Researcher Bios:

Rebecca joined NWEA in 2005 after serving as an institutional review board analyst for the Office of Research Integrity at Oregon Health and Science University. Prior to that, she served as a research assistant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation in New York, NY. At NWEA, Rebecca specializes in organizing and facilitating the planning and execution of research projects. She also works to develop policies and procedures related to research projects. Rebecca holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University, and a B.A. Anthropology and Urban Studies from San Francisco State University.

What education policy issue are you passionate about? 

As the parent of two preschoolers, I am concerned about too much emphasis on standards, scores, grades, and structure.  While I am all in favor of evaluating students for the purposes of understanding what they know and how they are growing, I feel that the national obsession with standards (and the corresponding ranking) is at the cost of things that can foster a true love of learning – time and space to play, create, explore, and get messy!  I hope that our policymakers will see the value of allowing children ample time in every school to experience activities beyond those which foster accuracy and memorization, and to allow educators to focus on ways to instill creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking in our children.

What are you reading right now? 

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets, by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio, a study of people from 30 countries and the food they eat in one day.  These photojournalists have done some fascinating profiles on how diet, nutrition, and culture intersect.

When was the last time you were out of the country? 

 Assuming Canada doesn’t count, my last visit out of the country was a trip to Brazil about ten years ago.  I went with two girlfriends and we traveled from Rio to Bahia by bus and rental car.  While the people, food, beaches (and caipirinhas) were amazing, I spent a fair amount of time sick with a delirious fever, which my friends and I now refer to as the time I had dengue fever, just because it sounds exotic.

What was your first job out of college?

I worked in an office that managed leasing land for cell phone towers.  Our salespeople had to go around and convince landowners in regions that then lacked cell phone coverage (usually lovely rural areas in Northern California) to allow huge ugly cell towers to be built on their land.  This was a very valuable experience for me, as I quickly learned that I did not want to work in the corporate world.