Sarah Warshauer Freedman specializes in research on the development of written language, and the teaching and learning of writing, English, and history in educational settings. Her research focuses on US schools but also incoroporates cross-national comparisons to provide a broad understanding of educational practices and their effects. Professor Freedman is a strong advocate for bridging research and practice, often collaborating with teachers and practitioner-researchers in her studies.
A significant dimension of Professor Freedman's work explores societal divisions, conflict, and inequality, particulalrly focusing on how adolescents develp as citizens and civic actors within divided societies. This research, in collaboration with UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center, includes examining the critical role of education in reconstructing societies after genocide in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Her more recent projects have focused on how young people develop as citizens in the divided societies of Northern Ireland, South Africa, and the US. This work, supported by a multi-year award from the Spencer Foundation, involved a partnership with Facing History and Ourselves. She also served on a National Academy of Education Steering Committee for Civic Education and contributed to a volume published by the Academy in 2021.
Awards for her books include the Multicultural Book Award from the National Association of Multicultural Educators; the 2000 Ed Fry Book Award from the National Reading Conference for Inside City Schools: Investigating Literacy in Multicultural Classrooms (1999); the 1989 Richard Meade Award from the National Council of Teachers of English and the 1996 Ed Fry award for Exchanging Writing, Exchanging Cultures: Lessons in Reform from U.S. and British Schools (1994). In 2006, along with then students Verda Delp and Suzanne Crawford, she won the 2006 Purves award for the year's best 2005 article connecting research to practice in Research in the Teaching of English. The article was titled "Teaching English in Untracked Classrooms." Her career-long contributions were recognized in 2020 with the Witte Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Educational Research Associations Special Interest Group in Writing.
Freedman's newest book, Teaching in the First Year, was edited with UC Berkeley colleague Jabari Mahiri, and integrates their work at Berkeley in teacher education and teacher research. Other notable publications include Response to Student Writing (1987); edited The Acquisition of Written Language: Response and Revision (1985). Her edited volume with Arnetha Ball, Bakhtnian Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Learning (2004) brings together the theories that guide her thinking, particularly the ways Lev Vygotsky and Mikhail Bakhtin conceptualize the interactions between social and individual worlds in the teaching-learning process.
Freedman is a member of the National Academy of Education (NAEd), a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, and an associate of the National Conference for Research in the Language Arts. She has served as an adviser for many groups, including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the Children's Television Workshop. She has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences and at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study and Conference Center.
Publications
https://eric.ed.gov/?q=%22Response+to+Student+Writing%22&pg=2&id=ED290148
Freedman, S.W., Murphy, K., & Weldon, G. (in press). Emotion and Intellect in the Face of Societal Violence. In Drerup, J., Gronostay, D., & Yacek, D. (Eds.). Teaching Controversy: The Politics and Ethics of Classroom Conflict. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Higgs, J., & Freedman, S.W. (2024). “Bakhtin and multicultural education. In A. Garcia (Ed). Online Handbook of Multicultural Education. Taylor Francis on line. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/search?context=rroe&topic=46
Shin, J., Freedman, S.W., Barr, D., & Murphy, K. (2023). Democratic civic engagement in divided societies: Adolescents in Northern Ireland, South Africa, and the United States. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education.53 (2), 199-216, DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2021.1886054. Also published online February 20, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2021.1886054
Freedman, S.W., Barr, D., Murphy, K., & Besirevic, Z. (2016). The development of ethical civic actors in divided societies: A longitudinal case. Human Development, 59, 107-127
Freedman, S. W. (2013). Considering the Moral Complexity of Adolescents in Divided Societies. Policy and Practice: Pedagogy about the Holocaust and Genocide Papers. Paper 7. http://commons.clarku.edu/pedagogy2013/7
Freedman, S.W., Hull, G., Higgs, J., & Booten, K.X. (2016). Teaching Writing in a Digital and Global Age: Toward Access, Learning, and Development for All. In Courtney Bell and Drew Gitomer, Eds., Handbook of Research on Teaching, 5th edition. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
Presentations/Professional Experience
Freedman, S.W. (2023, September). “Schools Navigating Violent Societal Conflicts,” Keynote Address at Conference Conflict and Controversies in the Classroom. Free University, Amsterdam.
Freedman, S.W. (2019, June). Education across Sectors, United Nations Public Service Forum and Awards Ceremony, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. Workshop lead, speaker, and Rapporteur for workshop series. Sponsored by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
Freedman, S.W. “(2019, April). Cross-national (and within-national) Studies of Cultural Variation and Inclusivity: Considerations for Civic Discourse.” AERA Symposium, Invited Presidential Session, Toronto.
Freedman, S.W. “Growing up Divided,” AERA Symposium, Invited Presidential Session, Live Streamed. New York, April, 2018. Watch at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mlnFbXDDQ2g&list=PLR4xr4hFYwOkiysB4sjjq-x3nwR8n0MRN&index=17&t=0s
Freedman, S. (2017). “Challenges and Approaches to People’s Engagement in Post-conflict Situations,” Expert Group Meeting on Integrating Sustainable Development and Peace in Post-conflict Situations: The Role of Public Institutions and Public Administration, The United Nations, New York, October.
Freedman, S., Barr, D., Besirevic, Z., Murphy, K. (2016). “Studies at the Intersection of Adolescent Civic and Academic Development,”Association for Moral Education, Cambridge, MA, December.
Freedman, S.W., Hull, G., Higgs, J., Booten, K. (2015). Pecha Kucha, “Writing Research,” American Educational Research Association, Chicago, April.
Freedman, S.W. (2015). “Literacy Civic Development,” Paper presented at Ohio State University, May 27.
Freedman, S.W. (2014). “Learning to Write in a Digital and Global Age," Invited Keynote Speech, International Conference on Understanding and Dialogue: Education of Literature and Language in the Context of Globalization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
Freedman, S. W. (2013). "Legacies of Conflict: Adolescents in Divided Societies," Invited paper presented at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
Freedman, S. W. (2013). “Considering the Moral Complexity of Adolescents in Divided Societies,” Invited paper presented at Seminar on Policy and Practice: Pedagogy about the Holocaust and Genocide, Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University, Wooster, MA, April.
Freedman, S. W. (2012). “Teacher Research for the Professional Development of Language Teachers,” Invited Keynote Speech, English Language Teacher Education Summit, Bejing Normal University, Bejing, China, October (with Paul Lai)
Freedman, S.W., & Murphy, K. (2012). Narrating Social Divisions, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, December.
Freedman, S.W. (2010). Writing Research for the 21st Century. Presidential panel presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Denver.
Freedman, S.W. (2009). "The Schools in Rwanda since the 1994 Genocide" Los Altos Morning Club, Los Altos, CA.
Freedman, S.W. (2008). "Differentiating Instruction in the English Classroom: Rethinking Whole Class and Individualized Strategies." Keynote address at the annual meeting of the Hawaii Association of Teachers of English, Honolulu.
Freedman, S.W. (2008). "The Schools in Rwanda since the 1994 Genocide." Paper presented Rotary Club, Palo Alto, CA.
Freedman, S.W., & Samuelson, B. (2008). "Representing the Past in Public Spaces and Places: (Re)Shaping Political Ideology in Rwanda." Paper presented at conference on linguistic landscapes, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Interests and Professional Affiliations
Interests
Adolescence
American Educational Research Association
Civic Education
Classroom Discourse
Cognitive Development
Computer-Mediated Learning
Dialects
Diversity
Education of At-Risk Youth
English Education
International and comparative education
Language and literacy development
Language Development
Literacy
Multicultural Education
Qualitative research methods
Teacher Education
Teaching and learning
Teaching and Learning in Public Schools
Writing and Literacy
Writing and Literature
Sociocultural Theories of Learning and Development
Affiliations
- National Academy of Education
- National Council of Teachers of English
- American Educational Research Association
- National Conference on Language and Literacy