Conor Sasner Director
Conor Sasner serves as Director of Education and Child Policy Research at First Focus on Children. His work focuses on education equity moving towards a more communal and robust vision for our public school system.
Prior to joining First Focus, Conor worked at the Center for the Transformation of Schools, where he researched education and education funding to effect more equitable schools. As a member of the LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) case study team, he co-authored the forthcoming East Side Union Case Study on youth voice, participation, and power as a transformative quality in education. As a member of the Youth Prison Abolition Project, he participated in long term research and subsequent evaluative study on the conditions in Juvenile Probation Camps in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Conor graduated from UCLA with a degree in Economics, with a double minor in Anthropology and Music Industry.
What’s at stake for kids if Congress doesn’t pass Build Back Better
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Averi Pakulis, Cara Baldari, Carrie Fitzgerald, Conor Sasner, Elaine Dalpiaz, Haley Winter, Kathy Sacco, Michelle Dallafior, Miriam Abaya, Olivia Gomez, First Focus Campaign for Children | December 22, 2021 |
As negotiations have stalled and the fate of the Build Back Better Act hangs in the balance, children stand to lose access to monthly …
On World Children’s Day, Has the US Made Progress on Children’s Rights?
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Bruce Lesley, Conor Sasner, Kathy Sacco, Miriam Abaya, First Focus Campaign for Children | November 20, 2021 |
Today is World Children’s Day, first established by the United Nations in 1954 to celebrate children and commit to improving their well-being. World Children’s Day is …
Congress has a chance to get child care right. They need to take it.
Averi Pakulis, Conor Sasner, Elijah Nishiura | October 6, 2021 |
Once our children celebrate their 5th birthday, they are welcomed into a public school system that can provide valuable benefits to them and their …
What’s next for the largest unvaxxed population (kids)?
Averi Pakulis, Conor Sasner, Tim Smith | August 25, 2021 |
Like many of you, we have been watching in dismay as children’s health is politicized by adults. Just as kids begin to head back …
The nation needs a plan to vaccinate students
Averi Pakulis, Conor Sasner | April 16, 2021 |
President Biden has introduced a massive infrastructure plan that would, among other things, invest $100 billion in building and restoring American public schools. In …
Ending criminalization in schools
Conor Sasner, First Focus Campaign for Children | March 19, 2021 |
Schools should represent the idyllic sandbox of a hopeful future. Then, they are society’s incubators where young people together begin to envision a shared …
For World Children’s Day, the US Should Give Kids Their Rights
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Bruce Lesley, Conor Sasner, Kathy Sacco, Miriam Abaya | November 20, 2020 |
On November 9, 2020, United Nations member states gathered in person and virtually to evaluate the United States’ human rights record. This process, called …
Key Stats on the Effect of COVID-19 on Kids
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Averi Pakulis, Cara Baldari, Carrie Fitzgerald, Christopher Towner (Former Staff), Conor Sasner, Kathy Sacco, Michelle Dallafior, Miriam Abaya, Olivia Gomez | November 19, 2020 |
The COVID-19 pandemic is doing more than exposing the racial, ethnic, and economic disparities existing in our society; it is compounding them, and so …
International students add spark to our educational system. New visa rules would end that
Conor Sasner, Miriam Abaya | October 28, 2020 |
At the beginning of 2003, a little under a year and a half after September 11th, the Department of Homeland Security implemented the Student …
The myth of standardized testing becomes an attack on public education during a pandemic
Conor Sasner | October 23, 2020 |
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wants to enforce testing standards this year as if it were just any year. Any year, that is, since the …