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Darleen Opfer
Vice President and Director, RAND Education and Labor
- Education
- Policy
- 📍Arlington, VA
V. Darleen Opfer is vice president and director of RAND Education and Labor and holds the Distinguished Chair in Education Policy at the RAND Corporation.
She served as director of RAND Education from 2011 to 2018; from 2005 to 2011, she was director of research and senior lecturer in research methods and school improvement at the University of Cambridge’s (England) Faculty of Education.
Opfer has conducted policy research studies for a number of local, state, and national governments on issues that affect teachers and schools, including recruitment and retention, professional development, and impact of policies on teacher practice. She led the TALIS Video Study for the OECD (November 2020, Global Teaching InSights: A Video Study of Teaching | OECD), which looked at the relationship between teaching practice and student achievement in eight countries.
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BOOK NOW FOR your podcast
Darleen Opfer
Vice President and Director, RAND Education and Labor
- 📍Arlington, VA
- Education
- Policy
V. Darleen Opfer is vice president and director of RAND Education and Labor and holds the Distinguished Chair in Education Policy at the RAND Corporation.
She served as director of RAND Education from 2011 to 2018; from 2005 to 2011, she was director of research and senior lecturer in research methods and school improvement at the University of Cambridge’s (England) Faculty of Education.
Opfer has conducted policy research studies for a number of local, state, and national governments on issues that affect teachers and schools, including recruitment and retention, professional development, and impact of policies on teacher practice. She led the TALIS Video Study for the OECD (November 2020, Global Teaching InSights: A Video Study of Teaching | OECD), which looked at the relationship between teaching practice and student achievement in eight countries.
read more
As seen on
“The Council for Aid to Education, Inc. (CAE), a nonprofit developer of assessments that measure students’ essential academic and career skills, today announced the appointment of V. Darleen Opfer, vice president and director of RAND Education and Labor, to its board of directors. Opfer leads a staff of more than 200 research experts who are focused on using evidence to improve schools for low-income and minority students.”
“Darleen Opfer serves as director of RAND Education and Labor, a division of the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. She leads a 200-person staff that conducts research for major government agencies and private foundations. Along with her extensive work in the U.S., Darleen has researched teacher professional development in countries such as England and Turkey, and served as an education advisor in Norway, Israel, India, and South Africa. Before RAND, she was director of research and a senior lecturer at the University of Cambridge. I recently had the chance to chat with Darleen about the state of education research, and here’s what she had to say.”
Timeline
Jun 2018 - Present
RAND Corporation
Vice President, RAND Education and Labor
2005 - 2011
University of Cambridge
Senior Lecturer, PhD Manager for Education
Ask me
| How are U.S. and other education systems similar? Dissimilar? |
| Can we apply testing resulting and teaching methods/standards across multiple countries? |
| What lessons can U.S. schools take from overseas? |
| How could state and district policies better support teachers in well-being, professional development, and the classroom? |
| How can teachers teach as well as manage student behavior, implement social and emotional learning, provide anti-bias education, and support students with disabilities? |
| All students—particularly students of color—benefit academically and socially from having teachers who are people of color. What do educators say about diversifying the racial and ethnic diversity of the educator workforce? |
| What supports are needed to enter and complete teacher or principal preparation programs? |
| What support are available to educators of students with disabilities? |
| About issues related to politicization within the classroom. |
| How do you define civics education? |
| What’s the role of civics in K-12 education? |
| What's the role of media literacy in K-12 education? |
| How can states and districts provide high-quality, standards-aligned instructional materials for teachers? |
| What is the connection between standards, curriculum, teaching, and student outcomes? |
