Melinda Wallace is a Senior Program Associate at WestEd who works with state education agencies, districts, and schools across the country to support their efforts in improving equitable outcomes for all students.
Currently, Wallace supports state education agencies through the Region 15 Comprehensive Center by providing capacity-building services to leadership teams in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. Recently, she provided support to the Nevada Department of Education in the development of their strategic plan and improved the instructional materials review process in the state. She also provided technical assistance to the California Department of Education in developing resources to support County Offices of Education and local education agencies in developing their Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP). Additionally, she leads the regional Family and Community Engagement/Partnership Collaborative with family and community engagement leaders from the four-state region.
Additionally, Wallace provides on-site training and coaching to school district administrators, school leaders, and teachers to implement high-impact family engagement practices through the Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT), a strengths-based model of family engagement designed to strengthen the capacity of teachers and families to partner and transform family participation in their children’s education.
Before joining WestEd, Wallace served as a classroom teacher, turnaround principal, and district office administrator in Southern California. She holds a bachelor of arts in education from Stephen F. Austin State University and a master of arts in Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Administration from California State University at Bakersfield.