CLRT Institute Topic 1.1 - Biographies

Meet our Institute Design Director and Content Adviser

Dr. Pamela Spycher, PhD, Institute Design Director

Dr. Pamela Spycher, senior research associate at WestEd, leads complex projects in partnership with state, county, and local education agencies, and institutions of higher education focused on designing, implementing, and strengthening culturally and linguistically responsive and sustaining education for pre-kindergarten to grade 12 students. Dr. Spycher led the development of the recent California Department of Education (CDE) publication Improving Education for Multilingual and English Learner Students: Research to Practice and was lead author on CDE’s English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework, and California Practitioners’ Guide for Educating English Learners with Disabilities. Dr. Spycher leads federally funded research projects focused on systemic approaches to successfully implementing, scaling, and sustaining evidence-based instruction for multilingual and English learner students. Her research has been published widely through national webinars, blog posts, practitioner publications, and peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Spycher was one of the three primary authors of the California ELA/ELD Framework and has contributed substantively to other California instructional frameworks.

Dr. Saroja Warner, PhD, Content Advisor

She provides strategic leadership for WestEd’s technical assistance, research, and policy work with state education agencies, district leaders, and school-based educators. Her work focuses on developing and retaining an effective, culturally responsive and racially and linguistically diverse educator workforce. Additionally, she works on increasing educators’ and leaders’ use of policies and practices that promote successful and equitable learning outcomes for all students. She has also served as co-director of two WestEd operated federally funded comprehensive centers serving states in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States. She is a nationally recognized expert in educator workforce initiatives and culturally responsive teaching, leading, and school cultures. Prior to coming to WestEd, Dr. Warner launched a national initiative at the Council of Chief State School Officers to increase educator diversity and culturally responsive practice (CRP) and authored an anchor paper for that work entitled “A Vision and Guidance for a Diverse and Learner-Ready Teacher Workforce.” This paper provides guidance to states to meet these goals and identifies model best practices. Dr. Warner is also a nationally board-certified social studies teacher.