David Lopez is the Director of Equitable Systems with the Culturally Responsive and Equitable Systems team. In this role, Lopez delivers technical assistance (TA) and expert consultation, develops research- and evidence-based tools and resources, and provides research and policy support to state education agencies, district leaders, and school-based educators, focused on creating culturally responsive and equitable systems through comprehensive systemic equity reviews. Lopez is also an expert facilitator and trainer on issues related to racial equity, intersectionality (e.g., race and ability), diversity, disproportionality, and culturally responsive and sustaining education.
Before joining WestEd, Lopez was a Senior Equity Associate at New York University’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools (Metro Center). In that position, he worked in geographically diverse areas across New York, providing training and technical assistance to educators to implement the statewide framework for culturally responsive and sustaining education and to create equitable systems. Lopez also served as a Project Associate for the New York State Education Department’s Technical Assistance Center on Disproportionality. In this role, he provided TA and training to districts aiming to disrupt the disparate outcomes for students of color with disabilities.
Lopez received a WestEd Strategic Investment grant to continue to develop WestEd’s Systemic Equity Review (SER) service. SERs help build the capacity of state and local education agencies to advance cultural responsiveness and equity as they evaluate policies, practices, and procedures and the underlying beliefs they reflect.
Lopez is a coauthor of Dismantling Disproportionality: A Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Systems Approach (Teachers College Press, 2022) and has presented on addressing disproportionality at national conferences.
Lopez holds an MA in educational leadership, politics, and advocacy from New York University, Steinhardt, and a BA in political science from Haverford College.