STUDENT SUPPORT ACCELERATOR - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Research Associate at the National
Amirpasha Zandieh is a Research Associate at the National Student Support Accelerator. His research interests include small-group instruction, high-impact tutoring, and the scalability of evidence-based education policy initiatives. He holds an M.A. in Economics and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in Social Studies from Caldwell College. Pasha has over a decade of experience as a teacher and leader at both district and charter schools. Prior to joining the NSSA team, he served as the Director of Program Improvement and Research at GO Foundation.
Annie O'Donnell is passionate about ensuring all of America's children receive an equitable and empowering education and has dedicated her career to pursuing that aim. Annie spent over 12 years building and leading the national design team at Teach For America. She began her work as Director of Design, overhauling the organization's knowledge-base and training approach for elementary literacy teachers, and her last role in the organization was Senior Vice President of Instructional Leadership Support. Highlights of her team's work included piloting and scaling content-specific training and ongoing support for pre-K through high school teachers across all disciplines; transforming the organization's approach to summer institute in concert with a region and a college of education; and supporting organizational learning about and commitment to culturally relevant pedagogy.
Annie began her career in public education as an elementary teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools. She holds a MAT from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Political Science and Sociology from Vanderbilt University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Researcher at Stanford University
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. To date her work has focused on strengthening educator-student relationships, mobilizing effective family engagement, and deploying tutors effectively. As a complement to her applied research, her methodological work emphasizes open science practices, such as preregistering hypothesis-testing studies.
Prior to conducting educational research, Carly worked as a New York City teacher. She holds a PhD in Education from Harvard University, a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and BA in Psychology from Williams College.
Job Titles:
- High School Science Teacher / Hightstown, NJ
Chayne Turano is in her 11th year being a middle school science teacher at Melvin H. Kreps Middle School. She graduated with a Master's Degree in teaching from the Rutgers School of Education. She enjoys working with a diverse population of students to inspire and meet their needs through the exploration of science.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate at the National
Chung To Leung is a Research Associate at the National Student Support Accelerator program at Stanford University. His research interests include the relationship between income inequality and educational attainment, the effects of non-academic school policies such as start times and meal programs on student outcomes, and practices for improving LGBTQIA+ and refugee student inclusion in data collection as well school settings. Prior to joining the Accelerator team, he was a Research Strategist with the Elk Grove Unified School District in California, where he oversaw data collection and analysis for social-emotional learning and school climate, researched trends in post-secondary outcomes and college match, and produced metrics for the district's Local Control Accountability Plan. Chung holds an MA in Education Policy from the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and a BA in Economics from University of California, Berkeley. He has also served as an instructor for Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth, an instructional aide and student advisor at the TRIO Upward Bound program at Canada College, and a substitute teacher in various school districts across the Bay Area.
Job Titles:
- 5th Grade, Science / Crow Agency, MT
Connie Michael has been an educator for 29 years. She is Nationally Board Certified and has been recognized for her work in Bilingual Education, STEM, and Social Emotional Learning. Connie has worked with the National Education Association to create curriculum for Diversity, Equity, and Equality as well as to Bridge learning gaps in Science.
David Gormley is a rising second year student studying data science and social policy at Northwestern University. He is passionate about education policy and hopes to be a teacher in the future. He loves learning languages, cooking, and swimming.
Job Titles:
- Research Associate at the National Student Support Accelerator and for the Educational Opportunity Project
Demetra Kalogrides is a research associate at the National Student Support Accelerator and for the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University. Kalogrides earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Santa Clara University and a Masters and PhD in sociology from the University of California at Davis.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Consultant
- NSSA Staff Member
- Researcher
Dr. April Baker-Bell is a transdisciplinary teacher-researcher-activist and Associate Professor of Language, Literacy, and English Education in the Department of English and the Department of African American and African Studies at Michigan State University. Her research interrogates the intersections of Black language and literacies, anti-Black racism, and antiracist pedagogies, and is concerned with antiracist writing, critical media literacies, Black feminist-womanist storytelling, and self-preservation for Black women in academia, with an emphasis on early career Black women.
April's research has been widely published, and she is the author of the award-winning book, Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Her numerous awards and fellowships include the 2020 NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language, the 2020 Michigan State University's Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Creative Activity, the 2019 Michigan State University Alumni Award for Innovation & Leadership in Teaching and Learning, and the 2018 AERA Language and Social Processes Early Career Scholar Award. April holds a BS in Secondary English Education and an MA in Written Communication from Eastern Michigan University, and a PhD in Rhetoric & Writing from Michigan State University.
Job Titles:
- Middle School Science Teacher / Ferndale, MI
Job Titles:
- Southern Education Foundation