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Jeanne Vissa
Practice Professor of Education
Interim Director, Mid-Career Doctorate Program in
Educational Leadership
jeannev@gse.upenn.edu |
Education
1970: B.A., English, Hunter College-City University of New
York
1977: M.S.T., Mathematics Education, Fordham University
1981: M.Ed., Curriculum and Instruction, Teachers College,
Columbia University
1984: Ed.D., Curriculum and Instruction, Teachers College,
Columbia University
Additional coursework in Supervision and Administration,
Fordham University
Areas of Expertise
Principal and teacher leadership
University-assisted schools
Parental and community participation
Professional Biography
Dr. Vissa joined the Penn Graduate School of Education in
1999 to focus on the practice dimensions of the pre-service and ongoing
education of teachers and administrators. Dr. Vissa is involved with the Penn
Partnership Schools; this initiative is part of the “diverse provider model”
chosen for 70 Philadelphia public schools by the School Reform Commission.
Within the Foundations and Practices of Education Division
at Penn GSE, Dr. Vissa teaches the Secondary Methods of Teaching Mathematics
courses; a module in the Instructional Leadership Program for Aspiring
Principals; and a module within the Mid-Career Executive Doctoral Program on
school leadership for programs focused to support students’ developing enhanced
mathematical reasoning and communication.
Prior to 1999, Dr. Vissa was principal of a public
elementary school that she founded and that was twice designated a School of
Excellence. The school emphasized supporting teachers’ professional development
as a means to achieving high standards with all learners, including those
children in regular classrooms who have special education or ESL needs. Dr.
Vissa’s teaching career was mainly in middle school and high school mathematics.
She also served several schools as an Elementary Mathematics Staff Developer.
Dr. Vissa has written several articles that appeared in publications of the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Together with Dr. Nancy Streim,
she has co-developed recent book chapters, articles, and presentations on the
boundary-spanning dimensions of the Penn Partnership Schools initiative.
In her mathematics education work at Penn GSE and in the
Penn Partnership Schools, Dr. Vissa inquires into how open-ended tasks can
function as instructional tools for students’ ongoing deepening of concepts
such as place value and units of measure in mathematics. She has also been
working on enhancing the algebraic reasoning skills of middle school Penn
Partnership students through a grant from the GE Fund. In this project, as in
others, she pursues how family and community involvement contribute to student
motivation and performance in mathematics.
Dr. Vissa is the interim director of teacher education in
the 2007-08 year.
Research Interests and Current Projects
Dr. Vissa’s interests focus on the ways in which pre-service
teachers develop constructs for praxis; the fostering of self-direction in
learners; the building of parent participation in children’s learning; and the
development of flexible reasoning skills of middle school students.
Classes Taught
EDUC 554: Pedagogy and Curriculum
EDUC 627.002, 657.002: Methods and Advanced of Teaching
Secondary Mathematics
Developing Instructional Leadership in Practice
EDUC 803: Frameworks for Leading and Learning Mathematics
Selected Publications
Vissa., J., & Streim, N. (2006). Perspectives on
boundary spanning: university faculty as managers of public schools. In K.
Howey & N. Zimpher (Eds.), Boundary spanners: A key to success in urban
P-16 university-school partnerships. Washington DC: American Association of
State Colleges and Universities.
Streim, N., & Vissa., J. (2003). Do universities have a
role in managing public schools: Lessons from the Penn partnership schools. Penn
GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 2(2).
Vissa, J. (December 1988). Probability and combinations for
third graders. The Arithmetic Teacher.
Vissa, J. (March 1987). Sampling treats from a school of
fish. The Arithmetic Teacher.
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