Maia Cucchiara is an Associate Professor of Urban Education at Temple University. She holds a joint Ph.D. in Education and Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and applies a sociological lens to questions of urban education policy and practice. A former National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Scholar, she is the author of Marketing Schools, Marketing Cities: Who Wins and Who Loses When Schools Become Urban Amenities, (University of Chicago Press, 2013), which received the Pierre Bourdieu Award for the Best Book in the Sociology of Education in 2014. Her most recent study, on innovative public high schools, is funded by the National Science Foundation.
Sidra Sheikh
Sidra Sheikh is a doctoral student in Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies with a concentration in Urban Education at Temple University. An alumni of Rutgers-Newark, she is a former high school history teacher with Newark Public Schools. She also holds a Masters in Sociology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and has conducted research in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools.
