About Us

As Director of WestEd's English Language and Literacy Acceleration (ELLA) project, Pamela Spycher designs and implements research-based professional development for teachers, instructional coaches, and school and district administrators. The goal of ELLA is to support English learners, low literacy students, and other students who may experience difficulty mastering academic language, achieve academic success.

Since joining WestEd in 2005, Spycher has coached and trained thousands of K-12 teachers, administrators, and coaches in schools and districts in multiple states. Spycher shows ELLA participants how to strategically and consistently implement evidence-based, effective instructional strategies for improving the academic performance of English learners and academic language learners across the content areas. Specifically, ELLA focuses on increasing student engagement, motivation, and academic conversation in the classroom; academic vocabulary instruction; reading and listening comprehension instruction; and academic writing instruction.

ELLA workshop participants have reported that the intensive coaching and training they receive helps them effectively teach their English learners, low literacy students, and students who do not have a strong background in academic language. Further, teachers say that the quality of the professional discussions about teaching they have with colleagues, as well as the collaborative lesson planning they engage in, improves with this training.

Prior to joining WestEd, Spycher was a bilingual teacher, English language development specialist, and English immersion teacher in K-12 classrooms in California, Oregon, Europe, and Asia. She served in leadership positions for the California Reading and Literature Project and the San Diego County Office of Education. She also mentored beginning teachers in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis.

Spycher received a PhD in education with an emphasis in language, literacy, and culture and a designated emphasis in second language acquisition from the University of California, Davis.

Senior Research Associate Tamaye Ota directs the English Language and Literacy Acceleration (ELLA) at WestEd, a comprehensive, coherent, and high-impact process for improving the academic performance of English learners.

Ota develops and provides English Learner Professional Development (ELPD) institutes and modules; and administrator, teacher, and site-based coach training. She also facilitates instructional improvement aimed at developing academic language proficiency for all students in California, Arizona, and Hawaii.

In California, Ota works with several high-poverty districts on their language arts implementation, intensive and rigorous reading and writing instruction, and scaffolding extended discourse. She also provides these districts with a comprehensive vocabulary program.

Many of the California schools with which Ota works have experienced increased achievement gains for all groups of students and several have met state and federal accountability measures for the first time.

Prior to joining the ELLA project within the Comprehensive School Assistance Program (CSAP) at WestEd, Ota served as School Assistance and Intervention Team leader, also within CSAP. As such, she provided professional development and coaching for teachers, coaches, and administrators in the federally funded Arizona Reading First Program.

Reading First provided an opportunity for the state of Arizona to work with its districts to ensure that K-3 teachers' instructional practice reflected scientific research and use of rigorous assessments with proven validity and reliability to effectively screen, diagnose, and monitor the progress of all students. Arizona's Reading First program was studied by the federal government because of its high achievement results for students across the state.

Prior to joining WestEd, Ota was the principal of an underperforming school in the Central San Joaquin Valley. This California school served a high population of English language learners and students in poverty. With a focus on systems for quality instruction, intervention, language development, and an emphasis on professional development and coaching, the school, under Ota's leadership, significantly improved its academic achievement.

Prior to serving as principal, Ota worked with WestEd serving schools participating in the Reading Excellence Act. She provided Reading Success Network training to three cadres of schools and worked directly with eight schools to implement effective K-3 reading instruction, intervention, and family literacy.

Ota was a Literacy Coordinator for America's Choice standards-based school reform model and a classroom teacher of Title I/English learner literacy.

She received a BA in psychology from California State University, Fresno and an MA in administration services from Fresno Pacific University.

WestEd Senior Research Associate Johnpaul Lapid is one of the lead providers for the English Language and Literacy Acceleration (ELLA) project: a comprehensive, coherent, and high-impact process for improving the academic performance of English learners.

Lapid provides training and technical assistance with the implementation of state and national standards, assessments, and scientifically valid methods to districts, administrators, teachers, and paraprofessionals in Arizona, California, and Nevada.

In California, Lapid works with several high-poverty districts on their district/school improvement plans that focus on language arts implementation, intensive and rigorous reading and writing instruction, and a comprehensive vocabulary program.

Many of the California schools with which Lapid works have experienced increased achievement gains for all groups of students and several have met state and federal accountability measures for the first time.

Lapid delivers effective ongoing professional development to enhance high-quality teachers, administrators, and district personnel to meet the needs of all students. He accomplishes this through best instructional practices, data analysis, product development, and the delivery of programs under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Prior to joining the ELLA project within WestEd's Comprehensive School Assistance Program (CSAP), Lapid was involved with the Arizona Department of Education Reading First office, implementing the Arizona READS initiative. He provided technical assistance to the Reading First office and delivered professional development to over 5,000 Reading First administrators, instructional coaches, and teachers. His work with these school and district personnel focuses on standards, assessments, and instructional strategies that directly affect over 55,000 students statewide.

Along with assisting low-performing schools with the school improvement process and serving as an External Facilitator for the Nevada Department of Education, Lapid is one of the primary authors of the Teach for Success Classroom Observation Protocol.

Prior to joining WestEd in 2001, Lapid was an Adjunct Professor of Education through the University of Guam, where he focused on language and literacy development throughout the Pacific region. Lapid has worked across grade levels in California, Guam, and the Marshall Islands.

He received a BA in early childhood/elementary education and an MEd in language and literacy from the University of Guam.

A Special Education Resources Development Specialist at WestEd, Silvia DeRuvo works with schools and districts to improve instructional practices and programs for students with disabilities.

DeRuvo's work focuses primarily on the implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) models of schoolwide instructional and behavioral support and collaborative service delivery models of special education.

A member of WestEd's Center for Prevention & Early Intervention, DeRuvo develops materials, resources, training, and technical assistance as well as coaching for a variety of projects including the Least Restrictive Environment Resources Project with the California Department of Education; the Windward District (Hawaii) Achievement4All Special Education Restructuring Project; and the Hayward District Assistance Intervention Team (DAIT) project.

DeRuvo also has worked with schools in California's Ontario Montclair District and Union Elementary School District. She often helps school staff implement effective instructional programs and practices that support the needs of students with disabilities and other at-risk populations in integrated schoolwide programs.

Also a member of WestEd's California Comprehensive Center (CA CC), DeRuvo works primarily with the California Department of Education (CDE), Special Education Division to support its efforts on the statewide implementation of standards-based Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and collaborative special education instructional models. The products developed on these topics have been highlighted in several WestEd SchoolsMovingUp webinars and as online training tools.

In her role in the CA CC, DeRuvo represents the state of California in several national communities of practice focused on state implementation of RtI and helps develop resources and information briefs for CDE on Response to Instruction and Intervention — RtI2. She has also facilitated a SchoolsMovingUp webinar series on RtI models in the state of California across grade levels and helped facilitate and plan CDE's Determining Specific Learning Disability Eligibility Using Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtI2). This product provides guidance to schools and districts on the use of RtI2 instructional practices in the determination of specific learning disabilities.

Also working for WestEd's Comprehensive School Assistance Program (CSAP), DeRuvo works with the Lennox DAIT team in the implementation of RtI as a districtwide improvement initiative. She also serves as an English Learner Professional Development trainer for CSAP's English Learners and the Language Arts (ELLA) project.

Prior to joining WestEd, DeRuvo was an elementary special educator for nearly 20 years, and an instructor and supervisor for special education and secondary interns for California State University, Sacramento, the San Joaquin County Office of Education, and the Northern California Project Pipeline. Her work with these interns allowed her to support the implementation of inclusive special education and general education instructional models, including successful co-teaching and the successful integration of students with behavioral disorders into general education classrooms.

She has coauthored Teaching Young Children With ADHD: Successful Strategies and Practical Interventions for PreK-3 (2007), a book on successful classroom strategies for students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in preschool and elementary settings; and The School Counselor's Guide to ADHD: What to Know and What to Do to Help Your Students (2009), a book intended to support school counselors in their work with young clients with ADHD. She also authored Strategies for Teaching Adolescents with ADHD: Effective Classroom Techniques Across the Content Areas.

DeRuvo is past President of the California Association of Resource Specialists & Special Educators. She also served as the liaison to several state task forces at the California Department of Education, including the Partnership Committee on Special Education; the Least Restrictive Environment Task Force; and the Task Force on Recruitment, Preparation, and Retention of Special Education Teachers. In addition, DeRuvo has served as a national speaker for the Bureau of Education and Research, speaking on topics in relation to RtI implementation practices and standards-based IEPs.

In 2007, DeRuvo received the Award for Exceptional Contribution to the WestEd Community for building bridges between special education and regular education, between programs and teams within the agency, and between WestEd staff and external clients.

She received a BA and MA in communicative disorders from California State University, Fresno. She also holds California credentials in elementary multiple subjects and received certification as a Special Education Specialist, Resource Specialist, and in the areas of communications handicaps and special designed academic instruction in English.

Senior Research and Program Associate Marla E. Perez-Selles works closely with schools, helping to provide research-based instructional support for English learners. Her work has resulted in improved academic performance of English learners and students from low-income families.

A member of Learning Innovations at WestEd, Perez-Selles works with schools, districts, and state departments of education in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. She provides technical assistance on issues and programs to meet the academic needs of English learners, and develops leadership capacity in schools, standards-based teaching and assessments, and effective collaborative data-driven teams.

Through training and implementation of WestEd's Local Accountability Professional Development Series, Perez-Selles helps school teams develop the capacity to analyze data to inform interventions for students at risk of academic failure, and implement and monitor effective teaching strategies and programs.

She serves as Project Director for Understanding the Academic Performance of Hispanic Students in the Virgin Islands, a research project as part of the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands. This study will provide the Virgin Islands Department of Education, and other policy- and decision-makers, with a research-based understanding of the academic profile of the Islands' growing Hispanic student population, many of whom are English learners. The results will be disseminated not only to policy- and decision-makers, but also to teacher educators and others in programmatic positions, including district superintendent and curriculum staff, seeking to address further supports for these students.

Throughout her career, Perez-Selles has worked with teams of principals, superintendents, and district administrators on school reform and improvement; has taught graduate courses on bilingual education and English as a second language; and has authored a number of articles on bilingual education, collaboration, and teamwork to promote student-centered classrooms.

Perez-Selles is the former principal and architect of Amigos School, a nationally recognized urban dual immersion school serving a linguistically diverse community that, under her leadership, evolved from a program into a K–8 school. Her expertise in school leadership resulted in Amigos School achieving Adequate Yearly Progress in both mathematics and English language arts in all student subgroups.

She is a former president and current Board member of the Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education. She won a Publications Award for Kindle the Spark: An Action Guide for Schools Committed to the Success of Every Child and a "Spirit the Corps" award for her leadership in collaboration within The NETWORK, Inc.

Perez-Selles received a BA and an MA in English from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in educational administration and policy from the University of Massachusetts.

Annabel Lee is a Senior Program Associate at WestEd. Her work with the agency's Local Accountability Professional Development Series (LAPDS) is to build the capacity of districts and schools to meet accountability goals, improve student performance through common formative assessments, conduct analyses of data to inform instruction, and implement and monitor effective teaching strategies and programs.

Under her leadership at Noralto Elementary School, LAPDS was implemented in 2007. Full implementation of essential standards (guaranteed minimum curricula), a common instructional calendar, use of teacher written common formative assessments, and reteach and enrichment classes, all coupled with time on task and multiple opportunities to practice, brought about a significant increase in student achievement from January 2007 to June 2008. Specifically, the school’s Academic Performance Index increased from 679 to 719 (40 points growth). In addition, proficient and advanced students in English language arts increased from 27% to 50% for second graders, 26% to 44% for fourth graders, and 26% to 52% for fifth graders on the California Standards Test.

Prior to joining WestEd, Lee was an elementary classroom teacher, intervention teacher, English learner resource teacher, and principal. She is bilingual in Hmong and English.

Lee received a BA in liberal studies from Stanislaus State University and an MS in educational administration from National University.

Kimberly Allen is a School/District Improvement Facilitator for the Comprehensive School Assistance Program at WestEd.

She has served over 20 years in education as a teacher, administrator, and advocate for children.

Prior to joining WestEd, Allen was Deputy Associate Superintendent of School Improvement and Intervention for the Arizona Department of Education.

Allen is the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award (2000).

In addition, she was appointed to the Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board; selected for the Fulbright Administrator Exchange Scholar program; served as a Teaching Tolerance fellow; graduated from Phoenix’s Valley Leadership program; and recently appointed to the National Advisory Board of Rachel’s Challenge, a nonprofit organization.

She received a Bachelor's degree in elementary education and special education from Emporia State University and a Master's degree in educational administration and leadership from Arizona State University.