Sharon Nelson-Barber
Director, Culture and Language in Education Research

Tel: 650.381.6408 650.381.6401 Email: snelson@wested.org Mailing Address:

Since 1998, Sharon Nelson-Barber has directed WestEd’s Center for the Study of Culture and Language in Education (CLE), which works with schools and communities to improve services to students from diverse linguistic, cultural, and racial backgrounds. CLE’s work spans the lower 48 states, Alaska, the Northern Pacific islands of Micronesia, and many areas of Polynesia. Center research focuses on understanding how the sociocultural contexts in which students live influence the ways in which they make sense of schooling in mathematics and science. It also focuses on understanding how aspects of cultural knowledge can become visible within the formats of large-scale testing in order to ensure assessment is equitable for all students. Nelson-Barber recently convened two international study groups to examine science and mathematics education from an indigenous perspective. This work led to the creation of POLARIS (Pacific/Polar Opportunities to Learn, Advance and Research Indigenous Systems), a research and development network that fosters healthy communities in healthy environments; encourages social and educational transformation; and brings a uniquely indigenous world view to new frontiers of knowledge. A Polaris Project is now under development for the International Symposium, Rising Waters/Melting Ice: Issues of Climate Change for Pacific and Polar Peoples. This symposium will convene indigenous elders and scientists to document technical solutions to climate change from both indigenous and western academic perspectives, and heighten international attention to the need to preserve cultures and societies amidst rising waters. Nelson-Barber has published extensively and is a contributor to the book, Language, Culture, and Community in Teacher Education. She is active in major organizations and meetings in anthropology and education, and serves on a number of national advisory boards and steering committees on teaching and learning in culturally diverse settings, including board chair for Foundation for a College Education; trustee for Family and Children Services; and trustee for the Phillips Brooks School. Additionally, Nelson-Barber teaches the course, Language, Culture and Education in Indigenous North America: American Indian Ways of Knowing at Stanford University's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. She received a BA in Russian history from Mount Holyoke College, earned a doctorate in human development from Harvard University, and completed postdoctoral work at Stanford University as a Spencer Fellow.

Which Projects involve Sharon? Cultural Validity in Assessment Project Culture and Language in Education Research