Peter Sacks


Books and Essays by Peter Sacks

Books
Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education (Look for it in May 2007 from the University of California Press)
While we often hear about the growing economic divide between the rich and the poor in America, Tearing Down the Gates locates the fountainhead of these growing economic disparities, our education system, and shows how the widening class divide results in an untold loss of human talent that will derail the American Dream --not just for some, but for us all.
Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change it (Perseus Publishing)
A critical examination of America's 'testing culture' in schools, higher education, and the workplace, and how the American meritocracy can be more fair for all citizens.
Generation X Goes to College: An Eye-Opening Account of Teaching in Postmodern America (Open Court).
An inquiry into "postmodern" American culture and its sometimes corrosive effects on qualilty in higher education.
Essays and Commentary
How Colleges Perpetuate Inequality
From the Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 12, 2007
"The Geography of Privilege"
Essay in the Spring, 2004, issue of Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice
Class Rules: the Fiction of Egalitarian Higher Education
From the Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education, July 25, 2003.
"Class Struggle"
Review essay in The Nation, May 5, 2003.
"The GRE and Me: Prestige Versus Quality in American Higher Education"
Essay appears in the Spring 2003 issue of Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice
"Turning Schools into Profit Centers"
From the Jan. 8, 2003, issue of Education Week
"A Nation at Risk"
Review essay of In Schools We Trust by Deborah Meier in The Nation, Nov. 18, 2002.
"Testing Times in Higher Ed"
A review essay on the book, Fair Game?, by Rebecca Zwick for The Nation.
"Pseudo-meritocracy"
The Boston Review, December/January 2001
"How Admissions Tests Hinder Access to Graduate and Professional Schools."
The Chronicle of Higher Education (Chronicle Review), June 8, 2001.
"Predictable Losers in Testing Schemes"
The School Administrator, Dec. 2000

Biography

Peter Sacks is an author, essayist and social critic. His new book is TEARING DOWN THE GATES: CONFRONTING THE CLASS DIVIDE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION. He is also the author of STANDARDIZED MINDS: THE HIGH PRICE OF AMERICA’S TESTING CULTURE AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO CHANGE IT, (Perseus Publishing). His essays on education and American culture have appeared in The Nation, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Boston Review, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Change Magazine, Education Week and many others. Sacks frequently speaks about education, including appearances at the New York University School of Law, Education Writers Association, Pepperdine University, Teachers College at Columbia University, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A former economist and staff writer at metro dailies on both coasts, Sacks covered business and economics and completed several awarding-winning journalism projects, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination. He taught college journalism and writing for four years.


SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS


Penn State University, Center for Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, summer institute, plenary session speaker, July 13, 2005.

Washington State University, Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies, Keynote Address, April 22, 2005.

Foothills School of Arts and Sciences, Boise, Idaho Feb. 9, 2005. Keynote speaker.

College Board Colloquium, Jan. 8-10, 2005, Bal Harbour, FL., "Refocusing on the Common Good: Advancing Equity and Access in Higher Education," featured speaker.

Third Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, Jan. 3-7, 2005, Keynote address.

Childhood and Society Symposium. Childhood Lost: How American Culture is Failing our Kids, Park Point University, Pittsburgh, PA, Keynote speaker, June 12, 2004.

Coalition of State University Aid Administrators, keynote address, April 25, 2004, Daytona Beach, Florida.

American Association of Higher Education, annual conference, San Diego, Calif., featured speaker, April 3, 2004.

Dutchess County School Boards Association, Hyde Park, New York, keynote speaker, March 18, 2004.

Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, annual conference in San Francisco, keynote address, Nov. 15, 2003.

City University of New York, keynote address at the conference, "Testing the Limits: A Colloquium on High Stakes Testing in Higher Education," May 2, 2003

The School Without Walls, Rochester Public Schools, and the Coalition for Common Sense in Education, Keynote speaker, March 13-14, 2003.

Independent Educational Consultants Association, annual conference, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C., keynote address, Nov. 8, 2002.

Levittown Public Schools, New York, Annual In-Service Conference, keynote speaker.

Vancouver Public School District, Leadership Support Summer Workshop, keynote speaker.

National Council of Teachers of English, Northwest Regional Conference, General Session speaker.

Rocky Mountain Book Festival, sponsored by the Colorado Center for the Book.

Society of American Law Teachers, New York University School of Law, plenary session presenter.

Florida Association of Nursing Educators, Tampa, featured speaker.

Indian River Community College, featured speaker.

Seattle Rethinking Schools, panelist.

Education Writers Association, annual meeting, Atlanta, conference presenter, "Will High-Stakes Testing Doom Minority Children to Sanctions?"

Teachers College, Columbia University, "High-Stakes Testing: What are the Effects?" conference presenter.

MassParents, Cambridge, Mass., featured speaker.

D.C. Voice, Washington, D.C., featured speaker.

Portland Rethinking Schools, featured speaker.

Parents United for Responsible Education and other sponsoring groups, keynote speaker, Chicago.

Salem State College, "How Educational Policy Harms Teaching and Learning," featured speaker to faculty and students.

Maryville University, St. Louis, featured speaker.

University of Nebraska - Lincoln, keynote address to the Preparing Future Faculty Project.

Pepperdine University, "Teaching and Learning in the Postmodern Age," keynote address.




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