Often described as a “divergent thinker,” Ila approach to her work is marked by a deep intellectual curiosity and an interest in bringing disparate ideas together to advance new thinking in the field. Ila believes that building coherent, effective and more-responsive systems for students of color and students experiencing poverty in the United States requires us to see and tackle inequities head on.
As a Partner at Education First Consulting, Ila has built new portfolios of work that reflect these perspectives, across K12 measurement and assessment, the science of learning and development and the movement towards personalization in schools. Most recently, Ila led the creation of Education First’s AIxCoherence Framework and the AIxCoherence Academy, a 9-month program for districts and CMOs to explore integrating AI into teaching, learning and system-level efforts to solve real-world challenges.
Ila previously served as TNTP’s Director of External Evaluation where she launched and/or completed six studies in partnership with leading researchers and some of the nation’s largest school districts. Ila was a key contributor to TNTP’s $20M+ i3 grant and served as Project Director. Ila also taught mathematics and was research director at the Boston Plan for Excellence.
Ila holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science & Education from Swarthmore College and a PhD in Child Development from Tufts University. She lives in Boston, MA with her husband and two young children.
