ERPN Team

Nancy Waymack

Nancy Waymack is the Director of 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. Prior to moving to San Francisco, Nancy was the Assistant Budget Director at the District of Columbia Public Schools and an elementary school teacher in Houston.

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.

Susanna Loeb

Research Lead and Executive Director, Systems Change for Advancing Learning and Equity (SCALE) at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning

Susanna Loeb is a Professor and Faculty Director of the SCALE Initiative at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of the National Student Support Accelerator, which aims to expand access to high-impact tutoring to address inequities in educational opportunities.

Prior to returning to Stanford in 2023, Susanna led the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, where she was also Professor of Education and International and Public Affairs. 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. She is an affiliate of NBER and JPAL and a member of the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.