Who We Are

Sara Allender is a research director at WestEd with over 20 years of experience in program evaluation and 18 years focused on charter schools and school choice compliance. She has extensive expertise in designing and implementing rigorous monitoring frameworks to ensure programs follow their plans and use funding appropriately according to federal laws and regulations. From 2013 to 2025, she led WestEd’s Charter Schools Program monitoring and data collection projects, overseeing compliance for several charter school grants. Since 2017, she has also led and supported magnet school evaluations for school districts across the country. Allender holds a BS in politics from New York University and an MSEd in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Vanessa Ximenes Barrat conducts research and builds partnerships to improve educational opportunities for students in foster care, students who are first generation and from low-income backgrounds, and other underserved groups. As a senior research associate at WestEd, she has led groundbreaking studies on the education of youth in foster care, including The Invisible Achievement Gap, which connected education and child welfare data to help shape state and local policies. With over 20 years of experience in research and TA, she works with educational agencies to strengthen data systems, improve programs, and boost outcomes for students in foster care. Ximenes Barrat earned a BS in economics and an MS in econometrics from Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris.

Jenny Betz supported WEEAC’s Bullying Prevention Community of Practice with training and TA and now provides leadership on several regional and statewide projects. Betz is a senior program associate at WestEd and for nearly 25 years has worked to create equitable, safe, and supportive learning environments by addressing bias, discrimination, bullying, and harassment. Betz provides training, coaching, and TA to educators, school leaders, and students in WEEAC states such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington as well as across the country. Betz holds a BA in English from St. Mary’s College and an MA in gender and cultural studies from Simmons University.

Andrea Browning specializes in designing and implementing student-centered approaches to learning, including the Portrait of a Learner and Profile of a Graduate initiatives, at the state and district levels. She has partnered with educators and communities in California and Nevada to create student-centered Portraits and Profiles and develop related professional training to build learning opportunities that are more equitable for students. Over the past 12 years, Browning has focused on student-centered design, including leading the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top-District program, which helped 21 school districts implement personalized learning on a large scale. Browning has a BS in education and social policy from Northwestern and an MPA from George Washington University.

Trevor Fronius directs WestEd’s Justice & Prevention Research Center. He oversees projects focused on school safety, community violence intervention, justice system reform, diversion and reentry, and case management for systems-impacted youth. He has more than 16 years of experience in working with families, government agencies, and community organizations. He specializes in conducting research and providing TA to help improve outcomes for youth, families, and communities—particularly around behavior, health, safety, and well-being. Fronius earned his PhD in criminology from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where he focused on social capital and youth exposure to violence.

Angela Knotts is a former high school math teacher with extensive experience in supporting math educators at all grade levels. She coleads the National Science Foundation–funded project called Coherent Asynchronous Online Mathematics Teacher Professional Learning, which develops and tests online professional learning for middle school math teachers. The training focuses on strategies to help teachers treat all students—regardless of their backgrounds—as mathematically competent and capable. Knotts has a BA in mathematics from Oberlin College and an MA in secondary mathematics education and a teaching credential (with an authorization to teach English Learners) from Stanford University.

David Lopez is a leader in advancing educational equity, with over a decade of experience in racial equity, the intersection of race and ability, diversity, disproportionality, and culturally responsive and sustaining education. As Director of Equitable Systems at WestEd, he helps agencies, districts, and educators remove systemic barriers through customized assistance, evidence-based resources and tools, and professional learning. Lopez leads systemic equity reviews and audits, helping transform policies and practices to create truly inclusive learning environments. He holds a BA in political science from Haverford College and an MA in educational leadership, politics, and advocacy from New York University. In 2023, Lopez coauthored Dismantling Disproportionality: A Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Systems Approach, published by Teachers College Press.

Nakanya Magby is a senior program associate on WestEd’s Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities team. She brings more than 20 years of experience in advancing equity and improving school climate through professional development, coaching, and TA at both the local and state levels. At WestEd, she supports a statewide school climate initiative with the Connecticut State Department of Education, providing equity-focused supports to strengthen safe and supportive learning environments. Previously, she served as a school climate and culture specialist at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education in Washington, DC, and as a program specialist for DC Public Schools. Magby holds a BS in psychology from Howard University and an MA in counseling psychology from Bowie State University.

Mattson specializes in organizational transformation and systems design within educational agencies, helping them build sustainable structures that drive equitable outcomes for all learners. As Deputy Director of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center, she led systems change initiatives and organizational redesign efforts that helped state educational agencies in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah strengthen their operations and implement evidence-based practices. Mattson also has expertise in statewide literacy planning, school improvement, educator workforce development, and professional learning systems. She holds a BA in history and Latin American studies from Colgate University and an EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Timothy Ojetunde is a program associate on the Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities team at WestEd, focusing on advancing equity and improving educational outcomes. With over a decade of experience in equity, school climate, data, restorative practices, social–emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and mental health, he codirects Project Cal-Well with the California Department of Education and provides statewide TA for the CalSCHLS School Climate Data Survey. He also supports a statewide school climate initiative with the Connecticut State Department of Education. Previously, he provided TA for the California Center for School Climate, focusing on school improvement. Ojetunde has a BA in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and MA degrees from Arizona State University and California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Misty Sailors brings over 25 years of experience in advancing educational equity through literacy research and teacher education. She is a professor emerita at The University of Texas at San Antonio. At WestEd, Sailors directs Reading Apprenticeship for Academic Literacy Learning, a program that supports striving readers, and serves as consultant on a National Institutes of Health project that makes science education more accessible to students from marginalized communities. She has led over $30 million in equity-centered initiatives; trained more than 13,000 educators; and developed culturally responsive, multilingual curricula in 13 Indigenous languages—both in the United States and around the world. She holds a BS, MEd, and PhD—in curriculum and instruction with a focus on language and literacy—from The University of Texas at Austin.

As a member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash, Niki Sandoval helps educational agencies with strategic resource planning and professional learning to improve outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native students. She has worked with Tribal, federal, state, and local educational agencies for 33 years. Sandoval was the education director for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and served two terms on the California State Board of Education from 2013 to 2020. She taught in the Education Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for 23 years. Sandoval has a BA in public relations from Pepperdine University, an MA in museum studies from George Washington University, and a PhD in education from UC Santa Barbara.

Kate Wright is a state education policy expert specializing in strategic planning, implementation, and stakeholder engagement. She helps education leaders build systems to achieve priority initiatives and outcomes. As former director of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center, Wright led over 40 annual projects across four western states, building state capacity for academic standards, accountability systems, and school improvement plans. Previously, Wright served as Chief of Staff at the Arizona Department of Education, also holding roles as Associate Superintendent of High Academic Standards and Deputy Associate Superintendent of English Language Acquisition Services. A former secondary English and ESL teacher, she’s committed to supporting achievement for all students. Wright has a B.A. in secondary English education from Salisbury University and an M.A. in TESOL from Grand Canyon University.