Rose Owens-West

Rose Owens-West has served WestEd in a number of capacities since 1991. Her current leadership roles include serving as Director of the Regional Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) Technical Assistance Center serving Arizona, California, and Nevada. In this role she works with districts and schools to re-design large, comprehensive high schools into Smaller Learning communities to improve student achievement.

She also serves as Associate Director of the California Comprehensive Assistance Center. Her responsibilities include building California's capacity to implement the federal No Child Left Behind Act; supporting those working districts and schools to improve student achievement; and building the capacity of the state and districts to support students with special needs.

Owens-West is an expert in federally funded programs, with particular expertise in Title I of No Child Left Behind and the Smaller Learning Communities Program. She has worked extensively with the California Department of Education and provided technical assistance in major California districts including San Francisco, Oakland, Compton, Los Angeles, and Sacramento as well as in rural districts in the northernmost part of the state.

Prior to joining WestEd, Owens-West worked at RMC, specializing in program improvement delivery, at Stanford University with the Accelerated Schools Project and the Pew Forum for Educational Reform, and the Illinois State Board of Education. Owens-West earned a PhD from Stanford University in Education Administration and Policy Analysis. She holds a MA in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana and a BA in Anthropology from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.