Conference Attendees

Patrick Steck

VP, External Affairs

Dave Stevenson

Dave Stevenson is the Founder and CEO of Reading Futures, which provides virtual tutoring in public schools. The program's certified teachers help struggling adolescent readers develop functional literacy through evidence-based instruction and collaborative school partnerships.

Previously, Dave was a senior executive at Amplify, where he led state-level K–3 reading screening initiatives and helped establish Amplify as a leader in high-quality instructional materials. He has served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Whiteboard Advisors and on several corporate boards. He holds an A.B. from Brown University and an MBA from Quantic.

Nathan Storey

Nathan Storey, PhD, is a researcher and analyst at Johns Hopkins University Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE). He has expertise on primary and secondary school tutoring interventions and cost effectiveness, school-based health interventions, randomized and quasi-experimental program evaluations, school-based qualitative research, and meta-analysis. His research focuses on evaluations of school-based literacy and mathematics tutoring interventions, program cost analysis, school-based vision and health interventions, and systematic reviews of literacy and family engagement school-based interventions.

Martina Tam

Martina Tam is Chief Executive Officer of Paper Education, an edtech company partnering with school districts to deliver measurable academic gains through GROW high-impact tutoring and AI-powered support. A seasoned executive, she has spent two decades scaling technology-driven organizations, building high-performing teams, and driving meaningful impact for customers. At Paper, she is leading the company through a pivotal phase of growth, focused on expanding equitable access to academic support for students who need it most. She holds a BA in Economics and an MA in Sociology from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

Pam Taylor

am Taylor serves as the Executive Officer of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning for Fresno Unified School District. A former classroom teacher, instructional coach, and principal with 26 years of experience in education, she provides strategic leadership for districtwide curriculum, instructional improvement, and professional learning and coaching systems. Her work centers on advancing equitable outcomes for all students within a large urban school district.

Maurice Telesford

Maurice Telesford has taught science and computer science at Ferndale High School for over 15 years. He has also served as his local Education Association President for over a decade. His personal and professional passions include exposing students to perspectives and pathways that they did not know exist and simultaneously supporting their progression towards their ever-changing dreams.

Katie Tennessen Hooten

Katie Tennessen Hooten is the Founder of the Ignite Fellowship at Teach For America. Committed to realizing educational equity, Katie has led at TFA for over two decades. She began her career teaching Kindergarten in Phoenix, where she has remained since TFA brought her there over 20 years ago. Katie has led locally as a new teacher coach, head of program and most recently, Executive Director. She has also led nationally as the head of TFA's Teacher Leadership Development and Ignite teams. When Katie’s not working, she’s hanging with her husband, Matt, and their sons, Noah (9) and Owen (5).

Estefania Theiler

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.

Nikki Thomas

Nikki Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Ouachita Baptist University (1994) and master’s and specialist degrees in educational leadership from Henderson State University (2004, 2009). She is pursuing a doctorate at Arkansas Tech University. With 28 years in education, she has served as a middle school teacher, curriculum coordinator, principal, and superintendent, including six years in district leadership. All but three years of her career have been with Arkadelphia School District, where she became superintendent in July 2022. She serves on multiple boards and committees supporting education, leadership, and regional workforce and economic development initiatives.

Teryn Thomas

Teryn Thomas is the CEO and Founder of EdLight, an organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes by making student work central to instruction and using data to provide personalized feedback. Prior to founding EdLight, she served as Chief Schools Officer and Chief of Teaching and Learning across districts including Newark, Camden, Denver, and Philadelphia. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, her research focused on educational equity and ensuring all students’ humanity. A former teacher, principal, and district leader, she has extensive experience developing curriculum, founding two KIPP NJ schools, and leading initiatives that strengthen instruction and academic rigor across systems.

Danielle Thomas

Danielle Thomas, EdD, is a Systems Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Research Lead for PLUS—Personalized Learning Squared, an innovative human-AI tutoring project aiming to double math learning for marginalized students. She also serves as the Director of Research to Practice at The National Tutoring Observatory at Cornell University. The Observatory aims to enable researchers to unlock the secrets behind effective teaching by analyzing "a million tutor moves" of data. Dr. Thomas is a former teacher and school principal striving to provide effective, scalable support to the students who need it the most.

Christina Tiernan

Hello! I’m Christina Tiernan, the Coordinator of Math Performance for District 49 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My career has been shaped by my journey as a military spouse; through 17 moves and 25 years of experience, I’ve had the opportunity to teach middle and high school mathematics across four states and overseas. These diverse global experiences have deeply informed my leadership and approach to math education today.

Thomas Toch

Thomas Toch is FutureEd’s director. He is a former senior partner at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and director of the foundation’s Washington office. Toch is a founder and former co-director of the think tank Education Sector, a former guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, and he has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Toch helped launch Education Week, as a writer and co-managing editor.

Rachel Tompkins

Executive Director, Scholars Portfolio

Delia Tovar

Delia Tovar is a high school administrator at Calexico Unified School District with nearly two decades of experience in education, having begun her career in 2006. She serves a diverse student population and is committed to improving student outcomes through strong systems of support, a positive school culture, and instructional leadership. Mrs. Tovar focuses on fostering a campus climate grounded in Respectful, Accountable, and Determined (RAD) values, while supporting staff through coaching, collaboration, and data-informed practices. She is passionate about student success, equity, and building meaningful connections with students, families, and educators.

Nakia Towns

Dr. T. Nakia Towns has a proven track record of closing opportunity gaps, increasing graduation rates, and improving postsecondary readiness. As President of Accelerate, she oversees program, operations, and research functions. Previously, Nakia served as Deputy Superintendent of Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia's largest district, leading transformative work in HQIM and whole child supports. She also drove rapid improvement as Deputy Superintendent at Hamilton County Schools, making it Tennessee's fastest-improving district, and served as Assistant Commissioner at the Tennessee Department of Education. Towns has been instrumental in leading impactful programs and initiatives that have improved student outcomes across the country.

Maureen Tracey-Mooney

Maureen (Mo) Tracey-Mooney is FutureEd’s associate director. Prior to joining FutureEd, she led K-12 policy development at the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Biden administration and served as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Education, where she led the Department’s work on eliminating educator shortages. She served as deputy domestic policy advisor and lead K-12 advisor to the vice president in the Obama administration and as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Labor. Mo has also worked in local education at Newark (NJ) Public Schools and Achievement First.

Katie Trader

Early Literacy Education Specialist

Katie Trader

Katie Trader is an educational leader with nineteen years of experience as a teacher, instructional coach, district administrator and state policy leader. Katie is currently the Literacy Education Specialist at the Oregon Department of Education. She works to build coherent, equity-centered systems for early literacy learning. Her leadership focuses on aligning core instruction with evidence-based practices and strengthening educator preparation and professional learning. Katie holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master’s degree from the University of Oregon. By centering belonging, access, and high-quality instruction, Katie creates conditions for all children to become confident, capable readers.

Chayne Turano

Chayne Turano is the Quality and Improvement Program Manager at the National Student Support Accelerator. She is passionate about providing high-quality education to all students to help them excel and achieve a rich and fulfilling life. She served as a Teacher in New Jersey for 13 years, serving students and families of diverse backgrounds including English Language Learners, Special Education, and Gifted and Talented students. In this role, she developed science curricula and activities that captured the spirit of the Next Generation Science Standards, developed professional development for staff, served as a technology trainer.

Maria Tuzon

Maria Tuzon is the Quality and Improvement Program Administrator at the NSSA. Previously, she spent 13 years as an ESL educator in South Korea where she was involved in building a creative curriculum and selecting high-quality instructional materials for an after-school learning program. Her time abroad sparked her interest in innovative educational practices, particularly in diverse learning environments. In her current role, she aims to use her teaching experience to contribute to meaningful changes in education and enhance learning experiences for K-12 students.

Kirk Vanacore

Kirk Vanacore is the Research Director of the National Tutoring Observatory, where he applies statistics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to investigate causal mechanisms of learning in environments that blend human and AI instruction. His recent work focuses on leveraging AI to analyze tutoring-session data at scale while integrating rigorous quasi-experimental methods to identify what makes tutoring effective. He also studies how gamification, generative AI feedback, and tutoring interventions influence student persistence and self-regulated learning.

Jordan Vargas

Jordan is a senior education leader with over a decade of experience spanning teaching, organizational leadership, and large-scale program design. He currently serves as Vice President of Education at Study Smart Tutors, where he leads initiatives focused on instructional quality, educator development, and scalable, data-driven systems. Jordan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics for Teachers, a California Single-Subject Clear Credential in Mathematics, and a Master of Science in Data Science. A former secondary mathematics teacher and Teacher of the Year honoree, he brings a practitioner’s perspective to advancing equitable instruction and sustainable educational growth nationwide.

Sandra Velásquez

Stanford-Santa Clara USD Research Practice Learning Partnership Broker for Inclusive Education.

Tyana Velazquez-Smith

Dr. Tyana Velazquez-Smith serves as Director of Early Childhood and Education Innovation at the Rochester Area Community Foundation, where she leads research-informed strategies that shape how communities invest in and understand young children. She is also the founder of Sensational Inclusion, a neurodiverse-affirming tutoring and consulting practice grounded in literacy, play, and disability justice. Across her work as an adjunct professor and national consultant, she partners with educators and families to design learning spaces where children engage literacy through their identities, language, and special interests, positioning reading not as a pathway to intellectual depth, critical awareness, and joy.

Zeisa Vieira

Zeisa Vieira is Communications Associate for the National Student Support Accelerator. Prior to NSSA, she served as a middle school math teacher and grade level leader in New York City. Additionally, Zeisa is also a Content Producer & Strategist with a passion for digital content curation. She has created content for various brands and companies across social media platforms.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Middle-School Education from Relay Graduate School of Education, and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Education Policy from College of the Holy Cross.

Kevin Walker

Dr. Kevin Walker is a dedicated and dynamic educational leader with a track record of transformative achievements in K-12 education, policy development, and system-wide improvement. Currently, he serves as the Director of Elementary Education for Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Oregon. Kevin oversees education initiatives impacting over 38,500 students, with a focus on creating high-quality educational opportunities for all students. His current role includes supervising and developing leadership capacity among principals and aligning resources to meet the diverse needs of 42 elementary schools.

Jasmine Walker

Jasmine Walker serves as Director at the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting, where she leads national efforts to transform education procurement through outcomes based models. She manages multi-state cohort programs supporting state education agencies, school districts, and providers in moving from good intentions to results.

Jasmine brings 17 years of district-level experience from Duval County Public Schools, where she served as Director of K-12 Mathematics and led the pilot implementation of outcomes based contracting for high-impact tutoring. She holds degrees in Exceptional Student Education from the University of North Florida and Educational Leadership and Policy from Florida State University.

George Wang

Head of Revenue

Elaine Wang

Program Manager at Leon Lowenstein Foundation, Inc.

Jeremy Ward

Jeremy Ward serves as the Assistant Superintendent of College and Career Readiness for the Fresno Unified School District, where he leads efforts to expand student access to meaningful college, career, and durable skill development opportunities. He previously served as principal of Duncan Polytechnical High School and Edison Computech Middle School.

Elaine Wassil

After 50 plus years as a teacher, reading specialist and elementary school principal working with lower income and multi-ethnic kids in public schools I developed WRAP, a high impact tutoring model. As the founder of WRAP, I took a position at Boys and Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor as WRAP manager where I am training staff as para-educators to be WRAP Instructors. It is being piloted at the original five sites with the goal of bringing it to scale at the other 20 sites as metrics and anecdotal information reflect rapid progress toward grade level reading performance.

Angela Watkins

Angela Hall Watkins is Associate Dean for External Relations at Stanford University. Previously, she served as Executive Director of University Priorities at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining UT, Angela was Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Huston-Tillotson University and Assistant Vice President at ACT, the leading US college admissions testing company. She previously served as Managing Director of the National Center for Educational Achievement, a K-12 educational research and advocacy organization. Angela received her B.A. from Stanford University and her M.A. from the University of Michigan.

Nancy Waymack

Nancy Waymack is the Director of Research Partnerships and Policy for the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University. Most recently she has served as a senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and an education policy consultant. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Nancy was the Managing Director of District Policy at the National Council on Teacher Quality. Nancy spent a decade at the San Francisco Unified School District, where she served as the Executive Director for Policy and Operations.

Ellie Webb

Ellie Webb serves as Program Implementation Manager for Experience Corps, where she supports programs who are engaging highly trained adults 50+ as early literacy tutors. Ellie’s commitment to educational equity began as a Teach For America Corps Member where she taught elementary school. Since her time in the classroom, she has worked for several impactful education programs, and coached emerging leaders in the field along the way. Ellie holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of California, Irvine and an Executive and Organizational Coaching Certification from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Kesha Weekes

Kesha attended Stanford University, earning a BA with honors in Public Policy, with a concentration in Children, Youth, and Families. While at Stanford, Kesha was the Director of the East Palo Alto Stanford Summer Academy, a teacher's aide at Green Oaks Elementary School and served as an intern at Washington, DC's Institute for Educational Leadership. Kesha joined the EPATT team in 1997 as the Volunteer and Afternoon Tutorial Coordinator and has served as the Academic Coordinator, Middle School Group Director, Program Director and now Executive Director.

Christina Weeks

Christina Weeks is the High Impact Tutoring Coordinator at the New Mexico Public Education Department. She leads agency tutoring initiatives by ensuring programs are evidence-based, equitable, and aligned with state academic standards. Christina provides statewide oversight, technical assistance and data-driven evaluation to improve student achievement in literacy and math. Acting as a bridge between policy and practice, she fosters collaboration among schools, districts, and community partners to build sustainable systems of academic support. Christina is driven to advance the Public Education Department’s mission to promote educational excellence and close achievement gaps across New Mexico.

Jennifer Welch

Jennifer Welch is an experienced educator with over 15 years of dedicated service in the field of education. She holds a Master’s degree in Teaching as well as a Master’s degree in Reading, Language, and Literacy. Jennifer draws on her experience as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, and instructional coach to support both students and fellow educators in achieving academic success. Currently, Jennifer serves as a Teacher on Special Assignment with Oakland Unified School District, where she continues to apply her expertise to improve instructional practices and advance student learning outcomes.

Laura Wentworth

Laura serves as the Director of the Research Practice Partnership (RPP) program that helps school districts and universities across California work together in partnerships that produce and use research to improve policies, practices and student outcomes, with a focus on supporting students historically underserved by the public school system. Under Laura’s leadership, Ed Partners supports through leadership and coaching the Stanford-San Francisco Unified School District Partnership and the Stanford-Sequoia K-12 Research Collaborative.

Sofia Wilson

Sofia leads US K-12 education at Anthropic. She was previously a founding teacher at a turnaround school in Boston Public Schools and Oakland Unified, led district and customer success operations at edtech companies Clever and Newsela, and conducted research on how place, policy, and programs shape educational opportunity at Stanford.

Holly Windram

With 21 years in public and private education as a School Psychologist, Dir. of Special Education, and Chief Education Officer, Holly is the Executive Director of Hope Network’s Michigan Education Corps (MEC) implementing Ampact Reading Corps, MEC Math Corps, and Early Learning Corps. Since 2014, leveraging over $35 million in grant funds to successfully scale, Holly has authored boilerplate language for high-impact tutoring in Michigan, chaired the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Education and Workforce Development Committee, co-founded the Michigan Partnership for Equity and Opportunity, She is an MBA candidate at University of Chicago Booth.

Jennie Wise

Jennie Wise, Ed.S., serves as Assistant Director of the Florida Tutoring Advantage at the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning. An instructional leader with 27 years of school and district leadership experience, she is dedicated to strengthening teaching and learning to improve outcomes for all students. In her role, Wise oversees the design, implementation, and evaluation of the statewide tutoring program, cultivates partnerships with districts and vendors, and advances continuous improvement through data-informed planning and collaborative support to ensure the program’s success across Florida.

John Wolf

John Wolf is the Associate Director of the University of Chicago Education Lab. For over a decade, John has worked to design and implement research projects focused on efforts to increase school engagement and personalize academic instruction. As a former educator, John has a unique understanding of the challenges schools and service providers face when developing and delivering interventions to students. He works with a diverse array of partners at the intersection of research and program implementation to deepen our understanding of the facilitators of high quality service delivery with the goal of understanding and scaling what works.

Paul Yoo

Paul Youngmin Yoo is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University.

Kristina Zeballos

With 15 years of dedicated experience in education, I serve as the Principal of Orchard School in San Jose. My career began in the classroom, where I taught Kindergarten, 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades, gaining a comprehensive understanding of student development across the elementary spectrum.

A passionate advocate for literacy, I also served as a Reading Specialist, honing a data-driven approach to student success. Today, I lead with a "students-first" philosophy, blending my instructional expertise with a commitment to fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and safe school community for every Orchard student.

Xing Zhang

Founder and CEO of Air Reading. We are helping underserved students learn how to read from 1st to 6th grade in high-need schools. Prior to starting Air Reading, Xing led the teacher growth at VIPKid (100K online teachers) and developed products at IXL (15M students).