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Susanna Loeb

Susanna Loeb is a Professor at the Graduate School of Education. She was Director of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, where she was also Professor of Education and of International and Public Affairs and the founder and acting executive director of the National Student Support Accelerator, which aims to expand access to relationship-based, high-impact tutoring in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Susanna’s research focuses broadly on education policy and its role in improving educational opportunities for students. Her work has addressed issues of educator career choices and professional development, of school finance and governance, and of early childhood systems. Before moving to Brown, Susanna was the Barnett Family Professor of Education at Stanford. She was the founding director of the Center for Education Policy at Stanford and co-director of Policy Analysis for California Education. Susanna led the research for both Getting Down to Facts projects for California schools. In 2020, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also an affiliate at NBER and JPAL and a member of the National Academy of Education.


Leiah Groom-Thomas

Leiah Groom-Thomas is a Social Science Researcher III at Stanford University. Her interests include early childhood education, implementing and scaling interventions in complex systems, and conducting translational research to enact change in practice and policy. Her recent research employs mixed methods to inform national efforts on implementing and sustaining high-impact tutoring to accelerate student learning.

Leiah holds a Ph.D. in Education, an M.A. in Reading and Literacy in Early and Middle Childhood, and a B.S. in Early Childhood Education all from The Ohio State University. Prior to conducting education research, Leiah was an elementary school teacher in Columbus, Ohio. Her background as a practitioner informs her work and scholarly interests.


Kristine Gaffaney

Kristine Gaffaney is the Administrative Director for Dr. Susanna Loeb’s Education Policy Initiative and Project Manager for TipsbyText. Prior to re-joining Stanford University, Kristine was the Chief of Staff  at Annenberg Institute at Brown. Kristine holds a BA in Child Development from San Jose University.