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Dina H. Portnoy
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Education
1969: B.A., English Literature, University of Pennsylvania
1978: M.Ed., Special Education, Temple University
1998: Ed.D., Reading, Writing, & Literacy, University of
Pennsylvania
Areas of Expertise
Professional development in education
Teacher preparation and leadership
English education
Urban school reform
Professional Biography
Prior to becoming the director of the GSE/TFA Program, Dr.
Portnoy taught for 27 years in the School District of Philadelphia. Her
teaching experience includes elementary and high school teaching; for much of
her career she taught English at Olney, University City, and Northeast High Schools,
as well as at Community College of Philadelphia.
After working in Philadelphia schools for nine years, Dr.
Portnoy became an active member of teacher networks locally and nationally. She
has been a member of the Philadelphia Writing Project and the National Writing
Project since 1987, serving on its leadership committees, facilitating
professional development with new and experienced teachers, and providing
support for research and other programs of the National Writing Project. Most
important, for her, the connection to an ever-growing network of teachers and
the ideas of the National Writing Project fueled her passion to support writing
with urban students in her classroom.
During the 1990s, Dr. Portnoy spent four years working with
the Philadelphia Schools Collaborative. Funded by the PEW Charitable Trusts,
this was an effort within the School District to restructure and reform the 22
comprehensive high schools in Philadelphia by creating small
schools-within-schools and inviting teachers to work together to design
programs, curricula, and assessments. Her interest in creating schools in urban
districts that would be fundamentally different and would better serve
students’ needs prompted her dissertation, Learning Community on a “Tight
Ship”: Issues and Dilemmas of Control and Change in a Restructuring Urban High
School. This study of one of the city’s high schools explored the ways in which
new school structures and relationships supported a changing concept of the
school, education, and the beliefs about control and safety.
Dr. Portnoy is the interim director of the Philadelphia
Writing Project in the 2007-08 year.
Research Interests and Current Projects
Dr. Portnoy came to Penn GSE specifically to work with Teach
for America (TFA). Her primary interests include sustaining new teachers in
difficult schools and developing an understanding of what courses and support
would enable young people to learn while teaching. Furthermore, along with TFA,
she hopes to build a program that helps TFA students become active participants
in creating a more equitable education for all American young people.
Courses Taught
Urban Education, Urban Studies Department
Writing about Education, English Department
English and Social Studies Methods, GSE
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