Turning Around Schools with High-Impact Tutoring

About the Presenters

Dr. Christina Grant is the Executive Director of the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University, where she leads partnerships that connect researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to improve student outcomes through evidence-based strategies. She was previously the State Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, overseeing standards, assessments, accountability, and grantmaking for the city’s schools. In that role, she directed a $100 million investment in post-pandemic recovery and led the first update to social studies standards in 20 years. Before that, she served as Chief of Charter Schools and Innovation for The School District of Philadelphia, redesigning accountability systems for alternative and innovative schools and guiding the district’s COVID-19 response.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Grant held leadership positions at Great Oaks Foundation and the New York City Department of Education. She began her career as a teacher in Harlem and later taught at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. In 2025, she was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Dr. Grant holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, master’s degrees from Columbia and Fordham, and a bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University.

As leader of Education Resource Strategies’ School Design Practice Area, Jess O’Connor brings a deep understanding of the resource shifts schools need to make to implement strategies that improve student outcomes, and the conditions necessary to scale and sustain those strategies across the system. In her 10 years at ERS, Jess has worked with over 20 large, metropolitan districts to assess their resource conditions and redesign schedules and staffing plans to improve student and teacher experiences. She has also supported leaders to implement new structures and policies that support strategic school designs, including designing student-centered funding systems and evolving policies around class size, seat time, and collaborative planning. Prior to joining ERS, Jess led operations and systems management at a growing charter network organization. Jess holds an M.A. from Brown University in urban education policy and a B.A. in economics from Washington and Lee University.

A first-generation college graduate, Katie Tennessen Hooten understands the transformative power of education. As Founder of the Ignite Fellowship at Teach For America, she’s spent over two decades developing leaders who expand access to quality education for every child. Her journey began in a Phoenix kindergarten classroom in 2002, where Katie discovered her calling. She’s since scaled her impact from the classroom to national leadership, leading as a teacher coach, head of program, executive director, and head of TFA’s National Teacher Leadership Development team. Today, Katie leads the TFA Ignite team while directly supporting three executive directors who are driving change in their communities. Katie finds joy and renewal with her husband, Matt, and their sons, Noah (10) and Owen (5), who remind her daily why ensuring every child’s bright future matters.

Alan Safran is Co-Founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board of Saga. He has had a 32-year career in public education at the state and local levels. He served nine years at the Massachusetts Department of Education, including a period as the state’s Deputy Commissioner of Education for Policy and Administration. He led the Match Charter Public School network in Boston for nine years, where he was the co-designer of the school’s high-dosage tutoring program, the first such model in the country (and helped coin the phrase “high-dosage tutoring”). He and AJ Gutierrez then incubated the dissemination of high-dosage tutoring out of the Match School base, to Lawrence, MA, Stamford, CT, and Chicago, IL, and then, in 2014, founded the edtech nonprofit Saga. Alan holds a law degree from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Princeton.