Dr.
Nancy Streim is Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Education
and
Senior Research Investigator at the Penn Graduate School of Education.
She guides the development of the new Penn Alexander School, a university-assisted
demonstration public K-8 school located near the Penn campus, and she
directs the overall program of support for the Penn Partnership Schools.
Research interests focus on the improvement of education in urban public
schools and on the role of professional development in improving teaching
and learning. She is also PI for the Philadelphia Beginning Teachers Network,
a partnership with IBM and the Philadelphia School District; the University
of Pennsylvania/Goldman Sachs Foundation Entrepreneurship in Education
program; and the Penn-Merck Collaborative for the Enhancement of Science
Education, a professional development program to improve science teaching
in elementary and middle schools. Dr. Streim holds a B.A. from Bryn Mawr
College and a Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr.
Jeanne Vissa joined the Penn Graduate School of Education faculty
in 1999 as Practice Professor of Education to focus on the practice dimensions
of schools and schooling. In addition to co-leading the Penn Partnership
Schools initiative, Dr. Vissa teaches courses in the Teacher Education
Program, Educational Leadership Program for Aspiring Principals and Mid-Career
Executive Doctoral Program. Dr. Vissa's research interests center on the
ways in which pre-service teachers develop constructs for praxis; fostering
self-direction in learners; building parent participation in children's
learning; and development of algebraic reasoning skills among middle school
students. Before coming to Penn GSE, Dr. Vissa was the founding principal
of a Blue Ribbon public elementary school in White Plains, New York, a
staff developer, and a teacher of middle school and high school mathematics.
She holds a B.A. from Hunter College and an Ed.D in Curriculum and Instruction
from Teachers College.