About me
Dan Sackheim is the statewide program lead in the Educational Options, Student Support and American Indian Education Office of the California Department of Education (CDE) responsible for monitoring and supporting the operation of community day schools, opportunity education, and Diploma Plus, which are public schools and programs for at-risk/at-promise students. Mr. Sackheim serves on a number of statewide advisory boards and workgroups on asset-based behavioral intervention including restorative justice, resiliency and youth development, with a particular focus on disproportionate minority representation in disciplinary actions and multicultural understanding. These currently include the State School Attendance Review Board, Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup, the California Career Resource Network, the Board of Directors of the Delta-Sierra Chapter of the California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance and the CDE’s Improving the Academic Achievement of African American, Latino and American Indian Students Workgroup. He is a former elementary school teacher who has also served as policy analyst and legislative representative for several state education agencies. He has also served as the education specialist for the State Job Training Coordinating Council. Mr. Sackheim has presented at numerous state and national workshops and conferences, discussing infusing what we know about resiliency into academic content and instructional methods, listening to the wisdom of youth, school rules and behavioral intervention, career-technical education, transfer of students into and from educational options schools, working with parents and the community, and cost-benefit analysis of interventions. He is also honored to be an active mentor for numerous at-risk/at-promise youth, as well as undergraduate and graduate level university students, and a Freedom Writer Teacher.
