Sarah Novicoff

Sarah Novicoff is a PhD Candidate in Educational Policy and Economics of Education at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. Her research uses mixed methods to understand how state policy can improve the educational experiences of students from traditionally underserved backgrounds (e.g., English learners), with a specific focus on early literacy. Sarah is a recipient of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Dissertation Grant and of the Stanford Graduate Fellowship. Prior to graduate school, Sarah was a 6th grade Social Studies teacher in South Los Angeles.

Michaela O'Neill

Dr. Michaela Krug O’Neill is an Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education. Dr. O’Neill’s scholarship focuses on educational policies and practices that seek to improve instruction and is rooted in commitments to advance equity and justice in our schools and communities. She works at the intersections of national, state, and local policies; teaching and learning practices; and educational partnerships. Dr. O’Neill received her PhD in Educational Foundations and Policy from the University of Michigan.

Keith O'Rourke

Keith O’Rourke is currently the Principal of Seymour Middle School and a veteran educator with over 25 years of middle-level experience. He previously led North Branford Intermediate School through a Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) School Improvement Grant and was recognized by the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) for fostering a positive school climate. At SMS, he implemented the 2023–2024 Connecticut High-Dosage Tutoring Program and is now leading the school’s work in CSDE’s Artificial Intelligence in Education Pilot. Passionate about innovation, Keith actively seeks opportunities that give students and staff a competitive edge.

Melanie Ojefua

Melanie is the VP of High-Impact Tutoring at ExpandED Schools. Before working at ExpandED Schools, Melanie worked at Achievement First as the Director of 5-8 Math Innovation, where she spent three years developing, implementing, and scaling a culturally responsive middle school math program across a network of schools. Prior to Achievement First, Melanie spent ten years at the NYCDOE, where she worked as a special education teacher; a central office leader who helped lead citywide implementation of the common core standards and engaged schools in collaborative action research and learning; and as a middle school assistant principal.

Sam Olivieri

Sam has over 15 years of experience in leadership roles expanding access to education across the K through career continuum. Prior to being CEO at Step Up Tutoring, Sam has served as Partner at Entangled Solutions; Chief Strategy Officer at GreatSchools, a national nonprofit reaching half of American parents; and as Senior Principal at Guild Education, a venture-backed B-Corps providing debt-free education to frontline workers. Sam started her career as a special education teacher in New York. She received a BA from Pomona College and MPP from UCLA.

Pelusa Orellana

I am the director of CIIL (Centro de Investigación e Innovación en Lectura, or Center for Research and Innovation in Reading
https://www.uandes.cl/ciil/) at Universidad de los Andes, in Santiago, Chile. At CIIL we support organizations that are currently providing tutoring to Chilean students. We do so by engaging our undergraduates in tutoring sessions as part of their Reading Methods classes. We also analyze tutoring data for these organizations, develop instructional material, and advocate for them through a national network we founded two years ago: Por un Chile que Lee https://porunchilequelee.cl/

Dr. Katharine Pace Miles

Katharine Pace Miles, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. Dr. Miles’s research interests include orthographic facilitation and mapping, sight word learning, literacy assessment of students with special needs, and literacy instruction for young children that is both developmentally appropriate and grounded in the science of reading. Dr. Miles has published several articles in peer reviewed journals, and she has presented at national and international conferences. She proudly serves as the Academic Advisor for Reading Rescue, a professional development program and a one-on-one research and evidence-based literacy intervention provided to struggling first grade students across New York City. In addition, she supports alignment of Amira, the first artificial intelligence reading tutor, with the field of reading science. Dr. Miles also works closely with New York City’s Department of Education to support literacy initiatives and research that impact the city’s most vulnerable students.

Edgar Palacios

Edgar J. Palacios is the founder of the Latinx Education Collaborative (LEC) and Revolucion Educativa (RevED), advocating for Latino representation in education. He holds an MBA from Rockhurst University and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Edgar has participated in prestigious fellowships and served in leadership roles, including president of Young Latino Professionals (YLP) of Greater Kansas City. A Certified Executive Coach, he specializes in career transitions and personal growth. His contributions have earned awards such as the 2023 Urban Hero Award. Edgar enjoys life with his wife, Laura, and their three children.

Michael Paolella

Michael is an instructional coach for Branford Public Schools in Branford, Connecticut. Over his 18 years, has held multiple positions to improve math instruction and curriculum implementation. Michael has been running the HDT program the Branford's Intermediate school for two years.

Ashley Parker Sheils

Dr. Ashley Parker Sheils earned her Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from Southern Methodist University in 2017 and has 16 years of experience as a teacher, literacy coach, and program director. With a passion for public education and equitable access to high quality literacy programming for all children, Ashley has experience leading large scale educational initiatives, such as a federal research study as project coordinator, and most recently serving as the Director of Mission Acceleration, a statewide high impact literacy tutoring model in Mississippi, as well as the Director of the Mississippi Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a statewide initiative focused on improving literacy outcomes for children. Ashley is currently serving as a independent contractor for Horne Government Services and nonprofit agencies, including Virginia Learns/Accelerate Virginia and the Mississippi United Way Association, with roles specifically related to planning, implementing, and scaling evidence-based educational practices and literacy interventions.

Matt Pasternack

Matt was the first employee at Clever and went on to scale the Clever identity platform to over half of US schools and hundreds of education developers. He and Clever's former VP Engineering subsequently joined forces to create a non-profit that builds vote auditing software used by 10 states (auditing 70m registered voters) and the first open source voting machines. After 3 years at VotingWorks, Matt left to co-found Once, where he has been CEO ever since. Once is an early-reading program for kindergarten that trains, equips and coaches school-based support staff to deliver daily, one-on-one, in-person instruction.

Cat Peretti

Cat Peretti has nearly 20 years of experience advancing education policy to personalize learning and expanding access to opportunity for students. After a fellowship at the U.S. Department of Education, she led policy and operations at a charter management organization before becoming Executive Director of My School DC, the city's first common lottery. She scaled the lottery program to serve all public schools, traditional and charter, and her team received an award for innovation in government. Now, as Executive Director of CityTutor DC, Cat leads citywide strategy and execution to implement high-impact tutoring and strategic staffing models.

Alanna Phelan

Alanna Phelan serves as the Senior Vice President of Amplify Tutoring, where she oversees high-impact tutoring solutions for K-6 students. Her team provides research-aligned tutoring materials, program design consulting, training, and direct high-impact tutoring services to students, which have improved outcomes for students across the country. A former classroom teacher and school network leader, Alanna previously led Amplify’s Professional Services team, which provides high-quality professional development and implementation support for teachers and education leaders. She holds a Master’s in Education and an MBA from Stanford University and previously co-founded and led operations and product teams for a tech startup.

Emily Pickard

Emily is the Administrative Associate for the SCALE Initiative at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. Previous positions have ranged from customer service representative at the Stanford Bookstore and United Airlines to office manager for a local academic publisher. Her interests have always stayed close to education, and she has volunteered at various local elementary schools. Emily holds a B.A. in elementary education from CSU Chico.

Sandra Prades-Bertrant

Sandra Prades-Bertran is an Early Literacy and Dual Language Coach for OUSD.
She started her journey in Barcelona (Spain). Teaching foundational skills in several languages sparked a passion for literacy and understanding how MLLs develop their foundational skills in several languages simultaneously.
In 2015 she moved to Oakland where she was able to continue to learn about the SoR. She is a strong advocate for structured literacy for all kids and is a true believer that all students can learn how to read when being taught all the components of a strong literacy block with an oral language development foundation.

Matt Presser

Matt Presser is a doctoral student in educational leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education, completing his residency at College for America at Southern New Hampshire University. His past work experience has taken him from a classroom in New Haven Public Schools to the Iowa Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education. He is driven by a commitment to finding innovative ways to better educate those who are most underserved in our society and a belief that those closest to the learning must be integral partners in the design of the new solutions we need. At Harvard, in addition to his coursework, he was an adjunct faculty member at Bunker Hill Community College and a volunteer tutor at a state prison.

Eddie Price

Director of Partnership Development.

Sarah Putnam

Sarah Putnam is a dedicated educator with 26 years of unwavering commitment to public education. She has broad experiences in curriculum development, school support, program supervision, and organizational leadership. Her impressive track record encompasses diverse roles as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, math specialist, and K-12 Mathematics Supervisor. In her current role as the Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Arlington Public Schools, she has been a catalyst for the academic progress of culturally and linguistically diverse students across PreK-12 school settings.

Megan Rafferty

Megan Rafferty (M.Ed.) began her career in education in the classroom at Aspire Public Schools in South Stockton, CA. She has nearly a decade of regional and national work supporting educational organizations and practices through qualitative research, elevating public school board practices, developing organizational partnerships, providing outreach for Cal-PASS Plus, supporting college access, and serving as a charter school organization board member. Megan’s passion for student success continues to be the focus of her work in education. Megan runs a small cattle ranch in the Central Valley with her family.

Doug Ready

Douglas Ready is Professor of Education and Public Policy, and Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research explores the links between education policy, social policy, and educational equity, with a particular focus on how contemporary policies and programs moderate or exacerbate socio-demographic disparities in student opportunities and outcomes.

Justin Reich

Justin is an associate professor of digital media in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing department at MIT and the director of the Teaching Systems Lab. He is the author of Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools and Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education, and he is the host of the TeachLab Podcast. He earned his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a past Fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society. He started his career as a high school history teacher, and coach of wrestling and outdoor adventure activities.

Chelsea Reinhard

Chelsea Reinhard was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Over the past decade, Chelsea has dedicated herself to shaping young minds, teaching kindergarten, 3rd grade, and 4th grade, as well as serving as a high-impact tutoring coach to support students’ growth in fundamental reading skills.

Chelsea enjoys Colorado by hiking, fishing, and enjoying other outdoor activities. At home, she’s a proud boy mom to a 3-year-old and 1-year-old who bring joy and unforgettable experiences to family life. Balancing her roles as an educator and mother, Chelsea is committed to making each moment full of purpose and fun.

Ana Ribeiro

Ana Trindade Ribeiro is a Research Project Lead at the National Student Support Accelerator. Her research interests sit at the intersection of education policy and behavioral sciences, using a mix of machine learning, causal inference, and field and laboratory experiments to investigate causes and solutions to inequality in students’ outcomes. Her recent work has focused on the design of student evaluations and policies to reduce unequal behavior and outcomes in education.

Jair Ribeiro

Jair Ribeiro is the president of NGO Parceiros da Educação (Partners in Education), and a member of São Paulo State Department of Education’s Board of Education and Management Committee. He is currently a Fellow in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard. Parceiros da Educação fosters partnerships between the private sector in more than 700 public public schools, directly impacting over 400,000 students. Parceiros also supports the São Paulo State public educational policy.

Jair has a 30-year+ career in finance and tech, holds a law, economics and LLM degrees, and served as a visiting scholar at Stanford Ed School.

Cortney Richardson

Cortney Richardson, a multifaceted leader, is dedicated to transforming lives and communities through education, mentorship, and discipleship. As a founding tutor at Peer Power, he has played a key role in building the infrastructure for the expansion and implementation of Peer Power’s educational programs, including their in-school tutoring and mentoring model for traditional public high schools, ACT Prep University, and the new Workforce Development model. Since 2004, Peer Power has hired over 2200 inner-city youth to be role models for their peers, administered more than 1.5 million tutoring and mentoring hours, and invested over 20 million dollars into its workforce.

Benjamin Riley

Benjamin Riley is the founder of Cognitive Resonance, a think-and-do tank dedicated to helping people understand human cognition and generative AI. Previously, he founded and led Deans for Impact, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving teacher preparation through the use of cognitive science. He urges everyone to get involved in the fight against technofascism.

Estefania Rios

Estefania Rios is a dedicated educator with 13 years of experience in secondary education, specializing in English instruction and teacher leadership. A passionate advocate for labor and management collaboration, she works to foster partnerships that enhance student and teacher success. As a teacher leader and instructional coach at Rahway High School, Estefania provides professional development, supports policy innovation, and empowers colleagues to elevate classroom practices. Committed to equity and student advocacy, she champions initiatives that address diverse learning needs and promote a positive school culture. Estefania’s expertise and leadership inspire impactful changes for both students and educators.

Carly Robinson

Carly Robinson is a Senior Researcher at Stanford University and the Director of Research of the National Student Support Accelerator. Before joining Stanford, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. Her research interests sit at the intersection of education, psychology, and policy. In particular, she draws on insights from social psychology and behavioral science to design and experimentally test interventions to improve relational, engagement, and learning outcomes for students

Nati Rodriguez

Nati Rodriguez serves as the Program Director for Annenberg Learner, the education initiative of the Annenberg Foundation. In this role, she champions the service-to-educator pipeline, expanded learning opportunities, and the development and distribution of high-quality educational resources. A former math teacher turned serial entrepreneur, Nati has successfully crafted and executed strategic roadmaps for multiple organizations, blending her passion for education with her entrepreneurial spirit.

Raquel Rosales

Member of NSSA's Family and Caregiver Tutoring Advisory Group

Angela Rossi

Angela Rossi is the Director of the Match Corps at Match Charter Public High School in Boston. She brings over 10 years of experience in urban education, specializing in instructional coaching, tutor development, and executive functioning supports. She has designed and led onboarding and year-round professional development for AmeriCorps tutors and K-12 educators. A former special education teacher, she is committed to culturally responsive, student-centered learning. She holds a B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Counseling and Health and a minor in Music from Emmanuel College.

Sara Rowbottom

Sara Rowbottom is a Senior Technical Advisor with the International Rescue Committee. Sara came to IRC in 2008 and led a wide range of programs supporting forcibly displaced children, youth, families, and community partners for over 10 years prior to joining IRC headquarters. She currently leads a team supporting education and youth programs across 20+ offices in the U.S. and Europe. Sara's background spans youth development, education, social emotional learning, and international development programming. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University and a M.A. in International Affairs from The New School.

Isabel Sacks

Director of Communications at Stanford Accelerator for Learning.

Alan Safran

Alan Safran is Co-Founder and CEO of the nonprofit Saga, founded in 2014. Saga has raised $140 million to help students nationwide and internationally get the benefits of high impact tutoring. Alan has a 30 year career in public education, at the state and local levels, including serving as Massachusetts’ Deputy Commissioner of Education. He led the Match Charter Public School network in Boston for 9 years, where he was the co-designer of the school's high dosage tutoring program (2004), the first ever in a US public school. Alan has degrees from George Washington University (JD) and Princeton (BA).

Nereyda Salinas

Nereyda Salinas is an innovative, education entrepreneur who enjoys building organizations/units that help individuals realize their full potential, especially those committed to high-quality, accessible learning. Her experience spans youth and graduate-level leadership development. Most recently, she built the Stanford EdCareers office, leading a team in developing a career coaching model and a curriculum that scaffolds the career search process for students and alumni. By helping education researchers and practitioners better understand their purpose, options, and career plans, and then funneling this human capital to the most cutting-edge education organizations, Stanford GSE impacts education around the world.

Kristin Schell

Program Specialist

John Scianimanico

John Scianimanico is an Associate Partner at NewSchools Venture Fund where he leads a portfolio designed to enhance math education through investments in generative artificial intelligence.

Prior to New Schools, John spearheaded K-12 education initiatives out of the Connecticut State Department of Education and Governor’s Office, including the Connecticut High-Dosage Tutoring Program. His prior professional experiences also include roles with Teach For America, Arnold Ventures, and the 2020 Pete For America presidential campaign.

John graduated from American University with a BA in Political Science and from the Harvard Kennedy School with an MPP. He currently lives in New York City.

Colby Self

Dr. Colby Self has been with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) since June 2021, serving as the Director of Texas Tutoring Supports. He brings over 20 years of experience from Pflugerville ISD, where he was principal of Caldwell Elementary School from July 2012 to June 2021. Dr. Self also held roles as assistant principal and began his career as an athletic trainer and teacher.

Dr. Self holds a Ph.D. in School Improvement from Texas State University, along with a Master's Degree in Secondary Education and a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and Health Education from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Justin Serrano

Justin Serrano is the founder and CEO of Littera Education. Justin has spent his entire career working in education businesses, managing large-scale tutoring service operations, running a professional learning company that provided job-embedded professional learning for Title I school teachers and leaders, and, most recently, holding senior leadership roles in large-scale assessment, data analytics, and learning management system (LMS) companies.

Nabil Shahin

As a teacher and administrator for over two decades, Nabil has left an indelible mark in the communities he has served in San Jose Unified, Sunnyvale School District, and with the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Nabil leads teams that help district and county staff use data to inform support structures, identify areas for instructional improvement, and promote student equity. He combines expertise in effective instructional practices and educational leadership to build effective cross-agency teams and promote innovative cross-systems platforms like FosterVision, ServiceLink, and DataZone to support youth placed at risk in our educational systems.

Jennifer Sheffield

I am the President and CEO of HeyTutor, Inc., one of the largest in-person and virtual tutoring providers to school districts in the United States. In my role, I oversee all aspects of the company, ensuring that our tutoring programs are effectively implemented to provide real value to our school district clients and help students achieve their educational goals. At its core, my job is about understanding our clients’ needs and empowering our teams to create tailored solutions that drive student success.

Rebecca Shmoys

Ph.D. Student in Education Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Carly Shuler

Carly Shuler is the co-founder and CEO of Hoot Reading, a leading online tutoring service, partnering with school districts across North America to provide 1:1, evidence-based literacy tutoring with qualified teachers, at scale.

Carly has been working at the intersection of children’s technology and education for over two decades. She holds a Master’s in Technology, Innovation, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, including The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop and Spin Master.

Jenny Siegel

Jenny is the Program Director at the San Francisco Education Fund, a nonprofit that advances equitable education by providing quality learning programs, community support through volunteers, and transformative financial resources to teachers, students and schools within SF Unified. She oversees the Ed Fund's high impact literacy tutoring program that has provided HIT to over 6,000 students in San Francisco Unified. The Ed Fund fundraises for tutoring programs for SFUSD and then also helps schools with tutoring implementation. Their focus is currently providing HIT within literacy to elementary school students.

Katrinet "Kay" Sims

Katrinet "Kay" Sims is a dedicated educator with nearly 20 years of service in Huntsville City Schools. As the instructor of the HCS Education and Training program, she has not only taught aspiring educators but also developed a robust curriculum that enhances student learning and engagement. Katrinet proudly serves as a Building Representative for the Huntsville Education Association and embraces her role as a mentor and role model for hundreds of students. Her commitment to excellence in education inspires her daily work. Outside the classroom, she is a proud mother of two intelligent young men.

Jason Singer

Senior Vice President, Tutor Operations and Experience.

Mindy Sjoblom

Mindy founded OnYourMark with over 20 years of experience in education. She is a TFA alumna with deep teaching and school leadership experience. She served as Founding Dean of Relay Graduate School of Education’s Chicago campus and later joined Charter School Growth Fund as an Entrepreneur in Residence, launching OnYourMark to support schools in delivering individualized instruction grounded in the Science of Reading. Inspired by her youngest son’s late dyslexia diagnosis, Mindy is passionate about ensuring all students receive systematic, explicit reading instruction. Under her leadership, OnYourMark serves thousands of children nationwide through its High Impact Tutoring model.

Ryann Skrypec

With seventeen years of teaching experience, I am passionate about guiding middle school students through the world of English Language Arts. I've been part of the high-impact tutoring program for several years, witnessing firsthand the difference personalized support can make in student success. Outside the classroom, I enjoy traveling, camping, and coaching, all of which keep me energized and inspired. These experiences help me connect with students in meaningful ways. I'm excited to be part of this conference to celebrate and share the power of high-impact tutoring in transforming learning outcomes for all students.

John-Paul Smith

John-Paul Smith is the Executive Director of North Carolina Education Corps (NCEC), a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating student learning and strengthening communities through partnerships with local schools. Since 2021, NCEC has recruited, trained, and coached over 1,600 corps members to deliver high-impact literacy tutoring to more than 30,000 K-5 students across over 30 North Carolina school districts and 200 Title I schools.

Before joining NCEC, John-Paul worked with nonprofits focused on civic engagement and economic development. He lives in Raleigh, NC, with his wife and their golden retriever.

Jessica Sobin

Jess Sobin is the High-Impact Tutoring Director at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), which is the Washington, DC state education agency. In this role, she leads OSSE’s initiative to expand access to high-impact tutoring for DC students, with a focus on those who are furthest from opportunity. Jess has previously worked in programming and development for global education organizations that scale evidence-based literacy supports, primarily in India, and began her career as a middle school English language arts teacher in New York City.