Principal's Message

Dear Families, 

I am looking forward to an exciting and rigorous year as we pursue our collective goal of preparing students to succeed in high school so they will be “College Prepared and Career Ready.” It is an honor to work with our brilliant and highly experienced staff, enthusiastic and supportive parents, and wonderful children. The Mark Twain population celebrates our rich diversity of ethnicities, languages and cultural backgrounds. As a graduate of both UCLA and USC, I lead with a collaborative spirit and an eye on always demanding excellence of our academic program. I am looking forward to partnering with families, teachers, and the community again to make Mark Twain Middle School the best on LA’s Westside. 

Providing a safe learning environment and forming partnerships with many community organizations allows our students to develop the values of leadership, success, and giving back. Mark Twain students participate in an academically rigorous program while developing social and critical thinking skills that will support them as lifelong learners. We continue to implement the Common Core State Standards with the goal of increasing rigor, self-voice, analytical thinking and representation of learning in a rich variety of media. Innovative and interconnected technologies that did not exist just a few years ago have fundamentally shifted the ways in which humans relate to the world; we embrace the the new opportunities technology affords our students and are implementing technology integration across all subjects when it enhances instruction. Mark Twain Middle School students receive an excellent core academic education alongside extensive enrichment programs in the arts and languages. 

Sincerely, 
Dr. Althea Ford