Conference Attendees

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

Imran Ahmed is Head of Product at Pencil Spaces, where he leads product strategy and execution for a global, AI-powered learning and collaboration platform used by leading education and tutoring organisations. He brings a strong blend of technical depth, analytical rigour, and user-centred design, with prior experience at McKinsey & Company, and QuantumBlack, working on advanced analytics and digital strategy. Imran holds a Master of Engineering with distinction from the University of Cambridge, and completed the Cambridge–MIT Exchange in Computer Science. He is passionate about building scalable, mission-driven products that make complex systems simple, reliable, and impactful for users worldwide.

Sarah Akhtar

Sarah Akhtar is the Managing Director at Quill.org, working at the intersection of literacy and AI. She brings over 20 years of experience in K-12 education, from teaching high school English to founding a school in Springfield, MA, to leading strategy for national education organizations, including Transcend and Athlos Academies. Sarah specializes in adult learning, edtech adoption, and scaling programs nationally. She holds a BA in English and Education from Amherst College.

Alexander Aldama

A proud EPATT alum, graduated 2024, from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Environmental Studies. Today I am now Site Coordinator and lead our Project Rally program, which provides one-on-one math literacy tutoring to students in grades K-5. A full circle moment from when I was a participant in the program to now leading it. With deep roots in the community and a passion for educational equity, I brings empathy, experience, and purpose to everything I does.

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.

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.

Tamara Arroyo

Teacher on Special Assignment

Amogh Asgekar

Amogh Asgekar is the Co-founder and CTO of Pencil Spaces, an innovative ed-tech platform providing comprehensive virtual classrooms for remote, in-person, and blended learning. Driven by the foundational belief that education transforms the world, Amogh leverages his extensive expertise in data mining, machine learning, and scalable systems to make exceptional learning accessible to everyone.

Deidra Bailey

As Senior Director of Program Implementation at CitySchools Collaborative, Deidra Bailey partners with school leaders to design and strengthen high-impact tutoring programs. Previously, she served as High School Principal at DC International School (DCI), where she was also a founding teacher and founding Assistant Principal of DCI High. Deidra began her career as a Teach For America corps member in Washington, DC, and holds a B.A. in Government and International Politics and an M.Ed. in Special Education from George Mason University.

Devin Baker

Devin Baker (she/her) is the Director of Match Education’s High School Tutoring Program in Boston, Massachusetts. She brings experience as a Special Education teacher in an Algebra 2 classroom, Director of the Extended School Year program for Match, and a 10th grade World History teacher. Devin is passionate about supporting students and creating inclusive, engaging learning environments. Outside of work, she can be found at concerts, at the gym, or spending time with her partner and friends.

Cristina Barnard Gonzalez

Cristina Barnard Gonzalez is a Research Associate at the National Student Support Accelerator. She is passionate about social and emotional learning, behavioral dynamics, and educational equity. Cristina is pursuing an M.A. in International Education Policy Analysis at Stanford and holds a B.A. in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM). Prior to joining the NSSA team, Cristina worked as a consultant for the World Bank.

Sheila Barnhart Womack

Sheila Barnhart Womack, DMA, is Director of GEAR UP Southern West Virginia at Concord University, overseeing a multi‑county federal college‑access grant serving more than 4,000 students across five counties. Appointed Director in October 2025 after serving as Interim and Assistant Director, she brings expertise in program evaluation, data management, and subrecipient oversight. Previously, Dr. Womack served four years as Concord University’s Director of Student Success, leading retention and first‑year initiatives. A trained pianist and researcher, she frequently presents on college readiness, Gen Z engagement, and high‑dosage tutoring.

Matt Barrow

Matt Barrow is the Director of Services at Pearl. A former district leader in Baltimore City Public Schools, he spent 14 years as a teacher and administrator, including leading one of the nation’s largest high-dosage tutoring initiatives. Today, he partners with school systems to design and scale high-impact tutoring programs with a focus on execution and data. His work is grounded in a simple belief: at the district level, implementation IS the intervention. Matt brings a practitioner’s lens to system design, helping districts turn strategy into measurable student outcomes.

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.

Dr. Adrienne Battle

Dr. Adrienne Battle was named superintendent of Metro Nashville Public Schools in 2019. With more than 150 schools, 81,000 students, 11,000 employees, and a budget of more than $1.2 billion, MNPS is one of the nation's largest school districts and one of Nashville's largest employers. Dr. Battle, a Nashville native, has spent almost her entire career with MNPS. She is a graduate of the district's John Overton High School, Missouri State University, and Tennessee State University, where she earned her master's, education specialist, and doctorate degrees in Educational Administration and Supervision.

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 UChicago 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 holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the UChicago.

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.

Julian Bernado

Julian Bernado is a Senior Research Data Analyst for the SCALE Initiative. His research combines traditional causal inference methods to estimate treatment effects with modern techniques for analyzing text data in the age of language models. Prior to SCALE, he developed methods for causal matching under Ben B. Hansen in collaboration with the TEA Before that he worked on childhood health in the Stanford School of Medicine as well as principled deployment of black-box models in the Stanford Department of Statistics. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Stanford and an M.A. in Statistics from the University of Michigan.

Monica Bhatt

Director of Elementary Curriculum.

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 Borland is Senior Vice President of Regional Leadership at Ampact, where she oversees the growth and performance of national AmeriCorps education programs, including Reading Corps and Math Corps, across multiple states.

Stacy Bottley

Executive Director of Schools.

Jeff Bowman

Dr. Jeff Bowman has served as the Superintendent of Orchard School District for five years, bringing a multifaceted approach to educational leadership. With deep expertise spanning human resources, business services, and operations, he is dedicated to fostering a positive organizational culture that supports and advocates for students, families, and staff.

Jean-Claude Brizard

Jean-Claude Brizard is President and CEO of Digital Promise Global. The Carnegie Corporation of New York honored Brizard in the 2023 class of “Great Immigrants, Great Americans”. He received the distinguished Aspen Institute 2024 John P. McNulty Prize.

Brizard was Senior Advisor and Deputy Director at the Gates Foundation, served as Chief Executive of Chicago Public Schools, Superintendent of Schools in Rochester, NY and spent 21 years as an educator/administrator with the NYC Department of Education. He is a Fellow of the Broad Center, a Fellow of the Pahara-Aspen Institute, and a member of the Aspen Institute Global Leadership Network.

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 professor in the department of computer science. She is affiliated with the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Stanford Statistical Machine Learning Group. Before coming to Stanford, Brunskill was an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She holds a BS from the University of Washington, an MS from Oxford University, and a DPhil from MIT.

Lara Burenin

Lara Burenin serves as Sr. Program Director for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Pedagogy at the Alameda County Office of Education, with a focus on literacy and language development. She brings experience in literacy development, multilingual learner support, and instructional leadership. Her career spans classroom teaching, coaching, site leadership, and district administration, grounded in a commitment to advancing equitable outcomes for vulnerable students.

Linda Burrows

Linda Burrows is the Deputy Associate Superintendent of Academic Standards at the Arizona Department of Education. As Deputy Associate Superintendent, Linda provides support for the development and implementation of the Arizona State Standards from early childhood through K-12 grades, Arizona's post-secondary initiatives, literacy initiatives, tutoring programs, and diploma seals. Prior to her work at ADE, she taught for 20 years in grades 7-12, teaching social studies, English, French, and Spanish, and earned a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and a National Board certification. She has received many awards and a Fulbright-Hays Summer Project Abroad Program.

Meghan Busbey

Meghan Thompson serves as Senior Director of Programs at Forward Arkansas, where she leads statewide initiatives to improve student outcomes through system-level transformation. Drawing on her experience as a K–12 teacher and administrator, she works across state and local contexts to align priorities and advance effective, scalable practices. Meghan has led key initiatives including the LeARner Collective, Arkansas Educator Preparation Program Collaborative, and the nation’s first state-based Outcomes-Based Contracting Cohort focused on high-impact tutoring partnerships. She convenes stakeholders and provides strategic guidance to strengthen networks and drive continuous improvement across Arkansas’s education landscape.

Kelli Campbell

Kelli Campbell serves as the Director of Accelerated Learning and Data Analysis for Bristol Tennessee City Schools (BTCS). BTCS is a small district consisting of five elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and a virtual school. Prior to serving in Bristol, she had the opportunity to act as an elementary school teacher, principal, interventionist, and RTI Coordinator. In addition, she served as a Regional Academic Consultant for the Tennessee Department of Education in the First Tennessee CORE region. In her current role, she oversees intervention instruction, such as tutoring, summer programming, and before and after school programming.

Joanna Cannon

Joanna Cannon has more than 25 years of experience in K-12 education policy and research. She served in multiple roles at the Walton Family Foundation, including Chief Philanthropy Officer for Alice Walton and Senior Fellow for K–12 Education. She is founder of Orleans Consulting, where she advises foundations on strategy development, measurement, and cross-funder collaboration. Previously, Joanna served as Chief Operating Officer of PENCIL and Chief Strategic Officer for Talent & Innovation at the NYC Department of Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago.

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.

Dr. Sue C. Carnell

Dr. Sue C. Carnell serves as chief deputy superintendent at the Michigan Department of Education and has more than 45 years of experience in education and government. She recently made history as the first Black woman to serve as Michigan’s interim state superintendent. She has been a superintendent, deputy superintendent, principal, and director of special education and has overseen curriculum, school improvement, charter schools, and school health. Dr. Carnell holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University, including a Ph.D. in education leadership.

Nathaniel Casey

Nate Casey is the Chief Strategy Officer at Pearl, where he oversees thought leadership and strategic partnerships. 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.

Alexa Catao

As Senior Program Architect at Tutored by Teachers, Alexa Catao has spent the past five years designing hundreds of High Dosage Tutoring implementations nationwide, translating the art and science of strong teaching into scalable programming that meets students from any starting point. As part of this work, she has developed TbT's multilingual learner model, a targeted framework that delivers outcomes for the full spectrum of MLLs. She brings deep practitioner roots shaped by a decade as a classroom educator, curriculum designer, and new-teacher-programming designer. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Brown University, and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY

Ed Ceja

As National Director of Strategic Partnerships for Tutor.com, I lead nationwide efforts to scale high-dosage tutoring across State Departments of Education and school districts. With more than 16 years of experience accelerating student learning, I provide strategic leadership to advance the implementation of evidence-based interventions that drive measurable academic gains and close opportunity gaps. My work focuses on designing and sustaining high-impact tutoring aligned to strategic priorities—blending educational leadership with organizational strategy to build durable, data-driven programs that support educators, engage families, and expand postsecondary pathways.

Jacqueline Cheadle

Jacqueline Cheadle is a Literacy Policy Specialist at the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, where she leads statewide initiatives in High-Dosage Tutoring, Reading Achievement, and Dyslexia policy implementation. In this role, she guides strategic policy development, supports implementation, and advances evidence-based literacy practices to improve outcomes for Ohio’s learners.

She brings extensive experience in state and federal level program management and educational policy as well as public and private school teaching experience. Across these roles, she has focused on expanding high-quality learning opportunities, strengthening supports for students with diverse needs, and ensuring alignment between policy, practice and student success.

Patricia Chenail

I have been with Thompson Public Schools for 26 years; 20 as the 8th grade Alg. 1 teacher and the last 6 as the district Math Coordinator. I believe strongly in HDT and the incredible affects on student outcomes. I have created schedules that provided tutoring groups of 4 students that encompassed as little as 8 students or as many as 165 students. I have gained so much insight from past NSSA conferences and I am excited to continue this work!

Greg Chojnacki

Greg Chojnacki is a Senior Researcher at Mathematica. Mr. Chojnacki has completed more than 20 evaluations examining the impacts and implementation of tutoring and education technology interventions. He directs the evaluation for an EIR expansion grant in partnership with Accelerate, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Air Reading and ECRI. Mr. Chojnacki has authored three syntheses of evidence on tutoring and ed tech, including a summary of insights from Accelerate's 2024-25 Call to Effective Action grantee cohort. He has advanced Bayesian analysis methods as a way to yield clearer conclusions about tutoring effectiveness that can more directly inform decisionmaking.

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.

Liz Cohen

Liz Cohen is the vice president of policy at 50CAN, a national nonprofit education advocacy organization and the author of "The Future of Tutoring: Lessons from 10,000 School District Tutoring Initiatives". She previously served as assistant professor of the practice in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Cohen has worked at the district, state, and federal level in education and served as a consultant for nonprofit organizations, ed tech companies, and foundations in the education sector. She lives in Montgomery County, Maryland with her husband and three children.

Becky Corr

Director of Language & Cultural Engagement

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 San Francisco based partner at Bellwether and leads the organization’s work on organizational sustainability, including mergers and acquisitions.

Since joining Bellwether in 2014, Evan’s clients have included state education agencies, tutoring providers, school districts and charter networks, early childhood organizations and intermediaries, Catholic school networks, postsecondary access and success organizations, and major foundations. Prior to Bellwether, Evan worked as both a consultant and special assistant to the CEO at ASI Government, interned at A Better Chicago, and taught in the District of Columbia as a Teach For America corps member.

Advice for those considering mergers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSH-Oi-_91Q

Megan Cournoyer

Senior Executive Director of National Partnerships.