms today. These materials must meet the needs of America’s diverse public school population, yet today the industry is made up of approximately 90% Caucasian employees. By creating a rigorous recruitment effort designed to help all AEP members implement a diversity initiative, the association hopes to encourage all educational publishers to hire a diverse staff that will create materials that can:

• Respond to a broader range of student needs
• Engage all students more effectively
• Improve student performance particularly among at-risk groups

“By helping our member companies effectively recruit a diverse industry work force, we are helping them to accurately meet the needs of American classrooms,” said Charlene Gaynor, AEP’s CEO. “We are rolling out this pilot program in Pennsylvania and surrounding states and have plans to make it nationwide if additional funding can be secured.”

The Improving Learning Resources through Diversity (ILRTD) initiative aims to bridge the cultural gap between educational resource providers and student users, thereby enriching content relevance and eliminating unintended cultural bias. Recruitment components include:

 

About AEP
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) is a nonprofit organization that serves and advances the industry of supplemental educational publishing. The membership of AEP represents the breadth of educational content developers delivering progressive educational products in all media and for any educational setting.

AEP's thought leadership and market insight have created ground-breaking opportunities for its members to collaborate, network, and partner with each other as well as to acquire a voice in the development of government education policy. Founded in 1895, AEP now assists its members in navigating the global realities of educational publishing in the 21st Century. For more information, please visit www.AEPweb.org.