Dr. Tiffany Jones is a member of IHEP’s Higher Education in Prison (HEP) Advisory Council, a select group of HEP practitioners, researchers, and advocates committed to developing a common set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess the quality and impact of postsecondary education in prison, promote robust standards of practice, and improve student outcomes.

Tiffany directs the higher education policy team at The Education Trust, where she promotes legislation to improve access, affordability, and success for low-income students and students of color. Central to this work is supporting equity- and student-centered accountability and affordability policies at the state and federal levels.

Before joining Ed Trust, Tiffany led the higher education work at the Southern Education Foundation, where she partnered with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions to advance student success and engage in analysis of federal and state policies (such as performance- and outcomes-based funding) using an equity lens. Prior to her time at SEF, Jones was a dean’s fellow at the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, where she helped advance the equity scorecard in Minority-Serving Institutions and urban high schools. Dr. Jones has written academic and policy publications on how higher education policy and practices impact college success for low-income students and students of color. In her upcoming book, Can equity be bought? Outcomes Based Funding for Racial Equity, she introduces a framework for prioritizing equity issues in higher education accountability systems.

Tiffany learned early on as a practitioner how critical it was to have policies that make sense for students and empower their supporters to meet their needs; she is excited to work with her colleagues and strategic partners to advance both practical and ambitious policies in ways that prioritize equity.

A Michigan native, Tiffany holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy from the University of Southern California, a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Bachelor’s degree in Family Studies and English from Central Michigan University.