Norma Silva

Founding Charter Elementary School Principal Norma Silva returns to Para Los Niños after serving for eight years as principal of UCLA Lab School. Her profession’s journey has brought her full circle to both schools twice and Norma is excited about the many possibilities there are for this new chapter at Para Los Niños. Norma began her teaching career at the Los Angeles Unified School District as a bilingual teacher and a Categorical Programs Advisor. After earning her M.Ed. in Administrative Studies at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education, she began her administrative years as Director of Student and Family Affairs at UCLA Lab School (formerly Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School). She engaged in research about school culture with a committee of teachers working with Dr. Jaana Juvonen and collaborated to develop the Safe School system which promotes a positive school culture and builds character and social skills for students in the context of democratic learning community. Norma led the school in contemporizing the inquiry approach and worked to align to the Common Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Social Studies/C3 Frameworks. During her tenure at UCLA Lab School, teachers worked to provide professional development in Cognitively Guided Instruction in Mathematics and developed an Inquiry and STEAM approach which is now being shared through partnerships in Los Angeles and beyond. Over the past eight years, Norma worked with second language acquisition expert UCLA Professor, Dr. Alison Bailey, and Dr. Rashmita Mistry to develop a successful 90/10 dual immersion model in Spanish and English. Norma looks forward to using her gained knowledge and experience with the children they serve at Para Los Niños.