Our Staff | Teachers College Columbia University

Michael A. Rebell is Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity and Professor of Law and Educational Practice at Teachers College.  Previously, Mr. Rebell co-founded and served as Executive Director of The Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), which won a major constitutional ruling on behalf of New York City public schools. Mr. Rebell is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the education adequacy movement in the United States and has pioneered the legal theory and strategy of educational adequacy.  In the last 15 years, this legal strategy has proven successful in almost 75% of the cases challenging a state's failure to provide students with a sound, basic education. Mr. Rebell has also litigated numerous class-action lawsuits especially on behalf of students with disabilities, including the landmark New York State case, Jose P. v. Mills. He has written two books (Equity and Education and Education Policymaking and the Courts) and several dozen articles on a wide range of education issues, including educational equity, education finance, testing, rights of disabled students and dropout prevention. Mr. Rebell is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.

Jessica R. Wolff is the policy director of the Campaign for Educational Equity. She leads CEE’s policy research initiatives, develops and implements its public engagement projects, and directs its communications efforts. She is a coauthor of the recent reports, Securing the Future of New York’s Children: Final Steps Toward Truly Universal Pre-K (2014) and Making Prekindergarten Truly Universal in New York: A Statewide Roadmap (2013), as well as author or coauthor of two books and numerous articles and reports on education policy. From 2000-2005, she served as director of policy development of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), where her work with the Sound Basic Education Task Force helped guide school-funding legislation in New York State. Wolff is a longtime board member and former board chair of the Children’s Museum of the Arts and parent of two NYC public school graduates. She has a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from New York University. 

Joseph R. Rogers, Jr., is the Director of Public Engagement and a Senior Researcher with the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University. Rogers leads CEE’s Know Your Educational Rights initiative, which uses legal and policy research to inform and collaborate with students, parents, and other key stakeholders in advocating for legally guaranteed educational resources and supports. In his civic life, Rogers is the founder and facilitator of Total Equity Now, an all-volunteer organization that engages community members as active education participants and decision makers. A former co-chair of Manhattan Community Board 9's Youth, Education and Libraries Committee, he presently serves on the board of directors of the Harlem Council of Elders and on the steering committee for El Museo del Barrio’s Three Kings Day Parade. Rogers holds a master's degree in education leadership, policy, and politics from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a bachelor's degree in psychology from The George Washington University.

Paloma is the Program Associate at the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University. She works across a number of CEE's focus areas providing communication, research, and public engagement support. Paloma is also working towards earning her M.A in Sociology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and received her bachelor's degree in Psychology and English from Santa Clara University.