Peter W. Cookson, Jr., is a principal researcher and director of The Equity Project at AIR. His knowledge of schools and education comes from a lifetime of teaching, researching, and working to improve the quality of education for all children. Dr. Cookson teaches courses in educational policy, inequality, and social innovation in the Department of Sociology at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Dr. Cookson is the author or co-author of more than 15 books on education reform and policy. His most recent publications include: Class Rules: Exposing Inequality in America's High Schools (Teachers College Press 2013—winner of the best book of 2014, The Society of Professors of Education), Hearts on Fire: Twelve Stories of Today’s Visionaries Igniting Idealism in Action (2013 Random House); The Red Cadillac (Amazon Single 2013); and Sacred Trust: A Children’s Education Bill of Rights (Corwin, 2011). Currently, he is completing books on blended learning and equity and education. Dr. Cookson holds a doctorate in the sociology of education from New York University and a master’s degree in religion from the Yale Divinity School.