The American Education Policy Landscape

Jennifer A. Rippner, Ph.D., J.D., is currently the Executive Director for Policy and Partnerships at the University System of Georgia and the Coordinator of the Georgia Alliance of Education Agency Heads, the state's P-20 council. She most recently served as a postdoctoral research and teaching associate at the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia after completing her doctorate there in 2013.

She was a charter school director in Florida and later became director of the Florida Charter School Accountability Center, a statewide resource center housed at Florida State University. Jennifer then managed the state's charter school and alternative education programs at the Georgia Department of Education. She then served as education policy advisor to former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as well as executive director of the Governor's Office of Student Achievement, a statewide P-20 accountability agency where she oversaw the establishment of several education research projects. She also served as a senior policy and legal advisor at EducationCounsel, LLC, a national education law and policy firm, where she authored several policy briefs regarding access and diversity issues in higher education.

Jennifer is a past member of the Southern Regional Education Board and is currently the chairman of Georgia's State Charter Schools Commission. She was one of three Americans chosen for a Global Policy Fellowship with the national Institute of Higher Education Policy in 2008.

Jennifer's academic research focuses on the role of state education policy and P-20 councils in helping states meet their educational attainment goals. She has presented multiple papers at academic conferences and has had her research on P-20 councils accepted for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. 

Rippner earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Georgia.