Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Koochek And Tricia Xavier.
Hi Claudia Koochek and Tricia Xavier, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
CLAUDIA KOOCHEK: My career advocating for students with learning differences (or LDs for short) spans almost forty years. It started when I was a teen volunteer for the Special Olympics in my native El Salvador. That’s what sparked my interest in serving kids with distinct learning styles, who I firmly believe have strengths and gifts that we have a responsibility to recognize and celebrate. That early volunteerism inspired me to pursue LD education in my professional life here in the United States—first in Northern California at Charles Armstrong School and now in Greater LA. Today I am the Head of School at Westmark School in Encino, a Grades 2–12 independent school dedicated to students with dyslexia and other LDs based in language-processing and attention challenges. At Westmark, I have the privilege of working with dedicated faculty and staff—including my colleague here, Tricia Xavier.
TRICIA XAVIER: Thank you, Claudia. I am honored to work with you at Westmark, where I am the Director of Admission and Enrollment. I stumbled upon this field when I was working in the entertainment industry after college. Like many creative workers, I took on all kinds of jobs on the side and landed a gig at a private school. I ended up never leaving this world, wearing many hats at different schools in LA but gravitating towards admissions because it feels good to help families find a school that aligns with their goals and values.
Years later, I was eager to join the team at Westmark since it’s all the more urgent to match a student’s strengths and stretches with the right learning environment when they have an LD. I know this firsthand because my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD in first grade. In third grade, she moved to Westmark, where she benefits greatly from the explicit, direct, and multimodal instruction, the small class sizes, the co-curricular offerings, and just generally feeling supported by her expertly trained teachers. Westmark truly changes lives, and it’s fulfilling to get to play a small role in helping families like mine feel whole again.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
TRICIA XAVIER: Watching my daughter struggle at her former school was certainly difficult. So was receiving her diagnosis—I felt alone and lost at the time. But the road becomes smoother as I keep learning and witnessing how a neurological condition like dyslexia can and should be approached in a school setting. The more I understand that the LD brain is just wired differently and that specialized teaching can unlock a dyslexic learner’s potential, the more confident I feel as a parent and a professional in this field.
CLAUDIA KOOCHEK: Tricia brings up an important point. There have been great strides in raising awareness about dyslexia and other language-based LD, but we are still working hard to demystify and destigmatize it—even though it affects approximately 1 in 5 Americans. Creating equitable opportunities for all young learners takes courage, persistence, and a growth mindset just like we try to instill in our students.
My top priority is always the student experience. But in order to help learners find success and fulfillment, we prioritize not only cutting-edge teacher training, but also robust parent education. Parents are our vital partners in their child’s educational journey, so we make sure to impart information and insights about a range of relevant topics—structured literacy, Universal Design for Learning, executive function, to name a few—so that as a community we can handle the bumps in the road.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
TRICIA XAVIER: The heart of my job is to guide families who seek a learning environment for their bright child who thinks and learns differently. I listen, I engage, I empathize, and I do my best to help them start a new chapter in their academic and social-emotional life. I feel most proud when parents tell me of their students’ triumphs at school. Like the mom who told me that after just one week at Westmark, her second grader—who had only been able to read the word cat and her own name—read a book from beginning to end. That’s a tangible, positive outcome of our teaching methodologies.
CLAUDIA KOOCHEK: My day-to-day interactions with students and families, as well as faculty and staff, mean the world to me. As Head of School, nothing lifts my spirits like the sense of community we have at Westmark.
Throughout my career, what has excited me the most is bridging the latest in neuroscientific research to classroom practice. I am proud of the partnerships we have developed with the National Center for Learning Disabilities and the UCSF Dyslexia Center, among other mission-aligned institutions, because it ensures that Westmark stays at the cutting edge of LD education. As we speak, there are UCSF researchers conducting an instructional trial in our fourth-grade math classes. I am passionate about creating such opportunities and forging those connections.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
TRICIA XAVIER: Well, I am grateful for the mentorship of Claudia Koochek! She is a renowned figure in LD education, who has taught me so much and introduced me to many game-changers in the field. I also want to shout out my Admission Ambassadors, a team of parents and students who volunteer their time to engage with applicants and share their personal journeys. They are true cheerleaders for the work that we do. And of course, I thank my parents and my daughter for their unconditional love and support.
CLAUDIA KOOCHEK: I am grateful to my husband for his unwavering love and support over the past twenty years. He has always encouraged me to pursue my career wholeheartedly and dedicate myself fully to the work I know I was meant to do. I thank my mother for passing down to me a strong work ethic. And I’d like to honor a loving family in Northern California who welcomed me into their home when I was a young volunteer at Armstrong. They had three kids with LD and I assisted with their homework. In many ways, living with them early in my career gave me the chance to hone my skills on how to motivate and inspire students to do their best.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge my fellow administrators in the Association of LD Schools, which aims to advance our shared missions; and of course, the Westmark community, which brings meaning and purpose to my life each and every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.westmarkschool.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westmarklions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westmarklions
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tricia-xavier/ AND https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-koochek-178ab9190/
