Kayla C. Elliott, Ph.D. is director of higher education policy at The Education Trust where she leads the team and agenda on promoting access, accountability, and affordability for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Before leading the team, Kayla was a policy analyst focusing on state and federal accountability policies such as student protections, resource equity, and outcomes-based funding.

A daughter and granddaughter of career educators, Kayla has worked on P-20 education issues for over 10 years. Prior to Ed Trust, Kayla held various roles at Florida Atlantic University, where she earned a Ph.D. in higher education leadership. Her dissertation and much of her work examined the equity implications of outcomes-based funding policies, with a focus on the policies’ influence on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). At FAU, Kayla taught courses on leadership and student success and served in the Provost’s Office as associate research director for ADVANCE FAU, a National Science Foundation-supported initiative focused on eliminating institutional barriers for women and minority STEM faculty.

Kayla holds a master’s degree from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and has worked with a range of nonprofit education organizations, including Lumina Foundation, the Southern Education Foundation, and Teach For America. A proud HBCU alumna and advocate, Kayla earned a B.S. in business administration from Fisk University, where her experience serving as a student representative on the university’s board of trustees piqued her interest in higher education advocacy.