Overview
WestEd leads Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in education systems, brings extensive expertise in Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education (CRSE) to support education leaders, and provides local and state education agencies with rigorous and flexible partnerships designed to create systemic change by enhancing educational equity.
Our work focuses on CRSE in order to promote systemic equity. We accomplish this by working with educators to identify solutions to the beliefs, policies, procedures, and practices affecting equity.
- Build racial equity mindsets, skills, and data literacy
- Provide job-embedded opportunities to strengthen culturally responsive teaching and leading
- Help state and local leaders sustain racially and linguistically diverse educators
- Support equity reviews for districts that include data workbooks and evaluation reports
- Inform policy development and recommendations
- Advance understanding of culturally responsive and equitable systems through relevant content
Our Foundational Values
Commitments to achieve education equity are not enough—policies, practices, and systems must change accordingly. This requires mindfulness in centering race and identifying and addressing power, privilege, and bias-based beliefs. The intent of our work is to address and fix inequitable policies, practices, and systems, not students and families, because students and families are not broken.
We use culturally responsive data inquiry methods in order to include the voices, expertise, needs and aspirations of those most impacted by–and therefore knowledgeable about–education inequities.
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Featured Experts
Dr. Saroja WarnerDr. Saroja Warner is a nationally recognized expert at WestEd who specializes in educator workforce initiatives and culturally responsive teaching, leading, and school cultures. She provides strategic leadership, and research and policy work focused on developing and retaining an effective, culturally responsive, and racially and linguistically diverse educator workforce and increasing educators’ and leaders’ use of policies and practices that promote successful and equitable learning outcomes for students.View Full Bio
David Lopez David Lopez is a Director of Equitable Systems who develops research- and evidence-based tools and resources, and provides research and policy support on creating culturally responsive and equitable systems. He is an expert facilitator and trainer on issues related to diversity, racial equity, intersectionality (e.g., race and ability), disproportionality, and culturally responsive academic and behavioral supports.View Full Bio
Andrea BrowningAndrea Browning is the Director of Student Centered Learning. She provides support and technical assistance in creating student-centered, culturally and socially responsive learning environments that prioritize student and educator well-being. Her expertise includes social and emotional learning, personalized learning, student engagement, and systems change.View Full Bio
Rawlin RosarioRawlin Rosario is a Senior Program Associate who delivers technical assistance, develops research and evidence-based tools and resources, and provides research and policy support with state, regional, and local education agencies to advance efforts for building more equitable and culturally responsive systems. His expertise includes training on issues of diversity, racial equity, and inclusion, disproportionality, instructional and leadership coaching for systems change.View Full Bio
Jaclyn TejwaniJaclyn Tejwani is a senior research associate whose management, evaluative, and improvement work encompasses a variety of evaluation designs and content areas, including teacher preparation and teacher residencies, STEM, teacher and principal evaluation, collective impact, school safety, dropout prevention, and charter and magnet school monitoring. View Full Bio
John JacobsJohn Jacobs is a Senior Technical Assistance Specialist at WestEd. He delivers professional learning, technical assistance, coaching, consultation, and develops research and evidence-based tools, guides, and comprehensive equity audits. This work supports state education agencies, district and school-based leaders and educators in creating culturally responsive & equitable academic and behavioral systems, practices, dispositions, and environments. View Full Bio
WestEd Bulletin
Stay up to date with the latest WestEd news, events, research, and leading voices to support your commitment to improving learning, healthy development, and equity in schools and communities.
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Black Students Twice As Likely To Be Suspended From Lansing School District, Audit Finds
Insights & Impact / September 3, 2024
WestEd conducted an equity audit for Lansing School District and found racial disparities in discipline, academic achievement, access to AP courses, and general treatment of students. -
WestEd at the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness 2024 Conference, September 19-21
Events / September 18, 2024
WestEd research experts will be presenting on a range of salient topics at the 2024 Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) conference, held on September 19–21, 2024, at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.
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Dr. Saroja Warner Presenting at the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET) 65th World Assembly
Events / June 13, 2024
Dr. Saroja Warner, Director of Culturally Responsive and Equitable Systems at WestEd, and Dr. Maria Hayler, Director of the Learning Policy Institute Washington, D.C. office, will present at the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET) 65th World Assembly on June 13, 2024, at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal.
Our Work in Action
Supporting Lansing School District Through Systemic Equity Review
WestEd collaborated with Lansing School District in Michigan to identify, understand, address systemic inequities through a comprehensive review of policies and systems. Our team led the creation of the district’s equity team, who played a major role in making a sustainable impact in the district by identifying persistent challenges and initiating change to address longstanding equity concerns in the district.
