Rebeca Cerna 

Overview

Rebeca Cerna is an expert in school climate, health and wellness, community schools, and the strategic use of data and participatory approaches. Cerna is dedicated to creating and maintaining safe and collaborative learning environments that are supportive of children and youth as well as the adults who guide them. She has extensive experience in working with communities that have been challenged by infrastructure deficiencies and in lifting the voices of all community and educational partners.

Currently, she serves as Deputy Director of the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center and Director of the California’s Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center. She also leads the statewide evaluation for the Learning Community for Schools Success Program in California.

Previously, she directed the California Center for School Climate, a 3-year initiative of the California Department of Education. In this role she designed and directed local- and regional-level school climate and data use technical assistance benefiting 616 districts and oversaw the development of 75 resources that included written products, websites, public service announcements, and event recordings.

Cerna has collaborated in diverse settings, including rural and urban communities, recent immigrant and mixed-status immigrant communities, K–12 settings, after-school programs, alternative education settings, and correctional youth facilities. Cerna has taught in adult education and, before joining WestEd, worked for the University of California, Riverside, supporting research on resilience and reducing risk factors.

Education

• MPH, community health, University of California, Los Angeles
• BS, school health education, California State University, Long Beach 

Select Publications

Cerna, R., Buckner, L., & Van Houten, L. (2024). From numbers to nuance: A guide for exploring school climate data. WestEd. 

Cerna, R., Valdez, A., & Magby, N. (2024). Implementing participatory systems change initiatives: A tool for reflecting on the essential conditions. WestEd. 

Hashmi, S., Cerna, R., & Stern, R. (2024). School climate essentials: A call to action. In K. Perks (Ed.), Transformational leadership for rapid school improvement (pp. 143–152). Teachers College Press; WestEd. 

Valdez, A., Walrond, N., & Cerna, R. (2024). Essential conditions for advancing and sustaining cross-sector collaboration: A reflection guide for child-, youth-, and family-serving agencies. California Center for School Climate at WestEd. 

Magby, N., & Cerna, R. (2023). Understanding school climate: An overview of school climate domains. WestEd. 

Paredes, M., Cerna, R., Buckner, L., & Guidi, C. (2023). Making data meaningful in educator-to-family communication. California Center for School Climate at WestEd. 

Valdez, A., Cerna, R., & Hashmi, S. (2023). Participatory systems change for equity: An inquiry guide for child-, youth-, and family-serving agencies. California Center for School Climate and Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety, WestEd. 

Cerna, R., Stern, A., Austin, G., Betz, J., Zhang, G., & Hashmi, S. (2021). Understanding the experiences of LGBTQ high school students in California by race/ethnicity. WestEd. 

O’Malley, M., Cerna, R., Romero, L., Zhang, G., & Furlong, M. (2021). Reducing the impact of bias-based bullying on suicidal thoughts among sexual and gender minority youth: Are psychological strengths enough? Journal of School Mental Health.