Peter W. Cookson, Jr. is the Director of The Equity Project and Principal Researcher at the American Institutes for Research and teaches sociology at Georgetown University. Before coming to AIR, Peter was the Managing Director of Education Sector. He is president of Ideas without Borders, an educational consulting firm specializing in 21st –century education, technology and human rights. Peter is the author of 20 books on education and educational reform; his most recent work includes Sacred Trust: A Children’s Educational Bill of Rights; Hearts on Fire: Stories of Today’s Visionaries Igniting Idealism into Action (with Jill W. Iscol, forward by President Bill Clinton) and Class Rules: Exposing Inequality in American High School, which was voted the best book of the year in 2014 by the Society of Professors of Education.