As a Senior Research Associate for WestEd, Julie Duffield works primarily on projects that support the Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15CC).
In her R15CC roles, Julie helps departments of education in the Western states on a variety of projects as a system convener, including facilitating the Rural Community of Practice, bringing together staff from Western State Educational Agencies, rural education leaders, and associations to discuss the landscape of rural education.
Duffield’s previous work at WestEd included helping state educational agencies, including leading the Network of School Turnaround and Improvement Leaders for the Center on School Turnaround and contributing to the Region IX Equity Assistance Center. In addition, she pioneered online convenings for research and practice, particularly concerning equity. She was a key member of the Schools Moving Up Initiative, where she managed stakeholder engagement in building partner-delivered webinars by collaborating with partner organizations and developing the first national webinars focused on school and district improvement. In 2005, Duffield and her Schools Moving Up colleagues received the annual award for Exceptional Contribution to the WestEd Community. Duffield also received the Ed Myers award for Exceptional Contribution to the WestEd Community in 2010.
Prior to joining WestEd in 1994, Duffield was an early adopter of using technology to support agriculture non-profits’ access to the internet and began in the early 1980s providing technical assistance to educators on language arts for English language learners in remote rural communities in Australia. She received a BA in psychology from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; a teaching diploma from Kedron College, Brisbane, Australia; and a technology in education certificate from the University of California, Santa Cruz.