Kandace Jones works to promote positive, equitable outcomes for students as the Co-Director of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15CC) at WestEd.
In this role, she deepens content expertise, high-quality capacity-building technical assistance, and other services to effectively support state education agencies and their regional and local constituents in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.
Jones specializes in shaping and facilitating strategic, large-scale projects designed to improve educational outcomes through high-quality professional development, capacity-building initiatives, sustainability planning, research and policy development, and other forms of technical assistance.
A nationally recognized leader, she has worked across the education, nonprofit, and private sectors. Before joining WestEd, she served as the Co-Director of the Region 8 Comprehensive Center, which partners with state and local education agencies in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. In this capacity, she centered equity in capacity building and guided the team in the development of a new equity-focused framework for technical assistance to state and local education agencies.
Jones served as Advisor for School Turnaround and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education during the Obama Administration. Her responsibilities included supporting state and local education agencies in their efforts to improve school quality and increase outcomes for students.
She earned a BS and an MBA in business administration and marketing from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.