As a Senior Managing Director at WestEd, Elizabeth Magruder leads a vast portfolio of work in Early Childhood Systems and Policies and Early Childhood Intervention Mental Health and Inclusion, directing complex projects and teams.
Magruder has worked in early education for over 20 years, from teaching dual and multilingual children ages 3–5 in San Diego and Los Angeles schools, coaching, training, and mentoring pre-service teachers, to designing programs and curriculum for young multilingual learners. Magruder is one of the lead developers of Los Angeles Unified School District’s Transition Kindergarten program for 4- to 5-year-olds, which has served as a model across California’s early childhood and K–12 systems. Magruder was also a lead developer of Personalized Oral Language Learning (POLL), a strategies toolkit teachers and providers used worldwide to serve young multilingual learners and their families.
Magruder has provided leadership and oversight on several key state agency contracts, which offer strategic visioning and planning consultation. Magruder leads internal and external teams in producing and delivering high-quality, equity-focused resources, online professional development, and technical assistance to California’s early learning and care workforce. She currently leads multi-year projects that span early childhood state systems and policies, regional and local training and technical assistance, capacity-building efforts at state, regional, and local levels, and encompass whole child, whole family, whole community efforts that promote and improve positive outcomes for children.
Magruder received a BA and MEd in curriculum and instruction from the University of San Diego. Magruder has published in the area of early childhood language development for multilingual learners.