Content-Focused Instructional Support
Learn about WestEd’s leading voices who are pursuing new evidence and ideas, conducting research, and creating services designed to impact teaching and learning. From helping students complete introductory college math requirements at triple the rate of their peers to delivering professional development opportunities that promote student success in reading comprehension, WestEd helps encourage better individual and collective outcomes.
Kirsten Daehler
Director, Science and Engineering
Advancing science teaching and learning
As the founder and director of Making Sense of SCIENCE, Kirsten champions respectful and impactful professional learning that helps shift mindsets about how exciting and fulfilling science teaching and learning can be. This work has profound effects on teachers, students, and entire districts and states, resulting in increased student achievement in science, more effective classroom practices, and transformative support to implement the Next Generation Science Standards.
Kirsten and her team seek customized solutions to local, state, and national challenges — such as, regaining momentum in learning or addressing inequities — to create positive change for all learners.
Linda Friedrich
Director, Literacy
Promoting literacy across content areas
For nearly three decades, Linda has worked at the intersection of practice and research to engage teachers in collaboratively improving teaching and learning, with a strong focus on literacy. As the Director of Literacy at WestEd, she also leads the agency’s Reading Apprenticeship team, which has a proven track record in improving disciplinary literacy in middle school, high school, and college.
Nancy Gerzon
Project Director
Scaling formative assessment for better outcomes
Nancy specializes in advancing teacher and leader learning models that foster significant changes in the student role, including the development of students’ metacognitive skills, and implementation of instructional routines that enable students to monitor and guide their own learning, which is more important than ever as schools seek bold solutions to authentically deepen understanding.
Karon Klipple
Executive Director, Carnegie Math Pathways
Opening pathways to math success
Karon directs the Carnegie Math Pathways program, a network of educators, researchers, and content and technology experts committed to making math more equitable, so that all students–regardless of race, gender, or zipcode–can access math learning experiences that empower and equip them for success in college and life.