Anastasia Betts has nearly 30 years of experience in education as a teacher, administrator, professional development coach, curriculum developer, and researcher working at all levels, from preschool to university. She holds an M.Ed. with an emphasis in children’s literature and is completing her PhD in early childhood mathematics at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, as part of the Curriculum, Instruction, and the Science of Learning (CISL) program. Anastasia is also the Vice President of Curriculum Planning and Design at Age of Learning, Inc., leading a team of curriculum specialists, and serving as a member of the learning engineering team. Her research interests include the following: early childhood education; cognitive and developmental theories of learning; metacognition and self-regulation; adaptive learning systems; the intersection between big data, machine learning, and early childhood education; mastery-based learning; addressing school readiness at scale; the home learning environment and the role of parents in children’s learning; early childhood literacy and numeracy.
Khanh-Phuong Thai, Ph.D. is Director of Learning Sciences and Learning Analytics at Age of Learning, Inc., where she works on research-based innovations to advance early childhood education. Previously, she founded a research consultancy to help educational organizations develop evidence-based coursework and game-based assessments. She has also led adaptive system design research at Squirrel AI Learning and designed learning apps at Insight Learning Technology, Inc. She obtained a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology with a minor in Quantitative Methods from University of California, Los Angeles, where her research focused on the acquisition of expertise and its adaptive applications for accelerating expertise in math, science, and medical education.