As a Research Associate in the Health & Human Development Program at WestEd, Miriam Maya implements high-quality research and evaluations, with a focus on college readiness and community college reform.

She also serves as the Coordinator of the agency's Regional Educational Laboratory West Community College Alliance.

Maya has experience in coordinating and managing evaluations of programs, as well as providing technical assistance to clients, including school districts, community colleges, and local government agencies.

She serves as the evaluator on a Hispanic-Serving Institutions Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math grant. She also serves on the Magnet Schools Assistance Program Compliance Monitoring Project, where she supports quality grant administration and implementation.

Maya has also been involved in projects looking at promising practices in schools nationwide. For example, she conducted field research and contributed to the Successful Magnet High Schools Guide, contracted by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement.

She also helped produce the Evaluation Toolkit for Magnet School Programs and developed content for Doing What Works, an online library of research-based instructional practices.

Maya co-led the Supplemental Educational Services and Faith-Based & Community Organizations (FBCO) project, which helped establish partnerships between FBCOs and Supplemental Educational Services (SES) providers to improve student recruitment, retention, and achievement outcomes.

Prior to joining WestEd in 2007, Maya was Regional Director for a Supplemental Educational Services provider in Southern California. She was responsible for organizing and implementing tutoring and enrichment programs to students who attended Program Improvement schools.

Maya received a BA in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA in primary education from the Institute of Education, University of London. She also completed the University of California's Leadership Certification Program.