Alicia Bowman is dedicated to supporting educators, at all levels of the system, to achieve equitable outcomes for all students. She has expertise in multiple areas of K–12 public education, including school leadership, continuous improvement, equity leadership, coaching, supervision, professional development, and district assessment and accountability.
As an Improvement Specialist, her work includes the development of equity-driven improvement capacity, coaching, and professional learning at the county, district, and school levels. Bowman also engages in work with other content areas in the organization, contributing her expertise in equity, district leadership, and continuous improvement.
Bowman’s accomplishments include being awarded the 2020 Ed Myers Award for Exceptional Contribution to the WestEd Community for her work leading a cross-organizational team to develop the agency’s Equity Framework. She is also the coauthor of several WestEd publications, including Getting Better at Getting More Equitable: Opportunities and Barriers for Using Continuous Improvement to Advance Educational Equity, and Meeting the Learning Needs of Historically Underserved Students During and After California School Closures.
Bowman was part of the team that received a WestEd Strategic Investment grant to build training and technology that supports equity-focused coaching services. The coaching approaches will incorporate culturally responsive, evidence-based adult learning practices; foundational training for coaches across WestEd; and an online coaching log to support reflection and accountability.
Prior to joining WestEd, Bowman was a district administrator in several California school districts, an elementary school principal, and coach for the National Equity Project.
She earned her Administrative Services Credential and MA in Educational Leadership from Saint Mary’s college of California, and her BA in Ethnic Studies from Mills College.