Dr. Rachel Oppenheim has worked in the field of education for all of her professional life and is deeply committed to educational equity and working in coalition with communities furthest from justice. She began her career in education as a public school teacher in inclusive and multilingual classrooms in Los Angeles and New Orleans. While pursuing her doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University, she developed a passion for working with both current and emergent educators, helping them develop their pedagogical skills, and facilitating a deep commitment to equitable practices for all students.

Rachel served as a faculty member, and later as Chair and Associate Dean, of a School of Education, overseeing a dynamic portfolio of graduate and certificate programs, all of which centered on educational justice and transformative pedagogies. She served as the President of the Washington Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (WACTE) and sat on several professional and university committees, including the Faculty Leadership Caucus, the Antiracism Task Force, and the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Steering Committee.

In her role as the Director of Curriculum and Research at the Equity in Education Center (EEC), she extended upon her work in higher education leadership to champion professional learning, equitable research, legislative advocacy, and coalition-building in the nonprofit arena. She designed and launched the EEC’s teaching and learning division and led a cross-sector team that facilitated meaningful, multi-channel educational opportunities for a broad range of partners and stakeholders. She also supported the research team to build a strong, strategically aligned research agenda that was rooted in equity and community expertise. She led internal professional development for EEC staff, emphasizing collaboration and collective learning that both harnessed individual assets and strengthened collective impact.

For decades, Rachel has been working alongside incarcerated and systems-impacted people, first at Rikers Island in New York City and now in Washington with RECLAIM (formerly University Beyond Bars). Her experiences in jails and prisons have shaped her perspective on our country’s carceral and educational systems and have bolstered her commitment to disrupting and transforming those systems.