Tiffany Adamski

Tiffany Adamski is the Executive Director of TutorSmart, a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with schools to help students achieve grade-level proficiency through targeted, data-driven tutoring. Leveraging her expertise in educational program development, Adamski has steered TutorSmart's mission to increase access to high-impact tutoring for underserved students. Under her leadership, TutorSmart has expanded to support implementation of high-impact tutoring services on school campuses, in library branches, and online. Previously, Adamski spearheaded the design and launch of specialized educational institutions, including the American Excellence Schools in Amman, Jordan, and iLEAD Spring Meadows in Ohio.

Ayush Agarwal

Ayush Agarwal is the Co-founder & CEO at Pencil Spaces.

Chris Agnew

Chris leads the new Generative AI in Education Hub aiming to be the trusted source for education system leaders on what works leveraging genAI in K12 education. With over 25 years in education, Chris has taught and led both K12 schools and non traditional learning environments. Committed to learning that is experiential, applied and relevant, Chris shifted to education technology to improve access and reduce cost of transformative learning models. Prior to Stanford, Chris led US higher ed strategy and credentials for Multiverse, an edtech startup using professional apprenticeships as an alternative to college and university.

Imran Ahmed

Head of Product at Pencil Spaces. Launched products used by millions. Previously at McKinsey, with research experience at Cambridge and MIT

Hasan Ali

Hasan Ali is a graduate of UC Berkeley and withdrew from medical school to advance global learning through Air Tutors. He attended K-12 schools in a highly socioeconomically impacted community and, while applying to graduate schools, tutored for families attending the elite private school and boarding schools of Los Angeles. Realizing the colossal disparity in educational resources, he and a team of educators created Air Tutors to catalyze student achievement for all students in every community everywhere.

Nicole Allison

Nicole Allison is an IT Business Coordinator at LAUSD specializing in EdTech LMS LTI integration and digital program project management. She partners with vendors to ensure equitable access for 500,000+ students and 36,000+ certificated staff across the district. With a focus on cybersecurity, student data privacy, and sustainable implementation practices, students are always at the center of her work. Nicole works closely with the Division of Instruction to support LMS integration for districtwide initiatives such as high-dosage tutoring. Nicole is a National Board Certified Teacher and brings years of experience bridging technology, instruction, and leadership to create impactful, scalable solutions.

Raissa Almeida

Raissa Pascoal is a Master's student in Public Policy at the Federal University of ABC, with a background in Journalism and Language Studies from the University of São Paulo (USP), and a postgraduate degree in Management and Innovation from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). She has over ten years of experience in the education sector in Brazil, working across various levels — from classroom practice to policy-making. She currently coordinates the Pedagogical Management division at the São Paulo State Secretariat of Education, where she leads initiatives focused on instructional support and learning recovery.

Amy Ambatielos

Amy is an educator at heart. Before booking HGTV shows or producing CNN packages, she was a classroom teacher. Teaching through the pandemic, Amy became acutely aware of the overall gaps in students’ learning. She joined Braintrust to help close those gaps through high-dosage tutoring in schools and districts where the loss is most prevalent and the need for support is greatest.

Isabel Amigo

Isabel is the Director of Innovation in Ceibal, Uruguay, since late 2024. Previously, she was Head of R&D also at Ceibal. Before that, she worked in research and teaching at the French universities IMT Atlantique and Telecom Paris, as well as at the University of the Republic in Uruguay and as an engineer in the then called Ceibal project between 2007 and 2010. Isabel obtained her degree in Electrical Engineering from UdelaR and, in 2013, obtained a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Telecom Bretagne, France, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UdelaR.

Suraj Andrews

Suraj Andrews is the Product Lead of PLUS, an award-winning tutoring program at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He aligns the design, development, research and partnerships teams to the product strategy to ensure participants and beneficiaries of the PLUS product see measurable improvements in learning. Suraj brings to the PLUS team a decade of experience spanning communications, marketing, product development and IT management from India and Cambodia.

Sam Angileri

High-Impact Tutoring Program Analyst

Maishka Antoine

Maishka Antoine is a dedicated mathematics educator who emphasizes equity and making math relevant to students' lives and future goals. She believes all students deserve access to high-quality, engaging mathematical experiences. Maishka holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Spanish from Union College, an M.S. in Mathematics Education (7-12) from St. John’s University, and an M.S.Ed. in Childhood Education (1-6) from Brooklyn College. Now in her eighth year teaching high school math in NYC, she is committed to helping students develop strong problem-solving skills and confidence in mathematics, preparing them for success beyond the classroom.

Ann Argo

Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my career as a bilingual educator. I have taught grades K-12, served as Instructional Coach, school site and school support administrator. For the last two years, my team and I at LAUSD Division of Instruction Tutoring Services have coordinated On-Demand, In-Person, Virtual, and Home Based Tutoring services for most of our 773 schools in grades K-12. Among my responsibilities is vendor liaison: building strong relationships with over twenty-five vendors, ensuring contract and data compliance, as well as high quality services and support to our students and their schools.

Catherine Asher

Catherine Asher is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Youth Policy Lab at University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Her research uses rigorous, quantitative designs to understand causal effects and treatment effect heterogeneity of interventions and policies that help students’ reach their academic potential. Currently, her work includes evaluations of academic interventions to designed to improve educational achievement among young students; studies of how investigating how technology can be used to improve access to educational resources for families of all backgrounds; and assessments of school-based efforts to support students’ mental health.

Deidra Bailey

As Senior Director of Program Implementation at CityTutor DC, Deidra supports school leaders and teams to design, implement and refine HIT programs in their schools. Before joining the CityTutor Team, she was High School Principal at DC International School, a dual-language and IB for ALL charter school in DC. Deidra began her career in education as a Teacher For America corps member in Washington DC teaching special education and math. Deidra holds a B.A. in Government and International Politics with a minor in African and African American Studies and an M.Ed in Special Education, both from George Mason University.

Grace Bailey

Grace Bailey is Director of Accelerating Scholars, Metro Nashville Public Schools’ high-impact tutoring program. Since joining MNPS in January 2022, she has led the growth of high-impact tutoring from about 850 students to over 9,000 students served in Spring 2024. Prior to joining MNPS, Grace taught and held various school leadership roles, including seven years as a principal. Grace enjoys combining instructional leadership and school operations experience to her current role, leading tutoring efforts across 100+ MNPS schools.
Grace currently lives in Nashville with her husband, Richard, also an educator, and their three children: Margaret, Richard and Will.

Joyanna Balk

Joya Balk is the Senior Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives for the San Francisco Unified School District. For the last 10 years, she has developed structures and strategies within SFUSD to tackle large scale change initiatives and lead our district towards our Vision. Before SFUSD Joya started her career as a 6th grade math and science in East Palo Alto, coached teachers for a non-profit organization, and was a principal of an elementary school in San Jose. She believes that closing the achievement gap for our African American/Black students is the most important social justice issue of her generation.

Shubham Banerjee

Center Director

Marina Barnett

Marina Barnett, DSW, is Assistant Provost for Civic Engagement and Associate Professor of Social Work at Widener University. With over 30 years of experience in community and organizational development, she has secured over $3 million in grant funding to support youth leadership, health equity, and violence prevention. She co-directs the Academic Service-Learning Fellows program and teaches across BSW, MSW, and PhD levels. Her research focuses on community-based participatory methods, GIS mapping, and training residents to conduct local research that drives change.

Katherine Bassett

Throughout her career in education, Katherine has advocated for students to receive the highest-quality of education regardless of their zip code or family circumstances. Katherine spent 26 years in the classroom as a middle school librarian and is New Jersey’s 2000 State Teacher of the Year. At ETS, led the development of the NBPTS certificates for Library Media and Literacy. She led the development of educator performance-based assessments and worked with six states to develop a common continuum of practice. Katherine led the development of the Teacher Leader Model Standards and the Model Code of Ethics for Educators.

Xander Beberman

Xander Beberman is a Senior Research Data Analyst on the National Student Support Accelerator team. He is interested in equitable and responsible uses of AI and machine learning as both a tool for and subject of social policy research. Xander previously served as a Data Scientist at the University of Chicago Urban Labs, where he created predictive modeling pipelines to aid the analysis and implementation of program evaluations related to public health and violence reduction, such as READI Chicago. He also previously served as a Software Engineer at the nonprofit organization Democracy Works, he built and maintained web-based tools to help make voting easier. He holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Ashley Bencan

Ashley excels at bridging the gaps between education practice, programming and policy development, as well as navigating complex organizational operations. As Chief of Staff for NJTC, she has designed and implemented statewide programming, while managing key systems and advocating for state funding. Ashley served in leadership roles with JerseyCAN and the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), driving state-level education policy improvements and operational transformations. Ashley also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania and MS teacher in Philadelphia. She holds a Ms.Ed from UPENN and a BA with honors in Psychology from Rollins College.

Kathy Bendheim

Kathy Bendheim is the Director of Strategic Advising for the National Student Support Accelerator. Her early career was spent in public accounting followed by business school and management consulting with McKinsey & Co. However, her passion has consistently been the improvement of the public education system. Since leaving the for-profit world, she has worked in Bridgeport, CT for the YMCA where she started a summer and after-school program that won the Chairman’s Award for best new program, and in New York City for Clearpool, Inc., a K-8 extended day, year-round public school partner, in program operations and development.

Tracie Bergman

Tracie Bergman is currently the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for Hillsborough County Public schools, where she oversees all things literacy and ELL. Prior to that she was the Executive Director for Literacy. She began her career in 1998 with Pinellas County schools, also in Florida where she was a teacher, curriculum specialist, assistant principal, literacy supervisor, and principal.

Monica Bhatt

Monica P. Bhatt is the Senior Research Director at the University of Chicago Education Lab. Dr. Bhatt oversees a portfolio of over a dozen large-scale randomized controlled trials related to improving academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes for Chicagoans. Her current work focuses on leading the Personalized Learning Initiative, understanding how we can scale the benefits of high-impact tutoring so that more students can benefit. She is the principal investigator on a number of high-profile studies, including individualized instructional interventions like high-dosage tutoring; alleviating mental health for young women; and READI Chicago. Prior to Education Lab, she worked as a researcher at the American Institutes for Research.

LaToya Blackshear

Mrs. LaToya Blackshear is the Director of Planning and Evaluation for Jackson Public Schools, bringing 25 years of experience in education. She has served as a teacher, principal, and state-level program coordinator, where she helped develop the Mississippi K-3 Assessment Support System. Known for her strategic vision and data-driven leadership, she has led the turnaround of several underperforming schools. Named JPS District Leader of the Year in 2022, she specializes in data analysis, strategic planning, and school improvement. She holds degrees from Jackson State University and Mississippi College and is a proud wife and mother of two.

Audrey Borland

Audrey is the Senior Vice President of Regional Leadership at Ampact, where she drives the growth and impact of programs across multiple states. Over the past seven years, she has played a pivotal role in expanding Ampact’s reach—first as Executive Director in Wisconsin and later in California—securing increased federal, state, and local funding while building strong, high-performing teams.
Audrey’s career began in engineering, but her passion for service led her to the nonprofit sector. Under her leadership, Ampact’s programs have reached tens of thousands of children nationwide, strengthening educational outcomes and fostering opportunities for future success.

Julie Brosnan

Julie Brosnan is the Communication & Engagement Manager for NSSA and the SCALE Initiative that is housed within Stanford Graduate School of Education. Prior to joining NSSA in 2023, Julie worked in communications for both Whiteboard Advisors, a DC-based education consultancy, and the think tank New America with their Education Policy Program.

Emma Brunskill

Emma Brunskill is an associate tenured professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University. Her goal is to create AI systems that learn from a few samples to robustly make good decisions, motivated by our applications to healthcare and education. Her lab is part of the Stanford AI Lab, the Stanford Statistical ML group, and AI Safety @Stanford. She was previously an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work has been honored by early faculty career awards (National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, Microsoft Research (1 of 7 worldwide) ), and her work, together with her lab members, has received several best research paper nominations (CHI, EDMx3) and awards (UAI, RLDM, ITS). She is privileged to serve on the International Machine Learning Society (which coordinates ICML) Board, the Khan Academy Research Advisory Board, the Stanford Faculty Women's Forum Steering Committee, and she previously served on the Women in Machine Learning (WIML) board.

Kelli Burnett

As the Federal and State Programs Specialist for Intervene K-12, I cultivate strategic relationships with state leaders, help districts secure funding, and ensure compliance with state tutoring initiatives. I also submit grants and proposals that align with our mission to eliminate barriers to student success by providing high-quality, equitable education through data-driven instruction, high-dosage tutoring, and mentorship. Previously, I worked in federal programs at the district level, overseeing multimillion-dollar federal grants and ensuring compliance with regulations.

John Calvello

I’m John Calvello, Chief Institutional Officer at Tutor.com and The Princeton Review®. As the leader of institutional business for 2 companies across 6 markets, I oversee all federal, state, and local partnerships. In my 13+ years at this organization, I have built a mission-driven team and helmed unprecedented growth while ensuring our partners provide students with exceptional academic support at scale.

Every learner deserves the opportunity to achieve and succeed, and I’m proud to deliver products and services that make a positive impact on students, educators, schools, communities, and our country.

Ian Cameron

Ian Cameron is National Board Chair of Reading Partners, which offers high impact tutoring for K-4th grade students in under resourced communities in eleven cities across the country. Reading Partners engages community volunteers in direct service tutoring and partners with community organizations to expand the reach of our tutor-based model. Ian has served as a tutor for Reading Partners in Washington, DC. Prior to his work with Reading Partners, Ian spent 30 years as a broadcast journalist and producer for national news organizations.

Megan Carey

Megan Carey is Vice President of Strategy and Learning at Blue Engine, a nonprofit that partners with districts to build systems that leverage multiple educators to meet students’ individual needs. Since 2020, she has collaborated with NSSA to develop the original Tutoring Toolkit and District Playbook, led the Tutor Training Toolkit, and supported updates to both tools. She has also authored NSSA's briefs on integrating high-impact tutoring into MTSS and leveraging paraprofessionals as tutors. With two decades of experience in education and human-centered design, Megan is committed to building equitable systems that support diverse learners and inclusive, personalized instruction.

Geoff Carlisle

Geoff is the Policy Manager at Deans for Impact (DFI), an organization who's mission is to ensure that every child is taught by a well-prepared teacher. He facilitates the Aspiring Teachers as Tutors Network, a coalition of nearly 30 organizations mobilizing aspiring teachers to serve as high-impact tutors whose work informed the publication of DFI's Tutoring Policy Framework. Before joining DFI, he was a visiting researcher at the University of Oslo where he conducted research on Norwegian teacher education, and taught middle school science in Texas and Mississippi.

Sarah Carroll

Sarah brings 20 years of professional experience in luxury travel, hospitality & wine marketing into her role with the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation. Her career involves operations, sales, marketing & customer service from her positions with Creative Leisure, Beautiful Places and Don Sebastiani & Sons and volunteer service with Impact100 Sonoma. Sarah is passionate in building a world where all people can safely reach their fullest potential with dignity and respect. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Women & Gender Studies from Sonoma State University. Sarah, along with her husband, Zachary and daughter Tallulah, enjoy living in Sonoma, where Tallulah attends Adele Harrison Middle School.

Nathaniel Casey

In his role as Chief Strategy Officer at Pearl, Nate Casey oversees thought leadership and strategic partnerships. As part of Nate's work, he also focuses heavily on connecting research with practice in order to ensure that Pearl's tutoring partners can effectively provide efficacy data to improve both academic progress and program design. Nate and special guests from education, research, and government policy explore tutoring's role in the overall educational landscape through the Pearls Of Wisdom Webinar Series. Richmond, VA is his home and he serves on the Board of The Riverside School as well as being a guest speaker at local universities and K12 schools.

Jacqueline Castillo

Member of NSSA's Family and Caregiver Tutoring Advisory Group and President of Niagara Falls Special Education PTA.

Vanessa Ceas

Vanessa Ceas is the Vice President at Great Oaks Tutor Corps, where they support strategy and finance to scale the impact of high-dosage tutoring. They hold a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Johnson & Wales University and have worked in education since 2011. Since joining Great Oaks in 2016, they have focused on helping build sustainable, equity-driven systems that advance student achievement. They are deeply committed to the personal and professional growth of tutors, ensuring each experience is both meaningful and transformative. Their work blends operational expertise with a passion for people, driving lasting impact for students and tutors alike.

Ed Ceja

At the helm of The Princeton Review and Tutor.com's strategic initiatives, my focus, for more than 15 years, has been on fostering educational equity and college readiness for underserved communities. Our team has effectively collaborated with large school districts and community organizations providing robust high dosage tutoring and personalized support services. With a strategic approach grounded in educational leadership and management, we've empowered countless students to reach their college aspirations. Emphasizing staff development and family engagement, our work has not only supported learners but also strengthened the fabric of community-based education, ensuring a brighter future for the next generation.

Milagro Chavez-Cisneros

Milagro serves as Director of Program & Planning at Accelerate. She was previously an analyst at The Hunt Institute, where she supported state policymakers and conducted research and analysis on education policy issues across the P-16 continuum in North Carolina. Milagro holds a B.A. in Ethnicity and Race studies from Columbia University in the City of New York. While at Columbia, Milagro worked as a researcher, community organizer, and college access mentor. Milagro calls Virginia home, and she is an avid advocate for rural and multilingual children.

Joy Chen

Dr. Joy Chen serves as a Senior Advisor at Stanford Accelerator for Learning, a Board Director at EHL Group in Switzerland, a Senior Advisor at GSV Ventures, Chief Executive Advisor at TAL Education Group (NYSE: TAL). Previously, Dr. Chen was the US Chief Investment Officer for TAL. She was a successful entrepreneur who founded FirstLeap Future Leaders Institute, which got acquired by TAL. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at Ernst & Young, Microsoft, and Verizon. Dr. Chen holds an Ed.D. from USC, a master’s degree from Indiana University, and is an alumna of the Stanford GSB.

Patricia Chenail

After a 17 year business career, I entered the education world. I have been with Thompson Public Schools for 25 years teaching mathematics. For the last 4 years, I have been the Math Curriculum Leader/Coach with a focus on early numeracy in our elementary school and managing a HDT (math) in our middle school. I am working to develop an in house tutoring program to roll out in the Fall of 2025.

Alexandra Cirone

Alexandra Cirone is a Learning and Development leader dedicated to making education more accessible and impactful. As Chief Growth Strategist at READ USA, she works on strategically planning the scaling of the organization's high-impact near-to-peer Literacy Tutoring Program that closes literacy gaps while providing workforce development for teens. With a decade of experience spanning edtech startups, venture philanthropy, and classroom teaching, Alexandra has built global learning programs, led educator training, and developed strategies to maximize impact. Her work focuses on expanding educational equity through innovative, data-driven solutions that empower learners and ensure opportunities are available and accessible to all students.

Courtney Clayton

Courtney Clayton is the Program Manager for the Metro Nashville Public Schools Tutoring Program, overseeing tutor recruitment, training, and program implementation to enhance student achievement. With a background as a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) and extensive experience in K-12 education, she specializes in academic intervention, special education, and equitable student support services. She is also a current doctoral student at Tennessee State University. Passionate about data-driven solutions and program evaluation, she works to expand access to high-quality tutoring, ensuring all students receive the support they need to succeed.

Mike Cohen

Mike Cohen’s career has straddled academic research and entrepreneurial activity, focused on helping human-centered technologies achieve positive real-world impact. He earned his PhD at Berkeley, has published more than 80 academic papers and one book, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

Mike founded Cignition in 2014 with a goal of helping all students achieve a deep understanding of mathematics (later adding ELA) - both to enable further learning and to be prepared for success in the workplace. Those goals led to a focus on conceptual understanding and collaborative learning, based on ongoing data-driven improvement of all components.

Liz Cohen

Liz Cohen is vice president of policy at 50CAN, a national education advocacy organization that believes tutoring is one of five key pillars to building a better education for all children. She is also the author of The Future of Tutoring, a book on the high-impact tutoring movement, coming October 2025. Liz previously served as policy director at FutureEd, a think tank based at Georgetown University, and as senior director at Whiteboard Advisors, a consulting company.

Lana Conaway

Lana Conaway serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Student Affairs for the Palo Alto Unified School District. In this role, she leads districtwide efforts to advance educational equity, foster inclusive school cultures, and support student well-being. With a strong background in educational leadership, student services, and equity-centered reform, Lana is committed to ensuring that all students have access to high-quality learning opportunities and supportive environments. Her work emphasizes systemic change, community engagement, and data-driven practices. Lana believes that achieving excellence requires centering the needs of historically marginalized students and building collaborative, culturally responsive educational systems.

Kalena Cortes

Kalena Cortes is the Kruse ’52 Founders Professor in the Department of Public Service and Administration at Texas A&M University’s Bush School. Her research focuses on the economics of education, particularly on equity, access, and identifying policies that support disadvantaged students at the PK–12 and postsecondary levels. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). She was also named a 2020 Presidential Impact Fellow at Texas A&M. She earned her PhD from UC Berkeley and BA from UC San Diego.

Evan Coughenour

Evan Coughenour is a partner in Bellwether’s Strategic Advising practice area. Since Evan joined Bellwether in 2014, his clients have included state education agencies, charter networks, tutoring collaboratives, and postsecondary access and success organizations. Prior to Bellwether, Evan interned at A Better Chicago, worked as both a consultant and special assistant to the CEO at ASI Government, and taught in Washington, D.C., as a TFA corps member.

Evan holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an MAT in elementary education from American University, and a BA with distinction in psychology from Yale.

Tricia Couts-Everett

Tricia Couts-Everett serves as the Learning Acceleration Administrator at the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, managing the implementation and evaluation of high-impact tutoring initiatives designed to support academic recovery and growth. Working closely with school districts and regional partners, she ensures programs are research-informed and aligned with state priorities. Tricia brings a background in curriculum, school improvement, instructional coaching, and classroom teaching and is committed to helping all learners succeed through high-impact practices that accelerate learning and close opportunity gaps across the state.