TLLC Staff Bios

Dr. Stephanie Gregson

Deputy Executive Director

Dr. Stephanie Gregson serves as the Deputy Executive Director for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE). In this role, Dr. Gregson works closely with Executive Director Matt Navo, overseeing the Direct Technical Assistance efforts focusing on school turnaround centering on improving teaching and learning within districts and schools aimed at equitable access, opportunity, and outcomes for students. Stephanie has more than 24 years of experience in public education and started her career as an elementary school teacher in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Read More

Dr. Matthew Roberts

Senior Advisor

Dr. Matthew Roberts serves as the Senior Advisor – Teaching, Learning and Leading Center for the CCEE. In this role, Dr. Roberts develops relationships with District, County and State partners to support transformational instructional and systemic change leading to improved and sustained student outcomes. Additionally, he works with State Literacy Initiatives such as the California Dyslexia Initiative. Dr. Roberts has served in the role of State Leadership, District Superintendent, School Site Leadership and Teacher for the past 27 years and has extensive experience in the continuum of educational programs and services that districts and schools face. Dr. Roberts is also a champion of College and Career and leading students to be their best selves. Read More

Erik Swanson

Senior Advisor

Erik Swanson is currently serving as a Senior Advisor for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE). Primarily supporting the Direct Technical Assistance Team, Swanson and the team are focused on supporting districts that are committed to working to improve pervasive systemic instructional challenges to support equitable access and outcomes for all students. Prior to joining CCEE, Swanson served as the Assistant Superintendent of Education Services in the Stockton Unified School District. In this role, Swanson led the Ed. Services team through the challenges of the pandemic. Read More

Rocio Gonzalez-Frausto

Assistant Director

Rocio Gonzalez-Frausto is the Assistant Director of Teaching, Learning, and Leading center for the CCEE. In this role, Gonzalez helps the team develop, support, and coordinate the Direct Technical Assistance (DTA) that local educational agencies (LEAs) receive from the CCEE. Gonzalez, provides support in other state-wide initiatives, she is a member of the Universal Preschool and Transitional Kinder Local Implementation and Promising Practice Design Team.Before joining the CCEE team, Gonzalez was a Regional Superintendent providing academic and systemic support toTK-12 Title I schools in the Bay Area. Read More

Stacey Wedin

Assistant Director

Stacey Wedin serves as Assistant Director of Teaching, Learning, & Leading for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence providing technical assistance and support in developing a statewide professional learning infrastructure focused on evidence based accelerated learning strategies. In this role, Wedin will assist with designing and implementing systems that provide coherence across the accelerated learning grants, Direct Technical Assistance cycles, and other professional learning efforts led by the CCEE. Stacey Wedin serves as Assistant Director of Teaching, Learning, & Leading for the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence providing technical assistance and support in developing a statewide professional learning infrastructure focused on evidence based accelerated learning strategies. In this role, Wedin will assist with designing and implementing systems that provide coherence across the accelerated learning grants, Direct Technical Assistance cycles, and other professional learning efforts led by the CCEE.

Wedin brings extensive knowledge of and experience with California’s educational system. Prior to joining the CCEE, Wedin served as the Administrator of the Equity Branch of the California Department of Education (CDE), supporting Divisions and teams implementing programs to improve equitable outcomes for students across the state. Wedin has worked in educational policy and state level program administration for fifteen years with direct experience assisting local educational agencies with implementing statewide school transformation, special education, and equity initiatives. This experience includes assisting local educational agencies to build an infrastructure of integrated supports in schools, including meaningful access to health and behavioral health services and social-emotional learning, leveraging resources available through the state system of support, and identifying strategies to deliver high quality instruction in inclusive settings.

Wedin also worked in CDE’s Special Education Division for ten years and served as the Administrator over the Statewide Policy and Implementation team, advising on complex statewide special education policy matters related to serving students with disabilities in California. This includes prior experience as coordinator of California’s State Systemic Improvement Plan for special education and helping to lead major interagency collaboration initiatives, such as the Senate Bill 75 (2019) Medi-Cal for Students workgroup. Wedin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California at Davis in 2004 and a Master of Arts degree in Social Work from California State University at Stanislaus in 2007. Trained in social work, Wedin brings a whole person lens to her work and has served in various capacities supporting the whole child throughout her career. Her prior work experience includes working in a district supporting homeless youth and families with access to education and providing direct mental health services. Read More

Dr. Jennie Wright

Senior Manager

Dr. Jennie Wright is the Senior Manager of Instructional Systems and Innovation for the CCEE. In this role, Dr. Wright helps support and coordinate the Direct Technical Assistance (DTA) that local educational agencies (LEAs) receive from the CCEE. Prior to joining the CCEE team, Dr. Wright was a capacity building coach with InnovateEd providing support and facilitation to LEA’s across California implementing Fullan & Quinn’s coherence framework, as well as continuous improvement processes and practices for district leaders, site leaders, site leadership team and Professional Learning Communities within and across schools and districts. Read More

Dr. Gonzalo Avila

Senior Manager

Dr. Gonzalo Avila is the Senior Manager of Instructional Systems and Innovation for the CCEE. In this role, Dr. Avila assists local educational agencies (LEAs) in a systemic review to accelerate learning and achievement. Dr. Avila has served as an educator leader for 27 years. During his career, he served as a bilingual teacher, assistant principal, and principal. Dr. Avila has held increasingly responsible director roles, which have included Director of English Learners, Director of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Director of Accountability and Continuous Improvement. Read More

Franchesca Sonoyama

Program Specialist

Franchesca Sonoyama is a Program Specialist for the CCEE. In this role, she provides programmatic and team support including process improvement, material development, and project management within the Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center (TLLC). Franchesca supports the implementation of the Systemic Instructional Review (SIR) for the TLLC team alongside partner LEAs. Prior to joining the CCEE team, Franchesca served as program manager with a non-profit performing arts organization to provide equitable, enriching, and culturally relevant arts education to majority Title-1 schools in Sacramento and abroad. Read More

Belinda Gaspar

Program Specialist

Belinda is a Program Specialist for CCEE’s Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center. She primarily works on the administration and project management of the Learning Acceleration System Grant and evaluation projects associated with the grant alongside Deputy Executive Director Stephanie Gregson and Assistant Director Stacey Wedin. She also supports the center’s efforts to provide Direct Technical Assistance to LEAs across California. Belinda comes to CCEE with a lifelong passion for promoting equitable education policies. Prior to CCEE, Belinda worked with students across all grade levels in California in various roles as an ELD assistant, tutor, and civic engagement intern. Read More

Patricia Fernandez

Administrative Assistant II

Patricia Fernandez serves as an Administrative Assistant II for the CCEE. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Child Development through Sacramento State University; however, her primary focus has been family and community. She started her career as an administrative assistant at a private school in San Francisco. After a few years, she decided to work with families and communities to provide them with the necessary resources to thrive. Patricia then spent several years working in Case Management with a few Bay Area nonprofits. Read More

Sandra Brandt

Administrative Assistant II

Before joining the CCEE team, Sandra served as an Administrative Assistant at Visions In Education, a TK – 12 Independent Study charter school serving nine counties. She served over six years as administrative support to the Chief Operations Officer, Director of Operations, and Controller in the Business Services Department. While working at Visions, she was chosen to work on several special projects, including charter independence, integration of a new school information system, and an intranet redesign project. Sandra worked on various implementation teams where she developed and managed systems for fiscal and business operations. She was also a team member of the DEI Group, in which she participated with teachers, counselors, and administrators to develop an outreach program for the organization. Sandra has worked in the education field for over 12 years. Read More

CCEE Staff Bios

Dr. Stephanie Gregson

Dr. Matthew Roberts

Erik Swanson

Rocio Gonzalez-Frausto

Stacey Wedin

Dr. Jennie Wright

Dr. Gonzalo Avila

Franchesca Sonoyama

Belinda Gaspar

Patricia Fernandez

Sandra Brandt

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