Silvia Lenhof DeRuvo has been committed to equity in education for students with disabilities and for struggling learners throughout her 30-year career. She provides technical assistance through the IDEA Data Center (IDC) and the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI), supporting state-level agencies in their efforts to improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities through infrastructure development, improvement planning, and systems change, and in meeting their Results Driven Accountability targets.
With WestEd since 2005, DeRuvo has worked extensively with schools and districts in the implementation of inclusive practices to support students with disabilities and students who are designated as English learners. She played an integral role in the development of the California Practitioners’ Guide for Educating English Learners with Disabilities. She directs numerous projects that focus on instruction and assessment of English learners with disabilities and on inclusive practices and systems change to support equity through Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS).
DeRuvo has authored and co-authored books on Response to Intervention and related to students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She has also been a national speaker for the Bureau of Education and Research on Standards-Based Individualized Education Program (IEP) and MTSS implementation.
Prior to joining WestEd, she worked at California State University, Sacramento, the Teachers College of San Joaquin, and California Project Pipeline as adjunct faculty in teaching courses to meet special and general education credential requirements. She began her career as a special educator in the California Central Valley.
DeRuvo received her MA in communicative disorders from California State University, Fresno.