Investing in Teachers, Investing in Teaching: The Role of Philanthropy and State Policy

Teaching faces a workforce crisis — and two very different levers for addressing it. Pam Grossman, former dean of Penn’s Graduate School of Education and chair of the Spencer Foundation board, examines what philanthropy and state policy can each do for the profession.

Pam Grossman is Professor of Education Emerita and former dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania . A distinguished scholar, she came to Penn from Stanford University’s School of Education, where she was the Nomellini-Olivier Professor of Education and the founding director of the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Grossman’s research focuses on teacher education and the teaching profession more generally. Her recent work examines practice-based teacher education and the role of core practices of teaching in teacher preparation and professional development, and she is currently engaged in studying the role of state policy in supporting career trajectories for teachers. She has authored or edited six books including her most recent co-edited book, Core Practices for Teacher Education: A Global Perspective (Harvard Education Press, 2024). Grossman is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Educational Research Association, and member of the National Academy of Education and served as Chair of the Board for the Spencer Foundation.