Sarah Freedman

Sarah Warshauer Freedman is a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School in the Berkeley School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in Education and M.A. in Linguistics from Stanford University in 1977 and 1976, respectively, an M.A. in English from the University of Chicago in 1970, and a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967. Freedman joined UC Berkeley as Assistant Professor of Education in 1981, advancing to Associate Professor in 1983 and Professor in 1989, positions she maintains. Prior appointments include Assistant and Associate Professor of English at San Francisco State University (1977-1981), instructor roles at Stanford University (1972-1976), and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (1970-1971), as well as high school English teaching (1967-1969).

Freedman specializes in the development of written language and the teaching and learning of writing, English, and history in educational settings across local, national, and international contexts. She has collaborated extensively with teacher-researchers in urban multicultural classrooms and examined civic education in post-conflict societies including Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, and South Africa, often partnering with UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center, where she serves as Senior Fellow since 2000. Freedman directed the National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy (1985-1996) and has been Faculty Director of the Bay Area Writing Project since 2009. Her major publications include Exchanging Writing, Exchanging Cultures: Lessons in School Reform from the U.S. and British Schools (1994, Richard Meade and Ed Fry Awards), Inside City Schools: Investigating Literacy in Multicultural Classrooms (1999, Multicultural Book and Ed Fry Awards), Response to Student Writing (1987), Bakhtinian Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Learning (co-edited 2004), and The First Year of Teaching: Classroom Research to Increase Student Learning (co-edited 2014). Awards include the 2020 Witte Lifetime Achievement Award (AERA Writing SIG), 2006 Alan Purves Award, National Academy of Education membership (2014), AERA fellowship, and fellowships at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (1999-2000, 2006-2007). She has advised the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and National Assessment of Educational Progress, served on the NAEd Civic Education Steering Committee, and contributed to editorial boards, shaping fields of writing research, teacher education, and civic studies.

Professional Email: freedman@berkeley.edu