Jane E. West, Ph.D.

Vice President
Government and External Relations

Dr. Jane West joined AACTE in February 2006. She directs the department of government and external relations, including communications and public affairs, federal education policy, membership development, and AACTE’s relations with its state chapters. West brings over 30 years of education and public policy experience to the organization as a former teacher, education administrator, PTA officer, researcher, and university faculty member. As a founder and principal of Washington Partners, LLC, West provided government relations services to a range of national education organizations. She has served as an independent consultant to numerous non-profits, written and published articles on education policy issues, and edited two books. She supervised student teachers at the University of Maryland and taught graduate courses on disability law and policy as an adjunct faculty member at John Hopkins University and at the University of San Francisco.

West served as senior policy analyst for the Presidential Commission on the HIV Epidemic under President Ronald Reagan and was staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy under the leadership of Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., of Connecticut. In that capacity she shepherded the reauthorization of several laws, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, and the Developmental Disabilities Act.

Dr. West has worked extensively with government agencies, having conducted policy studies on education, health care, social services, employment, and civil rights issues. For six years she consulted with the Social Security Administration on developing employment incentives for people with disabilities. One product of that work was the enactment of the Ticket to Work and the Work Incentive Improvement Act of 2000. West has also consulted with the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs and its Office of Post Secondary Education, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Council on Disability. Further, she has been a peer reviewer for the Department of Education and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Dr. West received her BA from the University of California at Santa Barbara, her MA from Columbia University and her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

West serves on the Alumni Board for the College of Education at the University of Maryland. She chairs the Partnership Development Board of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and serves on the Mitsubishi Electric America Advisory Board. She was formerly a board member of the Committee for Education Funding, a national coalition of more than 100 education organizations.

Top of page