Dina H Portnoy
Director, GSE/TFA Urban Teacher Masters’ and Certification Program
Education:
B.A. (English Literature, )
University of Pennsylvania, 1969.
M.Ed. (Special Education)
Temple University, 1978.
Ed.D. (Reading, Writing, & Literacy)
University of Pennsylvania, 1998.
Permanent linkB.A. (English Literature, )
University of Pennsylvania, 1969.
M.Ed. (Special Education)
Temple University, 1978.
Ed.D. (Reading, Writing, & Literacy)
University of Pennsylvania, 1998.
Description of Research Expertise
Areas of Expertise
Professional development in education
Teacher preparation and leadership
English education
Urban school reform
Professional Biography
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, 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>/i>. 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.
Research Interests and Current Projects
Dr. Portnoy's 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.