As a Senior Program Associate with WestEd’s Special Education Policy and Practice team, Alexandria Harvey uses her expertise to improve equitable outcomes for students with disabilities. Her work centers around the intersection of race, culture, and disability, providing technical assistance and professional development that focuses on improving outcomes for students who lie at the intersections of multiple identities.
Harvey is the Deputy Director of the Data Center for Addressing Significant Disproportionality where she facilitates the development and implementation of the Center’s strategic direction and supports the WestEd team to provide technical assistance based on established priorities. Additionally, Harvey leads diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts with the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) to ensure DEI is not a one-off initiative but incorporated throughout much of the technical assistance within the center. She also serves as a TA facilitator for multiple states and provides her content expertise in evidence-based practices and research-informed practice collaboratives within NCSI.
Prior to joining WestEd, Harvey was a varying exceptionalities teacher in Gainesville, FL. During her graduate studies, she was a graduate assistant for the CEEDAR Center, providing technical assistance to states by building the capacity of state personnel preparation systems to prepare teachers and leaders to implement evidence-based practices within multi-tiered systems of support.
Harvey holds a PhD in special education from the University of Florida where she focused on culturally relevant education. Her dissertation was on the self-efficacy of preservice teachers and their ability to enact culturally responsive classroom management practices.