Overview
To support accelerated learning and improve student well-being, every classroom must be led by an effective educator.
At WestEd, we advance solutions and apply innovative strategies to support the development and retention of an effective, culturally responsive, and diverse educator workforce through our technical assistance and research.
Our team offers extensive content expertise to help you meet your goals to support educators. Many of our staff are former teachers who have direct experience delivering engaging, outcomes-driven technical assistance and research.
Our Work
- Capacity building for LEAs and SEAs and others interested in growing knowledge, skill, and practice
- High-quality evaluations that answer questions about effectiveness of programs, practices, and policies
- Research studies that inform policy and practice
- Technical assistance and professional learning grounded in adult learning theory and improvement science
Discover how we can work with you in elevating the teaching profession to encourage and sustain high-quality teaching.
Insights & Impact
Now Is the Time to Increase Teacher Compensation. Insights From Sabrina Laine, Chief Program Officer at WestEd
Teacher shortages have persisted in the United States for decades despite numerous efforts to address them. In this blog post, the first in the Money Matters: Conversations About Teacher Compensation Series, Sabrina Laine, Chief Program Officer at WestEd, describes why the first step in solving these shortages should be increasing teacher compensation.
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Connect with us on social media, where we share valuable information every day to help you tackle real-world challenges.
Featured Experts
Sarah Barzee Sarah Barzee serves as Senior Director of State Education Services at WestEd and as Director of the Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC), supporting state education agencies in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island. Barzee brings expansive expertise to her roles at WestEd, including background knowledge of special education, leadership, educator effectiveness, and talent development.View Full Bio
Saroja WarnerSaroja Warner, Director for Culturally Responsive and Equitable Systems at WestEd, is committed to ensuring that each child experiences teaching and learning in classrooms and schools that are led by educators who are culturally responsive and racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse. Early in her life, watching the struggles her mother experienced in advocating for Warner’s hearing-impaired younger brother, Warner learned that equity is not the same as equal.View Full Bio
Jaclyn TejwaniJaclyn Jagdish Tejwani is a program evaluator with expertise in teacher residencies and preparation programs; rural and community schools; and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in K–12 and higher education STEM disciplines. The through line for her work is a focus on diversity and inclusion to support more equitable systems and outcomes for all learners. Her work embeds culturally responsive evaluation practices, including bringing diverse evaluation teams into her work and authentically partnering with communities.
View Full Bio
Gretchen WeberAs a Senior Managing Director at WestEd, Gretchen Weber leads a portfolio of work in school choice, literacy, and talent development and diversity. Prior to joining WestEd, Weber was the Vice President at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), focusing on educator effectiveness, college and career readiness, and personalized learning. She also co-led the strategy office, overseeing business development strategy and research-to-practice applications for the organization’s Professional Services division.View Full Bio
Reino MakkonenWestEd Senior Policy Associate Reino Makkonen is a senior researcher with two decades of experience studying teacher workforce issues and school and district leadership across Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. His work involves developing and validating interview, survey, and observation instruments and evaluating educator development programs via mixed methods.View Full Bio
Melissa WhiteMelissa Eiler White is a Project Director in Innovation Studies at WestEd, where she leads research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects focused on teachers and teaching. Over the last several years, her work has focused on supporting improvement of teacher preparation programs. White has also led numerous research efforts for the Regional Educational Laboratory West (REL West) at WestEd.
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Erin BrowderErin Browder provides technical assistance and project design for K–12 initiatives relating to trauma-informed topics, school improvement, systems change, leadership development, social–emotional learning, and culturally responsive and equity-centered approaches that foster safe and supportive schools. From working as an elementary classroom teacher in East Harlem to facilitating school transformation in a comprehensive Los Angeles high school, Browder brings a diverse skill set of working with schools, districts, and state systems. 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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WestEd at the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) 2023 Conference
Events / September 27, 2023
WestEd research experts will be presenting on a range of salient topics at the 2023 Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness.
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How States Are Building District Capacity to Overcome Teacher Shortages (Part III)
Insights & Impact / September 5, 2023
In the final post of this series, we explore how state education agencies in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah are increasing the ability of their school districts to effectively recruit and retain teachers, particularly teachers of color and those in rural areas. -
Back-to-School Spotlight: Strategic Resource Management to Support the Whole Child, Person, and Community
Insights & Impact / August 24, 2023
These Spotlight resources and events aim to assist educators with managing funds to boost teacher compensation, improve outcomes for students who are and have been underserved, address learning loss, and more.
In the Spotlight
Below are featured projects that demonstrate how states and districts are successfully addressing their most pressing teacher workforce challenges.
Supporting Educator Diversity in Connecticut
In collaboration with the REL-NEI, the Region 2 Comprehensive Center is assisting the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) to increase educator diversity. This work includes a state-level strategic plan and toolkit for districts and provides coaching to districts to develop their own strategic plans.
Nevada State Teacher Recruitment and Retention Advisory Task Force
WestEd has worked in partnership with the Nevada State Teacher Recruitment and Retention Advisory Task Force to evaluate and address the challenges of attracting and retaining teachers, culminating with a report to the legislature describing the findings and recommendations of the task force.
Evaluating California’s Teacher Residency Grant Program
Designed to help the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing better understand the teacher residency grant program effectiveness and to know the extent to which effective program practices are being implemented, WestEd’s evaluation findings across multiple reports and presentations have shaped state policy and program and grantee practices.
