Sarah Barzee serves as Senior Director of State Education Services at WestEd and as Director of the Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC). Funded by the US Department of Education, the R2CC supports state education agencies in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island.
Barzee brings expansive expertise to her roles at WestEd, including deep knowledge and background in special education, organizational leadership, educator effectiveness, and talent development. She has provided training and technical assistance to school and district leaders at the local level and has played a key role in policy development and implementation at the state level. Having served in local, regional, and state educational agencies, she has worked collaboratively with K–12 educators, deans, legislators, state and local boards of education, and numerous national organizations (e.g., CCSSO, NNSTOY, NASDTEC, Learning Forward) on state-level initiatives, including inclusive education, positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), educator evaluation, professional learning, teacher leadership, and educator preparation.
Prior to joining WestEd, Barzee served as Chief Talent Officer at the Connecticut State Department of Education, where she led several statewide initiatives, including those focused on the state’s system for educator evaluation and support, increasing educator diversity, strengthening educator preparation, and modernizing educator certification in Connecticut.
Barzee also served as Assistant Executive Director at the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), one of six regional educational agencies in Connecticut, and as Associate Director of the State Education Resource Center (SERC) in Connecticut, where she oversaw training, technical assistance, and program development in areas including race and equity, inclusive education, and PBIS.