SBE Members

Dr. Darling-Hammond is past president of the American Educational Research Association and recipient of its awards for Distinguished Contributions to Research, Lifetime Achievement, Research Review, and Research-to-Policy. She is also a member of the American Association of Arts and Sciences and of the National Academy of Education. From 1994–2001, she was executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, whose 1996 reportWhat Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future was named one of the most influential reports affecting U.S. education in that decade. In 2006, Darling-Hammond was named one of the nation’s ten most influential people affecting educational policy.

Darling-Hammond began her career as a public school teacher and co-founded both a preschool and a public high school. She served as Director of the RAND Corporation’s education program and as an endowed professor at Columbia University, Teachers College before coming to Stanford. She has consulted widely with federal, state and local officials and educators on strategies for improving education policies and practices and is the recipient of 14 honorary degrees in the U.S. and internationally. Among her more than 600 publications are a number of award-winning books, includingThe Right to Learn, Teaching as the Learning Profession, Preparing Teachers for a Changing WorldandThe Flat World and Education.She received an Ed.D. from Temple University (with highest distinction) and a B.A. from Yale University (magna cum laude).

As chief academic officer, she led the county office’s Educational Services division with a focus on equitable learning environments, student academic achievement, and post-secondary readiness. She facilitated the provision of services to school districts and charter schools in the areas of curriculum, data and assessment, educational technology, equity and access, college readiness, and teacher and administrator credentialing.

Dr. Glover Woods is past chair of the Curriculum Instruction Steering Committee of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association. She is a board member for the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators and is a member of multiple community-based organizations and committees.

Dr. Glover Woods earned a bachelor’s degree in English from California State University, Long Beach, a master’s degree in educational administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Azusa Pacific University.

Dr. Francisco Escobedo has been an educator the better part of 30 years. He was the Superintendent of the Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD) for over a decade. Located in southern San Diego County, the District’s 46 schools serve over 29,400 students. In 2019, the Learning Policy Institute identified CVESD was one of seven "California Positive Outlier" districts for its superior academic scores. Dr. Escobedo is past president of the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; member of the Board of Directors for West Ed Advisory Board, California Collaborative for Education Excellence, the local YMCA, and Classroom of the Future Foundation; and a Rotarian. He was selected as 2019 Superintendent of the Year for ACSA Region 18.

His experience includes working as Assistant Superintendent for Educational Leadership in the South Bay Union School District and Principal Research Analyst for American Institutes for Research. He earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University; M.A. degree from SDSU; and Ed.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Lewis earned a Master of Science degree in Physical Education from Oklahoma State University, and a Doctor of Education degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of LaVerne. She is a member of the Association of California School Administrators, the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators, and is also a board member for two Bakersfield non-profit organizations.

As the Education Director, he oversees more than 75 employees working to improve scholastic outcomes for students of every age, ranging from toddlers to college students. The Department is comprised of three Head Starts, the nationally recognized Yurok Language Program, a Higher Education Program and several other services that support the advancement of tribal youth. Additionally, McQuillen headed up the team that paved the way for the Yurok language to be taught in three separate school districts. He is a lifelong practitioner of the Tribe’s rich culture and his family organizes an annual Brush Dance, which is a traditional healing ceremony. McQuillen holds a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from California State University, Sacramento, a Pupil Personnel Services Credential (PPS) in school counseling, as well as a Marriage Family Therapy (MFT) license in California. He has been in private practice, a lecturer at Humboldt State University (HSU), and an Assistant Principal.

Sharon earned her B.A. from Harvard University, where she was captain of the varsity soccer team, and she received her M.A. in Education at Stanford University. Sharon taught a course in the Stanford Teacher Education Program called "Educating for Equity and Democracy," and she worked for Senator Feinstein for two years before beginning her career in education. Sharon is proud of her Bay Area roots, her San Francisco Giants, and her very well behaved dog, Cody Ross. She lives in San Francisco with her wife, Nancy.

In 2012, she was part of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. As an assessment writer, she developed performance tasks in Language Arts for the primary grades. She was also an Item Reviewer for 4-6th grade Mathematics, specifically in Accessibility, Bias. In 2014, she became a Smarter Balanced Teacher Ambassador in California. Teacher Ambassadors from across the nation learned how the Smarter Balanced Assessment System, including the formative assessment process, can be used to implement the Common Core State Standards.

In 2014, she joined the Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC), which is a statewide community of professional educators committed to transforming our profession to advance the cause of educational equity so each child in California public schools may reach their full potential and thrive. It was through this community that she formed a team of teachers in Montebello to provide professionally learning opportunities for teachers. She started the Common Core Cafe, which is a professional learning community focused on learning how to best meet the needs of our diverse community of students through collaboration and curated lessons around the Common Core instructional shifts, Next Generation Science Standards, and Social Emotional Learning. She also blogged about Common Core resources and best teaching practices for the NEA EdCommunities for over 5 years.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies with a minor in physics from California State University, Dominguez Hills, a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She holds a multiple subject and administrative credential in the state of California.

Pattillo Brownson previously served as the Managing Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization engaged in policy and systems change to foster upward mobility in communities most impacted by economic and racial injustice. In this capacity, she led the Advancement Project’s policy and advocacy staff across Sacramento, Los Angeles and the Bay Area and provided strategic direction to their work on early education, school funding, and school facilities, public budgeting transparency, governmental relations, and state and local campaign advocacy.  In addition to spearheading statewide coalition work on the early childhood budget, her local coalition work at the Los Angeles Unified School District resulted in over $1 billion in increased investment in the highest-need neighborhoods for K-12 and early learning students, and expanded early learning programs for almost 8,000 young children.

Prior to joining the Advancement Project, Kim was an education attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, where she focused on educational equity issues in California schools. Previously, she worked in private sector litigation at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Kim began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Dolores Sloviter on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Honorable Louis H. Pollak in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to law school, Kim worked at the Boston Consulting Group, where she provided financial and strategic planning services to Fortune 500 companies.

Pattillo Brownson earned a Doctor of Law degree from Yale Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies.

In 2014, Rodriguez was appointed by Governor Brown to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, where she chaired the Educator Preparation Committee and served as liaison to the Committee on Accreditation. She also served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards from 2009 until 2017. In addition, she has served on the NPBTS’ Standards Committee for Social Studies/History, the CAEP Commission and the NEA’s Commission on Transforming Teaching.

Haydee has received various awards and fellowships. In 2016, she was named Stanford GSE Alumni of Excellence. She was also named Woman of the Year by both her Assembly member, Eduardo Garcia (2016), and state Senator Ben Hueso (2020) for her commitment to equity, access and social justice in education. In 2001, she received the Governor’s Teaching Fellowship, and was named NCSS Student Teacher of the Year. In 2008, she was named ACSA of Imperial County Teacher of the Year, and was selected by Rotary International to represent Southern California in Ghana and Togo.

As an International Leader in Education (ILEP), she represented the U.S. State Department for a month as an educational ambassador in Brazil. She was also sponsored by the Transatlantic Outreach Program to visit East and West Germany to study their educational system, apprentice programs and opportunities for immigrants.

Other than having danced a Paso Doble in a Dancing with the Stars Competition to raise money for scholarships, she also walked the Way of St. James from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. Haydee was born in Mexicali, BC and lives in El Centro, California.

As Chief Academic Officer of Los Angeles Unified for more than half of million students in one of the nation’s largest and most diverse school districts, she oversaw birth to adult education, including specialized programs for English learners, Standard English learners, Gifted learners, academic counseling, guiding post-secondary success, advanced placement programs, Linked Learning and career technical education. She founded the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) student leadership roundtable to give young leaders a voice with top district decision makers to better serve all student populations.

Yoshimoto-Towery has served for nearly three decades as a teacher, principal, director and top administrator, and has served on a number of national, state, and local working groups including the Trial Urban District Assessment Task Force, the California Collaborative for District Reform, the CORE Districts, Los Angeles College Promise Steering Committee, the Los Angeles Compact, and the L.A. Educator Pathway Program. She believes in providing multi-tiered systems of support so students are ready to thrive in college, career, and life.

The great-granddaughter of Japanese-American migrant farmworkers, Yoshimoto-Towery learned the values of hard work and perseverance during her childhood in Boyle Heights and Monterey Park, California. Through her family’s experience, she understands the importance of ensuring all students feel proud of their family history, and is dedicated to providing them with opportunities that celebrate multiculturalism and multilingualism.

Yoshimoto-Towery has a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine; a master’s degree in education and reading specialist credential from California State University, Los Angeles; a master’s degree in education and an administrative credential from UCLA; and is expected to complete her Ed.D. in the Educational Leadership Program at UCLA in 2024. In 2020, she was awarded the Curriculum and Instruction Administrator of the Year for the Association of California Administrators, Region 16.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and twin sons who attend school in Los Angeles Unified, and believes that being outdoors and giving young people access to natural environments is part of a well-rounded education.

From 2020 to 2022, Ayyappan worked closely with the San Ramon city government through its Teen Council. She was a youth liaison to the Parks & Community Services Commission as well as the city's Library Advisory Committee. She served one-term as the appointed Vice Chair of the Teen Council and Chair of its Public Relations subcommittee. Ayyappan has also worked as an intern for the UC Santa Cruz Sociology Department, researching the various forms of mobility of Latina girls living in California's rural Central Valley. In the San Leandro and Castro Valley school districts, Ayyappan works with the Tri-Valley Youth Forum to recommend tailored restorative justice alternatives to the traditional juvenile justice route.

Ayyappan is the news editor for her school newspaper, The Wildcat Tribune. From 2021 to 2022, she was a Mental Health and Wellness Committee Leadership Student for the school's Parent Teacher Association. Currently, she is a peer mentor on campus, trained to help students one-on-one with issues surrounding mental wellness. Ayyappan has been actively involved in Speech & Debate since 2017, competing for her high school since 2020.