Sharon Nelson-Barber

Sr Program Director
WestEd

Dr Nelson-Barber has more than three decades of experience conducting research and providing technical assistance to advance educational outcomes for Native students. For 10 years she participated in the Regional Education Laboratory Network Program’s Indigenous Education Collaborative, a national group representing the system of Laboratories and charged with identifying and connecting appropriate education services to tribal communities across the country. The Indigenous Education State Leaders Network continued these efforts through the Comprehensive Center Network where, via the West Comprehensive Center, Nelson-Barber worked closely with state and local education leaders in Arizona, Nevada and Utah, providing technical assistance to improve outcomes for Native learners. Currently, she is associated with REL-Northwest and REL-West and participates in two cross-REL programs—one centered on Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, the other on STEM Education. Nelson-Barber regularly works in partnership with other Indigenous researchers and educators whose communities span the lower 48 US states, Alaska, Micronesia, and many areas of Polynesia.