In addition to being an enormously influential and prolific researcher and writer, David was active with numerous education organizations and served with distinction on WestEd’s Board of Directors from June of 1999 through May of 2013. He generously shared his scholarship with the Board and the WestEd community.

Early in his career David worked at Far West Laboratory, which later became WestEd. He often contributed to WestEd’s research topics and approaches and mentored some staff who developed into our senior researchers. He believed deeply in the importance of providing the best educational opportunities for students and that every child could succeed given the opportunity. David was passionate about the transformational power of teachers, advocating strongly to ensure that their voices and strengths informed improvements in educational systems. 

He is deeply missed and we are eternally grateful for his crucial contributions to education research, scholarship, policy, and practice.

Phoenix City Council Members elected O’Brien to serve as Vice Mayor on January 15 of this year. She has served on the Council for 4 years. Prior to that, she served as a Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) Governing Board Member for two terms, starting in 2014 and finishing in 2020 as Governing Board President.

An Arizona native, Vice Mayor O’Brien is a longtime advocate for quality education. She was an active parent and volunteer in the DVUSD before her election to the Governing Board.

Professionally, Vice Mayor O’Brien has worked in project management with the Arizona Department of Child Support Enforcement and as a business broker.

Her volunteer service includes providing support to students, teachers, and staff as a committee member of the of the Stetson Hills Elementary School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) and the Sandra Day O’Connor Academy of History Booster Club. 

“Ann’s range of experience in education as a parent, a district board member, and a volunteer and her experience in city policy are crucial assets to WestEd and to our Board of Directors,” said WestEd CEO Jannelle Kubinec. “I look forward to her leadership and guidance as we continue to pursue our vision of thriving learners and empowered communities.”

WestEd’s Board of Directors consists of leaders from public and private education, business, and human services sectors. Board members play a critical role in the agency’s leadership and strategic planning. O’Brien will succeed current WestEd Board Chair Andrea Rorrer, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Utah’s College of Education and Director of the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC).

“It is truly an honor and a privilege to serve on WestEd’s Board of Directors,” said Vice Mayor O’Brien. “I am excited about taking on the role of Chair and working closely with Jannelle as we continue to promote excellence, improve learning, and increase opportunity for children, youth, and adults. I also want to acknowledge the leadership of WestEd’s previous Board Chairs and to thank all the Board members who support WestEd through their time and expertise.”

Building VITAL Collaboration for School Leaders and Educators

VITAL (Visibly Improving Teaching and Learning) Collaboration is WestEd’s research-based professional learning communities (PLCs) framework to help teachers and school leaders grow and improve together through collaborative instructional inquiry. Unlike other approaches, the VITAL model uses concrete evidence from teacher practice and student learning to create clear goals and pathways for instructional improvement.

Using this framework, A School Leader’s Guide to VITAL Collaboration: Building and Sustaining PLC Systems That Improve Teaching and Learning offers school leaders a research-based and evidence-driven approach to fostering collaborative inquiry that improves collective teacher effectiveness. The book includes field-tested strategies, practical tools and guidance, and actionable steps for implementation.

The companion text, A Teacher’s Guide to VITAL Collaboration: Facilitating Evidence-Driven Inquiry in PLCs to Improve Teaching and Learning, provides K–12 educators with powerful tools and facilitation techniques to enhance both teaching and professional growth through collaborative work in teacher teams.

“Our goal is to move professional learning communities beyond just a process or a routine,” said Kevin Perks, author of the VITAL guides and senior managing director of WestEd’s Quality Schools and Districts team.

“We want to help educators and school leaders engage in collaborative and meaningful conversations that transform teaching and learning. The VITAL framework and the field-tested strategies in the guides go a long way in helping achieve that goal.”

Supporting Multilingual Learners

English and Multilingual Learners can engage in challenging dialogue and texts even as they develop English. Amplifying the Curriculum: Designing Quality Learning Opportunities for Multilingual Learners (Second Edition) starts with this premise and argues for instruction that amplifies—rather than simplifies—expectations, concepts, and text understanding of discipline-specific practices for English and Multilingual Learners.

Expanded and revised from the first edition published in 2019, this volume includes four new chapters that build on the original text. It explores ways educators can design high-quality, challenging, and supportive learning opportunities for English and Multilingual Learners, including a chapter in Spanish with proposals for elementary and secondary teachers.

“My coauthors and I wanted to update the book to provide teachers with an ambitious vision of quality and rigor for English Learners and all other students, as well as tool them with the pedagogy to accomplish the vision,” said Aída Walqui, coauthor of the book and director and principal investigator of the National Research and Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners housed at WestEd.

Through this text, Walqui and her coauthors, George C. Bunch and Peggy Mueller, guide teachers through the coherent design of units, lessons, and tasks that invite all students to engage in deep, meaningful interactions as they develop their knowledge and skills.

Add These Books to Your Toolkit

To learn more about these texts and purchase them for your collection visit the following links

• A School Leader’s Guide to VITAL Collaboration: Building and Sustaining PLC Systems That Improve Teaching and Learning
• A Teacher’s Guide to VITAL Collaboration: Facilitating Evidence-Driven Inquiry in PLCs to Improve Teaching and Learning
• Amplifying the Curriculum: Designing Quality Learning Opportunities for Multilingual Learners (Second Edition)

Released by WestEd nearly 12 years ago, The Invisible Achievement Gap: Education Outcomes of Students in Foster Care in California’s Public Schools examined the educational progress of students in foster care and provided a series of recommendations for improving supports for them. The follow-up study, Revisiting California’s Invisible Achievement Gap: Trends in Education Outcomes of Students in Foster Care in the Context of the Local Control Funding Formula, analyzes educational trends among California youth in foster care from 2014 to 2023—a transformational decade featuring significant policy reform to the state’s school funding system and a global pandemic. 

The report reveals that while there have been some improvements in outcomes for California students in foster care over the 9-year time period, students in foster care still had the poorest education outcomes compared to students in other high-need student groups. The effects were seemingly exacerbated by the onset of COVID-19.  

Key Findings From the Report: 

• Decrease in Number of Students in Foster Care: Over the 9-year period, the number of California students in foster care declined by more than 13,000 students. In the 2022–23 school year, 31,722 students in foster care enrolled in California public schools. 
• Small Number of Districts Enroll the Majority of Foster Youth: In 2022–23, nearly two thirds of California students in foster care were enrolled in a handful of districts with at least 100 students in foster care compared to the majority of districts that reported having between 1 and 49 students in foster care.  
• Disparities Continue Despite Some Progress: The number of students in foster care enrolled at only one school per year increased overall, indicating improved stability for students. However, that stability remained lower for youth in foster care than for students in other high-need student groups. Students in foster care were consistently more likely than other high-need student groups to attend a low-performing school, and the percentage of students in foster care identified as having at least one disability increased steadily. 
• Achievement Gap Persists as COVID-19 Hindered Progress: While graduation rates and dropout rates slightly improved, students in foster care frequently had the poorest education outcomes, including chronic absence, suspension, dropout, graduation, and college admission requirements, compared to other high-need student groups. COVID-19 reversed or halted improvements to students’ academic achievement.  
• More Targeted Action Could Be Taken at the Local Level: Analysis of Local Control and Accountability Plans from the state’s 10 school districts with the most students in foster care reveals that very few actions or funds were dedicated to support students in foster care as a distinct group with unique needs—and only 0.1 percent of planned expenditures were dedicated solely to supporting youth in foster care across districts. Instead, districts mostly opted to combine action and funding to address the blended needs of students in foster care, English Learners, and students from households with low income. 

“Our analysis shows that while the achievement gap for California students in foster care is no longer invisible, it is certainly transparent,” said Vanessa Ximenes Barrat, lead author and Senior Research Associate at WestEd. “While we applaud the progress that has been made to support California students in foster care, our findings underscore the ongoing need for more specific supports for foster youth, especially as students struggle to catch up post-pandemic.”  

In addition to examining trends in student outcomes across the decade and analyzing Local Control and Accountability Plans across 10 school districts, the report provides perspectives from interviews with child welfare and education professionals as well as former students who were in foster care while attending school.  

The 2013 landmark study linked, for the first time, data from California’s education system and child welfare system to provide an educational snapshot of K–12 students in foster care. The 2013 report demonstrated that youth in foster care consistently struggled compared to their peers in terms of academics, school stability, and graduation, among other outcomes. In 2013, California enacted the Local Control Funding Formula to more fairly distribute school funding and increase local control over budgeting. The law redistributes resources to provide additional funds to schools with higher percentages of high-need students to address students’ needs.

The new report is the first to reexamine education outcomes for students in foster care across the 9-year period following significant policy reform for youth in foster care in California.

The recent cancellation of contracts to operate the federal Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) halts many education projects conducted by the Congressionally mandated centers that were aimed at directly benefiting students. 

For nearly 60 years, RELs partnered with state and local education agencies to address the issues those agencies identified as most pressing, like math, literacy, student engagement, teacher retention, and career readiness. The RELs have a track record of helping these agencies improve student outcomes. They provided research, research-based tools, and technical support to improve teaching and learning and outcomes for students. That support was specifically tailored to local and state requests, priorities, and needs.  

State and local leaders need high-quality research and development resources and expertise to inform decision-making. Conducting applied research and data analysis is both costly and time-consuming, making the RELs an essential partner in advancing innovation and improvement in education.   

WestEd managed REL Northwest and REL West and served as a partner to two other RELs. The cancellation notices sent to RELs on February 13 suspended numerous important projects, many of which were already having tangible positive effects on educators’ knowledge and skills and student learning and outcomes.  

A project with the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development and a consortium of schools to support student mental health. At the request of the state, REL Northwest was conducting multiple research studies and providing technical support to help the Department and the consortium implement a state initiative to support student mental health, wellness, and school engagement. A study and technical support work related to these state-developed tools and strategies will now not be completed.  

A project with the Washoe County School District (WCSD) in Nevada to address chronic absence. REL West was working with the district to support the implementation of research-based approaches to reducing chronic absence by researching schools’ practices for managing absenteeism. The cancellation means that a preliminary report from this work cannot be completed and shared, and a second study, on a potentially successful approach to reducing absenteeism, had to be halted.  

A project in Oregon to strengthen literacy instruction statewide. The Oregon Department of Education was working with REL Northwest to implement the Oregon Literacy Framework and evaluate efforts related to recent state literacy legislation, which focused on teaching reading based on what research shows are the best methods. The Framework would have helped ensure that teachers were using proven methods to teach reading in every school district in the state. Now, Oregon teachers and students will not benefit from that work. Similar REL Northwest projects focused on literacy were underway in Alaska, Montana, and Washington State. 

A project with the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) to address early career teacher attrition. REL West was working with the USBE to identify and review data on early career teachers, identify the reasons why they leave teaching, and select and pilot research-based interventions to improve early career teacher retention. REL West was also working with the USBE to study the impact of funding from the Utah legislature to improve teacher retention in 2025 and 2026. REL West had already helped state staff and local policymakers use data and research-based strategies to address teacher attrition and were on track to revise local policies and practices using that knowledge to support the retention of early career teachers. This second phase of the work will now not be completed. 

This represents a handful of the exciting and important projects REL Northwest and REL West were conducting to help schools and districts improve education to better serve students, families, and communities.   

These cancellations are a great loss for our nation’s students, families, and communities. It is our hope that the important work of the RELs will eventually be allowed to continue and that our states, school districts, schools, teachers, and students will again be able to benefit from the rigorous research; thoughtful, research-based counsel and projects; and expert technical support that have served them so well.  

Making Sense of SCIENCE (MSS) was specifically recognized by the Academies for its approach to building capacity by working with local leaders to support facilitation of high-quality professional learning for teachers, coaches, and administrators. MSS’s collaborative and relationship-based approach strengthens scalability and implementation in a variety of classrooms and schools.

The report, Scaling and Sustaining Pre-K–12 STEM Education Innovations, cites a national study showing that after just 24 hours of MSS’s professional learning, both teachers and students made significant gains in content knowledge, and the effect was greatest for students who are multilingual learners. The study found that these gains were sustained through the following school year.

“Making Sense of SCIENCE is honored to be highlighted by the National Academies,” said Kirsten Daehler, Director of Making Sense of SCIENCE. “Since we began working with school and district leaders nearly 20 years ago, we have seen the MSS approach make a difference in thousands of classrooms and propel STEM learning forward. We’re proud of this distinction from the Academies and look forward to bringing MSS to more schools and districts.” 

The Academies report also featured WestEd’s Pre-K Mathematics program as an example of an effective innovation that was successfully implemented and evaluated across a sequence of rigorous studies. Pre-K Mathematics is a supplemental curriculum for preschool classrooms designed to support the development of young children’s informal mathematical knowledge. 

The program recently earned the highest rating of effectiveness by Institute of Education Sciences (IES)’s What Works Clearinghouse and has been found to be effective in five randomized controlled trials, including one at a statewide scale in California and, most recently, at a national scale. The Academies’ report emphasizes the Pre-K Mathematics’ evidence base, demonstrating consistently positive impacts on math achievement across diverse early childhood programs in urban and rural settings.

“We hope that local and state education agencies will see this National Academies report as validation that Pre-K Mathematics could be used to improve early math learning in their programs,” said Alice Klein and Prentice Starkey, co-developers of the Pre-K Mathematics program.

The report is the result of an expert committee charged with examining the interconnected factors that foster or hinder the scalability of promising, evidence-based STEM education innovations, and identifying barriers and gaps in research. It also features a compendium of more than 50 successful, evidence-based education innovations across the U.S., including both Making Sense of SCIENCE and Pre-K Mathematics. 

WestEd is a partner to at least 10 programs featured in the compendium, providing evaluation, research, or technical assistance support to these programs. This includes STEM STRONG, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project that provides supports to rural science and engineering teachers. WestEd’s Dr. Ashley Iveland serves as a STEM STRONG Co-Principal Investigator alongside Dr. Ryan Summers, the Principal Investigator at the University of North Dakota. 

In September, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) awarded the University of Washington (UW) a $9,999,976 grant to launch AmplifyGAIN, a new multisector collaborative research and development center that will provide national leadership on the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in math and science education. WestEd experts Dr. Ann Edwards and Dr. Drew Nucci will serve as two of six co-principal investigators.  

AmplifyGAIN will conduct exploratory studies to examine how teachers use GenAI for mathematics and science teaching and learning. The center will use insights from the studies to develop, test, and revise Colleague AI, an AI assistant developed to help teachers save time by helping them prepare improved lesson materials, build and conduct formative classroom assessments, and provide personalized feedback to students. The center will also conduct a pilot study to assess the promise of Colleague AI for improving math and science education outcomes. 

Dr. Min Sun, professor of educational policy, organization, and leadership in the UW College of Education, will serve as director of AmplifyGAIN and principal investigator. Edwards and Nucci will lead the exploratory studies of teachers’ use of GenAI in math and science education, first in Washington state and subsequently with a nationwide sample.    

“As we witness the transformative influence of GenAI in our lives and classrooms, it has become increasingly clear that targeted research to guide our use of this powerful technology is essential,” said Edwards, who is director of mathematics at WestEd. “AmplifyGAIN is seizing on the opportunities and challenges of this moment to provide national leadership on how GenAI tools can be best developed and used by math and science educators to improve equity and drive student outcomes.”  

AmplifyGAIN is one of four national centers funded by the IES under the Accelerate, Transform, Scale Initiative, under the topic of “Using Generative Artificial Intelligence to Augment Teaching and Learning in Classrooms (U-GAIN)”. Each U-GAIN Center will generate research and provide leadership on how GenAI can help improve education processes and outcomes. 

“Schools and districts are grappling with what to do with the burst of AI platforms like ChatGPT,” said Sun. “We’ve already arrived at a tipping point in how this technology is changing the landscape of education. While tools like ChatGPT are powerful, they are not designed to meet the unique needs of teachers and students in schools. AmplifyGAIN will study the promises and barriers for teachers to effectively use GenAI in teaching and learning, develop specialized AI technologies designed with and for teachers, and study the effects of using Gen AI tools in reducing teacher workload stress and improving their work efficiency to ultimately enhance student learning outcomes.”  

The center’s leadership team includes researchers and engineers from a range of sectors and institutions:   

• Dr. Min Sun, professor of educational policy, organization, and leadership at the UW College of Education, will serve as the director of the center. 
• Dr. Ann Edwards, director of mathematics at WestEd, and Dr. Drew Nucci, a research associate at WestEd, will lead the exploratory studies of teachers’ use of GenAI in math and science education.   
• Mr. Jian (Kevin) He, CEO of Hensun Innovation LLC, is a software engineer turned serial entrepreneur and will lead the development and implementation of Colleague AI.  
• Dr. R. Benjamin Shapiro, associate professor at the UW Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, will colead national leadership activities and the partnership with IES.  
• Dr. Chun Wang, professor of measurement and statistics at the UW College of Education, will lead formative assessment psychometric analysis.    
• Dr. Shawon Sarkar, senior data scientist at the UW College of Education, will serve as liaison between the research and technology development teams.    
• Dr. Joshua Rosenberg will consult with the team on STEM education, particularly science and engineering.

In his new role, Fronius will oversee WestEd’s partnerships with government agencies, foundations, and community organizations to conduct rigorous studies, lead policy analyses, and provide evidence-informed technical assistance to address critical challenges in justice and prevention. His team will inform solutions and provide recommendations for school and community safety, violence prevention, substance misuse and other public health issues, and justice system improvements. 

“Our goal is to create safer, more equitable environments for all,” Fronius said. “By leveraging data and research, we can drive meaningful change in how communities approach safety, justice, and prevention and help build environments in which all can thrive.” 

Fronius specializes in justice, school safety, violence prevention, and public health research. His areas of expertise include community violence, school policing and student safety, reentry and diversion programs, and issues involving systems-impacted youths. He has published evaluations on various issues, including community violence, restorative justice, and school police programs. He also serves as a research and evaluation subject matter expert on federal training and technical assistance centers.  

“Trevor’s work around school safety and violence prevention brings evidence and information to the foreground, informing policy and practices that support children and youth,” said WestEd CEO Jannelle Kubinec. 

Fronius earned his PhD in criminology and criminal justice studies from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where his research focused on social capital and community violence. He regularly presents at professional conferences on school safety, violence prevention, and evaluation methods and is a peer reviewer for multiple criminal justice and education journals. 

The federal Comprehensive Centers provide technical assistance and capacity-building services to state educational agencies (SEAs), districts, and schools to improve educational outcomes for students, close achievement gaps, and improve the quality of instruction. Though the BIE is not a state, it functions as an SEA to administer the programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and receive technical assistance.

As the Comprehensive Center solely focused on serving the BIE, the Bureau of Indian Education Comprehensive Center will, in the 2024–29 cycle, support the bureau itself and the 183 Tribally controlled, BIE-operated, and Navajo schools it serves. Collectively, these schools educate 42,000 Indigenous students across 64 reservations and 23 states.

Through capacity building and technical assistance, the BIE CC, in collaboration with the BIE, will work to improve operational coherence, student data systems, principal leadership, and student-centered achievement and support the bureau’s evolving priorities. BIE CC will also provide support as the BIE launches its new strategic plan later in the fiscal year.

Having previously led the Region 13 Comprehensive Center, which partnered with the BIE and SEAs and their regional and local constituents in New Mexico and Oklahoma, WestEd has provided support and services to the BIE since 2019.

“We are pleased and honored to lead the 2024–29 Bureau of Indian Education Comprehensive Center: to collaborate with the bureau and provide tailored supports that lift up quality schools to meet Tribal community needs,” said Robert Salley, who will serve as the director of the BIE CC.

Salley worked closely with the BIE as the Region 13 Comprehensive Center deputy director during the 2019–24 cycle.

“This arc of work:  to support so many Indigenous cultures and philosophies over thousands of miles with research, data, resources, and assistance,” said Salley, “stands to not only benefit generations of Native students but to advance sovereign tribal Nations themselves.”

WestEd continuously partners with Tribal nations, American Indian Education Directors in SEAs, Tribal schools, and public school systems to improve opportunities and outcomes for Indigenous youth.

Most recently, WestEd-led Regional Comprehensive Centers served the four states that, according to Census data, have the highest number of American Indians: Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

WestEd is partnering with Abt Global and the University of Virginia to deliver services through the R14CC, which began its five-year term on October 1, 2024.

About WestEd

WestEd is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that aims to improve the lives of children and adults at all ages of learning and development by addressing challenges in education and human development, reducing opportunity gaps, and helping build communities where all can thrive.

About the Bureau of Indian Education

The Bureau of Indian Education’s mission is to provide quality education opportunities from early childhood through life in accordance with a tribe’s needs for cultural and economic well-being, in keeping with the vast diversity of Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages as distinct cultural and governmental entities.

About Abt Global

Abt Global is an engine for social impact, fueled by caring, curiosity, and cutting-edge research that moves people from vulnerability to security.

About the University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public university designed to advance human knowledge, educate leaders, and cultivate an informed citizenry.

About the Comprehensive Centers program

The Comprehensive Centers program supports the establishment of Comprehensive Centers (CCs) to provide capacity-building services to state educational agencies (SEAs), regional educational agencies (REAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools that improve educational outcomes, close achievement gaps, and improve the quality of instruction for all students, and particularly for groups of students with the greatest need, including students from low-income families and students attending schools implementing comprehensive support and improvement or targeted or additional targeted support and improvement activities under section 1111(d) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA).