Tamara Spencer

Professional Overview

Tamara Spencer is an associate professor in the Teacher Education Department (Multiple Subject Program), Kalmanovitz School of Education, and Justice, Community, and Leadership Program, School of Liberal Arts. Tamara has served in numerous leadership positions, most recently as the program chair for the Justice, Community and Leadership program, the associate dean for the Kalmanovitz School of Education (2016-2020) and program director for the Teachers for Tomorrow Program. Her current research explores young children’s literacy development, attending to children’s authentic and purposeful reading and writing experiences within multiple contexts. This work builds on a research tradition that emphasizes contextualized, qualitative studies of young children's literate lives, both in and out of school. She has been published in Language Arts, Young Children, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Complementary Methods for Research in Education, and the Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy and her research has been presented at a range of international and regional research conferences. She has taught first and second grade, served as a literacy administrator,  and worked as a K-3 reading specialist in public schools in Philadelphia, PA, New York, NY, and Raleigh, NC.