Kathy DiRanna is WestEd's K-12 Alliance Statewide Director. She has been an advocate for quality science and mathematics education in California for the past 25 years.

During its 23-year history, the K-12 Alliance has worked with more than 5,000 elementary schools, 500 middle schools, and 300 high schools, impacting thousands of teachers and students.

DiRanna has conducted extensive work in systemic reform as the Co-Principal Investigator/Project Director for the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded California Systemic Initiative and the Science Partnership for Articulation and Networking (SPAN) project. In addition to working on numerous state committees and programs, DiRanna has co-developed national projects including the WestEd National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership (NASMEL), BSCS/WestEd National Academy for Curriculum Leadership (NACL), TERC/WestEd Using Data Project (UDP), and the Center for the Evaluation and Assessment of Student Learning (CAESL) professional development programs. Currently, she is working on the FOSS Leadership Academy.

DiRanna oversees the K-12 Alliance's grant-funded programs such as the California Math and Science Partnership (CAMSP) and the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC). All evaluation reports of these programs show teacher growth in content knowledge and pedagogical skills. In addition, both student achievement on classroom assessments and CST scores in mathematics and science for grades 5 and 8 have increased.

DiRanna coauthored Assessment-Centered Teaching: A Reflective Process; Making Connections; A Data Coach's Guide to Improving Learning for All: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative Inquiry. She contributed to a chapter in Professional Learning Communities for Science Teaching: Lessons from Research and Practice and coauthored an assessment article for Principal Leadership.

A featured speaker at state and national conferences, DiRanna received the California Science Teachers Association's highest award, the Margaret Nicholson Award for Distinguished Service to Science Education. She also received the WestEd Paul D. Hood Award for individual distinguished service to the field.

DiRanna received a BA in biology from Cal Western University and an MA in zoology from the University of California, Los Angeles.