Makeba Jones

Dr. Makeba Jones holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on school reform, educational equity, and urban education.

Her areas of expertise include the social and cultural organization of schools, student engagement, tracking and ability grouping, secondary school reform, educational policy, teacher professional development, school–university partnerships, high school-to-college transitions, and youth leadership development.

She has more than fifteen years of experience in design-based collaborations with teachers, students, principals, and district administrators across San Diego County on a range of school reform initiatives. This work has focused on school structures and cultures related to student learning and achievement, youth development and engagement, teacher engagement, student–teacher relationships, and college preparation.

She also has particular expertise in youth voice research projects designed to help school leaders better understand educational equity from the perspectives of young people.

University of California, Los Angeles

Education, Ph.D.  2000

University of California, San Diego

Anthropology, B.A 1992

Sociology, B.A. 1992

Jones, M. and Yonezawa, S. “Student-Driven Research.” Educational Leadership, Vol. 66 No. 4, pp. 65-69 (Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009).

Yonezawa, S., Jones, M. and Joselowsky, F. “Youth Engagement in High Schools:  Developing a Multidimensional, Critical Approach to Improving Engagement for All Students.” Journal for Educational Change, Vol. 10, pp. 191-209 (April 2009).

Mehan, H. & Jones, M. “Trying to bend the bars of the iron cage: The possibilities and  limitations of charter schools as models for successful school reform.” In H. Mehan, In, College's Front Door: Creating a College Bound Culture of Learning in High Schools.  Paradigm Publishers. (2012).  

Jones, M. ’I Need More Information:’ How College Advising is Still Absent from College Preparation in High Schools. Policy brief repared for UC/ACCORD. (2013)   

Jones, M. “Youth-Led Action Research: A Lesson in Letting Go of Control.” In H. Lattimer and S. Caillier, (Eds.), Surviving and Thriving with Teacher Action Research: Reflections and Advice from the Field. Peter Lang Publishing. (2015)