Nikhil Goyal

Nikhil Goyal is an American sociologist, educator, and policymaker. He is the author of Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty, an intimate chronicle of three Puerto Rican children who grew up in the poorest neighborhood of Philadelphia during the era of welfare reform, mass incarceration, and educational inequality. Most recently, he served as Senior Policy Advisor on Education and Children for Senator Bernie Sanders on the Senate Committee on the Budget and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. He previously taught as an adjunct sociology professor in New York University's Prison Education program. His reporting and columns have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Nation, and other publications.

Goyal holds a BA from Goddard College and M.Phil and Ph.D from the University of Cambridge. He lives in Vermont.

Books

 * Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty. Metropolitan/Macmillan. August 2023.
 * Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice. Doubleday/Random House. February 2016.

Selected articles

 * Goyal, Nikhil. "Why banning 'meal shaming' isn't enough." Washington Post. May 29, 2019.
 * Goyal, Nikhil. "These Politicians Think Your Kids Need High-Stakes Testing—but Not Theirs." The Nation. March 29, 2016.
 * Goyal, Nikhil. "Solutions for Stressed-Out High-School Students." Wall Street Journal. February 12, 2016.