Andrew Shachat is a Senior Director at Watershed Advisors, an organization focused on scaling solutions that match the size and scale of the biggest challenges in American education. His team helps state governments and their partners to advance K-12 state education systems that clearly define what learners need, measure impact, and hold leaders accountable. His policy expertise spans state assessment and accountability systems, supporting school improvement at scale, high-impact tutoring for accelerated student learning, and fostering innovations in school choice.

At Watershed, Andrew has supported leaders across several states to develop new assessment and accountability systems. Before joining Watershed in 2021, Andrew served as the Director of Accountability Policy and Analytics at the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) where he oversaw the implementation and communication of the state’s K-12 accountability system. He also previously supported the strategy development and analytics behind the LDOE’s vision for school improvement in lower-performing schools as well as Louisiana’s state charter authorization program. Andrew is based in New Orleans, LA.

Breckan Duckworth serves as the Executive Director of Opportunity and Gap Closure for Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, TN. In her current role, Duckworth oversees the district’s tutoring, RTI, PreK, and summer learning programs. Her background is in teaching English, and has led district-wide reading initiatives for Hamilton County Schools and Dallas Independent School District. Duckworth earned a master’s in Educational Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Amanda Neitzel, Ph.D., is an assistant research professor and deputy director of evidence research at the Center for Research and Reform in Education. She is also Director of Research of ProvenTutoring, a coalition of evidence-based tutoring providers. Her research interests include research synthesis, evidence-based education, and research use. She has expertise in experimental designs and quantitative data analysis. Dr. Neitzel has served as primary methodologist on several research syntheses examining interventions and approaches for primary and secondary literacy, as well as elementary mathematics. These reviews delve into tutoring in particular and explore under what conditions tutoring is most effective. She has coordinated research efforts on randomized trials of school-based interventions and served as Research Manager on an IES-funded evaluation of a computer-assisted tutoring intervention for elementary-aged children struggling to read. Prior to joining CRRE, Dr. Neitzel was an elementary teacher in Massachusetts and Japan, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa.

Brittany Miller is the Chief Innovation Officer & Executive Director of the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting, where she leads efforts to transform educational partnerships through outcomes based contracting. Under her leadership, the Center has expanded from four pioneering districts to 87 agencies across 25 states, impacting over 44,888 students and establishing a model where at least 40% of provider payment depends on student outcomes. An early innovator who helped develop some of the nation’s first OBCs while at Denver Public Schools, Brittany brings both practitioner experience and strategic vision to scaling the Center’s impact. She holds a doctorate in curriculum studies and teaching from the University of Denver and enjoys SCUBA diving and snowboarding in her free time.

Dr. Cara Jackson is an evaluation expert with decades of experience designing and managing evaluations of education programs. She has extensive experience with a broad range of evaluation approaches, including quasi-experimental designs, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, and systematic evidence reviews. Jackson is a former pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teacher, and her work builds on that experience. It has included evaluations of teacher preparation programs, charter school program replication and expansion grants, and a variety of district-level educational programs. She also has developed a framework for democratizing the development of evidence to incorporate a greater variety of perspectives in evaluation. Jackson is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles on a range of topics, including a historical writing intervention and performance pay for educators. She has co-edited two books, one on teacher preparation program design and outcomes and another on assessment education. She has delivered over 50 conference presentations and invited talks in both academic and practice settings and has appeared on numerous podcasts. She currently serves as the president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy, on the board of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, and on the Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research Policymakers Council.

Jackson is the study lead for the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Centers, overseeing a team that has conducted 30 interviews, surveyed over 200 educational agency staff, and coded over 200 project plans for a report to Congress. She also serves as the co-lead of dissemination for the Prevention Services Clearinghouse, providing quality assurance for over 50 program descriptions, facilitating numerous advisory group sessions, and co-authoring multiple fact sheets. As principal investigator of the New Orleans Supporting Effective Educators Development grant, Jackson leads the development of data collection instruments and has led the development of deliverables summarizing site visits and survey findings. She is also the co-facilitator of a practitioner working group under the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), leading the development of materials, facilitating, and summarizing takeaways from each meeting.

Dr. Colby Self currently serves as a Director, Texas Tutoring Supports at the Texas Education Agency (TEA), a position he has held since June 2021. With more than twenty-four years of experience in education, Dr. Self previously led Caldwell Elementary School in Pflugerville ISD as principal from July 2012 to June 2021. His background includes serving as assistant principal, as well as beginning his career as an athletic trainer and educator.

Dr. Self earned a Ph.D. in School Improvement from Texas State University, a Master’s degree in Secondary Education, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Stephen F. Austin State University. Dr. Self is certified by the Texas State Board as an educator, holding teaching credentials at both the elementary and secondary levels, as well as principal and superintendent certifications.

Elizabeth Ross serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning (TAL) at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) where she is proud to lead OSSE’s work to ensure that all DC students have the opportunity to excel by setting high standards, providing robust supports for educators and holding schools and school systems accountable. Prior to joining OSSE, Elizabeth served as the Vice President and Managing Director of Teacher Policy at the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). Before her time at NCTQ, Elizabeth worked at the US Department of Education on myriad equity-focused teacher quality initiatives. Elizabeth began her career as a third-grade teacher at Simon Elementary School in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. from Georgetown University, an M.A.T. from American University, a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law, where she was a public interest fellow, and an Ed.M. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where she was a Zuckerman Fellow. Elizabeth also teaches US Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing at Georgetown University Law Center and Education Law and Policy at American University.

Dr. Janice K. Jackson is a nationally recognized education leader and speaker, currently serving as Executive Director of the Education & Society Program at the Aspen Institute. She previously led Hope Chicago, providing debt-free college pathways for students and families, and served as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, where she managed a $7 billion budget and oversaw record-breaking gains in achievement and graduation. A proud South Side native and CPS alumna, Dr. Jackson holds advanced degrees from Chicago State University and theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago and continues to shape education through her leadership and board service.

Dr. Jason Godfrey is the Managing Director of Data & Information Systems at Accelerate, joining by way of appointment with Harvard University’s Strategic Data Project. As a researcher, he has consistently transformed intricate, disorderly data into actionable recommendations backed by clear metrics for assessing progress. His research takes a pioneering look at linguistic practices within education, leveraging NLP tools on custom-crafted datasets of student essays to discern which semantic and lexicogrammatical features are most rewarded by their host institutions. This research offers significant value for post-secondary policymakers, empowering them to recognize and adapt the linguistic functions indoctrinated by their institutions.

Joseph Reilly, EdD, is an assistant research scientist with the Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) at Johns Hopkins University. His professional background and academic interests are focused on educational psychology, teacher development, special education, and program/curriculum evaluation. At CRRE, Reilly specializes in mixed methods evaluations of K-8th instructional interventions in reading and mathematics, and also leads the department’s Foundational Research Unit, which specializes in producing scholarly literature reviews, practitioner-facing best practices briefs, and ESSA Tier IV evidence portfolios for both curriculum developers and school districts. At SOE, he also serves as an Instructor and Adjunct Professor in the JHU Master of Science in Education Program in partnership with Teach for America and The New Teacher Project. Prior to joining CRRE, Reilly served as a middle school teacher in the Baltimore City Public School District.

Lisa Sanbonmatsu is Director of Research at the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University. Dr. Sanbonmatsu is interested in causal estimation methods and in ways of making research more efficient and reproducible through automation of processes and research platforms. At CEPR, Dr. Sanbonmatsu has helped design the evaluations of dozens of randomized controlled studies with district partners testing new interventions. Prior to joining CEPR, Dr. Sanbonmatsu worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research on evaluations of large randomized experiments including the Moving to Opportunity project, a major randomized housing mobility experiment sponsored by the US Department of House and Urban Development, and the College Enrollment study looking at the impact of simplifying federal financial aid applications. Research by Dr. Sanbonmatsu and coauthors has been published in the Journal of Human Resources, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Journal for Research on Educational Effectiveness, JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Dr. Matthew Kraft is an Associate Professor of Education and Economics at Brown University, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Research Fellow with IZA – Institute of Labor Economics, and an Invited Researcher at J-PAL North America. His primary work focuses on efforts to improve educator and organizational effectiveness in K-12 public schools. His scholarship examines efforts to improve teacher hiring, professional development, evaluation, and working conditions; the application of new approaches to interpreting effect sizes in education research; and the development of school-based tutoring and mentoring programs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has published over 40 academic articles in leading education, economics, and public policy journals. His research has received over $5 million in total grant funding from a range of federal agencies and private foundations. His work has been cited over 12,000 times, and he is consistently ranked among the top 200 scholars on Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.

Matt is regularly quoted and his research is frequently featured in national news outlets. He is the recipient of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Outstanding Public Communication Award, the Society for Educational Effectiveness Early Career Award, the William T. Grant Early Career Scholar Award, the Brown University Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award for the most outstanding article across the seven flagship AERA journals, and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship. Matt holds a doctorate in Quantitative Policy Analysis in Education from Harvard University as well as an M.A. in International Comparative Education and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University. Previously, he taught middle and high school humanities in Oakland and Berkeley, CA public schools.

Dr. Matthew P. Steinberg serves as the Managing Director of Research and Evaluation at Accelerate. In this role, Matthew develops Accelerate’s research agenda, drives the design and evaluation of research projects funded via Accelerate’s annual Call to Effective Action and States Leading Recovery grant program, leads research partnerships with Accelerate’s institutional partners to drive a coordinated research agenda, and identifies and communicates key research findings internally and externally to the field. Prior to joining Accelerate, Matthew was an Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy (with tenure) and Director of EdPolicyForward at George Mason University. Matthew’s research has addressed issues of educational significance at the intersection of the economics of education and education policy, including educator evaluation and human capital; accountability and urban school reform; education finance; and school safety and student discipline. Matthew’s work aims to inform local and national policy discussions on the impact of educational policies and practices on teacher effectiveness and the educational outcomes of students, particularly the most disadvantaged among the population. Matthew’s research has appeared in leading education, public policy and economics journals. A recipient of the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, Matthew received his PhD in public policy from the University of Chicago. During his tenure as a doctoral student, Matthew was an Institute of Education Sciences Pre-Doctoral Fellow with the University of Chicago Committee on Education, a researcher at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and a Mathematica Policy Research Summer Fellow. Prior to graduate school, Matthew was an investment banker and a New York City Teaching Fellow.

Michael A. Cook, PhD, is the Data Analytics Manager at the Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Cook has been at CRRE for more than 6 years and has participated in more than 80 program evaluations. He oversees all quantitative program evaluation activities across the Center and specializes in quantitative research design, statistical methods, ESSA/WWC efficacy evidence criteria, and data management.

Monica P. Bhatt is a Senior Research Director for the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Education Lab. In this role, Dr. Bhatt serves as the principal investigator on a number of applied research studies, including those focused on high-dosage tutoring; alleviating mental health for young women; and READI Chicago, an initiative to reduce gun violence involvement among those at highest risk. Her current work focuses on leading the Personalized Learning Initiative, a multi-site randomized controlled trial of over 30,000 students designed to understand how we can scale the benefits of high-dosage tutoring to reach more students in an equitable manner. Her work has been published in high impact journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, and Science and has been cited in media outlets such as the New York Times, National Public Radio, and the Chicago Tribune.

Prior to coming to the Crime Lab and Education Lab, she worked as a researcher at the American Institutes for Research where she led projects related to college access and retention, teacher quality, school finance, and school accountability policy. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Education Policy and an M.P.P. and B.A. in Public Policy from Vanderbilt University.

Nancy Madden, PhD is a professor at the Center for Research and Reform in Education at the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. She is also CEO of the Success for All Foundation which develops, researches, and disseminates educational programs to increase achievement, particularly for disadvantaged students.

Madden graduated from Reed College in 1973, and received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from American University in 1980. Since 1980, she has worked at the Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) and earlier centers at Johns Hopkins University, where she has directed the development of the reading, writing, tutoring, language arts, and mathematics elements of Success for All, a comprehensive school reform program.

An expert in literacy and instruction, Madden is the author or co-author of many articles and books on cooperative learning, tutoring, prevention of need for special education, and education of disadvantaged students, including Effective Programs for Students at Risk (Allyn & Bacon, 1989) and Two Million Children: Success for All (Corwin, 2009). Current research interests include computer-assisted tutoring strategies, effects of vision services on achievement, and comprehensive school reform.

Dr. Robin Jacob is a Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and a faculty Co-Director of the Youth Policy Lab. She has over 20 years of experience conducting randomized trials and quasi-experimental evaluations of social interventions, in a variety of different contexts. Her evaluations have targeted a wide range of outcomes including literacy, math, and social-emotional competencies, executive functioning skills, and health related outcomes and have included evaluations of federal initiatives, programs developed by nonprofit organizations, as well as those developed by for-profit service providers. Her work has been funded by the Institute for Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and numerous private foundations. She received a PhD in public policy from the University of Chicago.

Shaunté Duggins, Ph.D., is a dynamic leader with experience leading and implementing initiatives at the intersection of research, policy, and practice. As Director for State Initiatives at the UF Lastinger Center for Learning, Shaunté provides leadership for the New Worlds Reading Initiative and the Florida Tutoring Advantage Program. She oversees the development and execution of research to improve learning outcomes and ensures operational excellence. In her previous role as Senior Manager of Literacy Initiatives, Dr. Duggins facilitated professional development for hundreds of early learning and Pre-K-12 educators in the areas of literacy and coaching. She excels in building and maintaining partnerships with stakeholders across policy, business, and philanthropy to advance program development and ensure positive impact for children, families, and educators. Shaunté completed her doctoral studies in Special Education with an emphasis on early literacy and teacher education. Her research includes early literacy, family literacy engagement, and professional development.

Steven M. Ross is Research Professor, Interim Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, and Executive Director at the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University. He is currently the inaugural recipient of the Robert E. Slavin Endowed Professorship and serves as Interim Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs for the School of Education. Dr. Ross is the author of six textbooks and over 140 journal articles in the areas of educational technology, at-risk learners, educational reform, extended learning time programs, and research and evaluation. He is a noted lecturer on school programs and educational evaluation, Editor Emeritus of the research section of the Educational Technology Research and Development journal, and a member of the editorial board for four other professional journals. He was the first faculty recipient of The University of Memphis Eminent Faculty Award for teaching, research and service, and held the Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Urban Education and a Faudree Professorship at The University of Memphis. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Michael Spector Career Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Communications and Technology. He has testified on school restructuring research before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth, and Families, has been a consultant to the National Science Foundation on project evaluation design, and is a technical advisor and researcher on current national initiatives regarding the evaluation of out-of-school learning, STEM instruction, technology integration, and social-emotional learning.

Greg Chojnacki (Master of Public Policy, M.A. Economics, University of Michigan), is a Senior Researcher at Mathematica. Over the past eight years, Mr. Chojnacki has contributed to more than 20 evaluations examining the impacts and implementation of tutoring and education technology interventions, including more than a dozen partnerships with Accelerate grantees. He has also authored three syntheses of emerging evidence on tutoring and other personalized learning innovations in math and literacy, two of them in partnership with Accelerate and one for the Gates Foundation. The most recent of these syntheses, developed in partnership with Accelerate, highlights insights from the 2024-25 Call to Effective Action grantee cohort.

Mr. Chojnacki is an expert in the design of rapid-cycle evaluations, with more than a decade of experience tailoring rigorous experimental and non-experimental evaluation methods to build high-quality evidence rapidly. More broadly, his evaluation experience includes 15 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and numerous quasi-experimental studies in education, workforce development and nutrition. He has provided thought partnership and evaluation expertise to numerous school districts as well as a range of philanthropic and government partners including the Gates Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Labor. He has pioneered the use of advanced techniques such as Bayesian impact analysis that can provide more accessible, actionable conclusions to inform decision making in service of students and families. He has also contributed to approaches to actively incorporate community members’ insights when building and interpreting new evidence on education innovations.

John Scianimanico is an Associate Partner on the Learning Solutions team, where he leads a portfolio designed to enhance math education through investments in generative artificial intelligence.

Prior to NewSchools, John served in the Connecticut State Department of Education and Governor’s Office, deploying over $50 million to accelerate student postsecondary success, mathematics achievement, and summer learning in the wake of the pandemic. During this time, he launched the Connecticut High-Dosage Tutoring Program in over 40 public school districts serving thousands of students. 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.

John-Paul Smith is the founding Executive Director of Education Corps, a nonprofit established in 2020 to advance educational excellence through community engagement and high-impact tutoring. Since 2021, Education Corps has recruited, trained, and coached over 1,300 tutors who have served more than 24,000 K-5 students in-person, at school, during the school day across 240+ elementary schools in rural, suburban, and urban North Carolina.
Education Corps earned a National Student Support Accelerator Program Design Badge in 2024 and an Accelerate-funded, Youth Policy Lab-conducted randomized control trial found that students receiving Education Corps-supported high-impact tutoring gained an additional 1.8 months of literacy growth compared to peers receiving other intervention support during the 2024-2025 school year.
Smith has worked in nonprofit and public sector organizations focused on civic engagement and economic development throughout his career, including the United Way of the Greater Triangle, NC Institute for Emerging Issues, and NC Governor’s Office. In 2016, he served as an Aspen Institute Franklin Project Ambassador. He holds a B.A. in History from Elon University, an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill, and an MPP from Duke, and he resides in Raleigh, NC with his wife and their golden retriever.

Liz Cohen is the vice president of policy at 50CAN, a national nonprofit education advocacy organization. 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. A fierce believer in the promise of public education for all children, Liz spends her down time reading, playing Boggle or mah jongg, and baking challah. She lives in Montgomery County, Maryland with her husband and three children.

As the Director of Holistic Student Supports at The Commit Partnership, Nick partners with Dallas County school districts to better understand and address academic readiness, attendance, and exclusionary discipline practices. He’s passionate about helping students reach their full potential and he believes it will take a collective effort to provide the kinds of opportunities kids deserve.

Over the past thirteen years, Nick has served as a teacher, personalized learning coordinator, and campus leader in Dallas turnaround secondary schools. Immediately prior to joining Commit, he worked with Uplift Education’s campus leadership teams, school system level staff, and tutoring providers to build a comprehensive high impact tutoring program to address unfinished learning experienced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nick earned his master’s degree in educational leadership with urban school specialization from Southern Methodist University, and holds a master’s degree in secondary education, curriculum and instruction from the University of Alabama.

When he’s not working with schools and community members to promote educational equity, you can find Nick reading, playing music, and cooking on his patio in East Dallas with his wife and twin daughters.

As Senior Director of Program Strategy at CityTutor DC, Susannah Tsien spearheads strategic staffing initiatives and teacher pipeline development while continuing to support DC’s high-impact tutoring initiative. As a DC native with over 14 years of experience in local schools, Susannah is deeply committed to closing the opportunity gap in the nation’s capital.

She began her career as a first-grade teacher at KIPP DC: Promise Academy, where she nurtured her passion for teaching, following her first cohort of students through third grade. Across her nine years as an elementary school teacher, she inspired hundreds of students to love reading and math while mentoring dozens of first-year teachers.

After transitioning out of the classroom, Susannah served as a Regional Math Coach at KIPP DC, where she developed curricula and supported school teams with implementation. As an inaugural fellow on KIPP DC’s DEI Coalition, she collaborated with leaders across the network to drive equity-focused conversations and set agendas that advanced anti-racism efforts.

Susannah holds a BA in anthropology and political science from Bucknell University.

Victoria Hales is a dedicated advocate for educational access in Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, TN. She is actively involved in initiatives such as the Impact Fellowship and Literacy First, which focus on high-dosage tutoring to enhance student performance.

With a background in school-based therapy and community non-profits, Victoria has provided therapeutic services in schools and coordinated support for families in crisis. She is committed to addressing academic challenges and improving educational outcomes in her community. Victoria lives in Tennessee with her two sons.