Kathy DiRanna is WestEd’s K-12 Alliance Statewide Director. She has been an advocate for quality science and mathematics education in California for the past 25 years.
The K-12 Alliance has worked with numerous elementary, middle, and high schools, impacting thousands of teachers and millions of students.
DiRanna has conducted extensive work in systemic reform funded by the National Science Foundation. She also co-developed K-12 statewide and national professional learning for leadership in science education, content, pedagogy, and using data.
Her work has helped to build district capacity as well as increase teacher content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Both student achievement on classroom assessments and CST scores in mathematics and science for grades 5 and 8 have increased.
DiRanna has coauthored various publications including:
- Assessment-Centered Teaching: A Reflective Process
- Making Connections: A Guide to Implementing Science Standards
- The Data Coach’s Guide to Improving Learning for All: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative Inquiry
- A chapter in Professional Learning Communities for Science Teaching: Lessons from Research and Practice
- An assessment article for Principal Leadership
- Articles about science and English learners for WestEd’s Equity Assistance Center
A featured speaker at state and national conferences, DiRanna received CSTA’s highest award, the Margaret Nicholson Award for Distinguished Service to Science Education; WestEd Paul D. Hood Award for individual distinguished service to the field; and Learning Forward’s Susan Loucks Horsley Award for building community.
DiRanna received a BA in biology from Cal Western University and an MA in zoology from the University of California, Los Angeles.