Charlotte Jacobs
Graduate School of Education
Charlotte E. Jacobs earned her Ph.D. in the Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education program at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Her research interests focus on issues related to the intersections of identity, race, and gender in education concerning students and teachers, and participatory action research methods. To this end, Charlotte recently co-founded the EnGenderED Research Collaborative, a space for research, program development, and practitioner training. She has also co-authored two books, Teaching Girls: How Parents and Teachers Can Reach Their Brains & Hearts (Rowman & Littlefield) and Investing in the Educational Success of Black Women and Girls (Stylus), and has authored several journal articles.
Charlotte is currently an adjunct assistant professor and the director for the Independent School Teaching Residency program (ISTR) at Penn GSE. In this role, Charlotte coordinates and designs the residency-based collaborative teacher education program. Charlotte also teaches a course on adolescent development in the Urban Teaching Residency program (UTR) at Penn GSE.
In addition to serving on the Penn FQT/GSWS Executive Board, Charlotte proudly serves as a board member for the Girls Justice League, the Christina Seix Academy, and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
Charlotte E. Jacobs, as an associate director for the Independent School Teaching Residency program (ISTR), coordinates and designs the day school strand of this residency-based collaborative teacher education program. Dr. Jacobs also teaches a course on adolescent development in the Urban Teaching Residency program at Penn GSE.
Dr. Jacobs’ research interests focus on issues of identity development and gender in education concerning adolescent girls of color, teacher education and diversity, and youth participatory action research. To this end, Dr. Jacobs has recently co-authored the book Teaching Girls: How Teachers and Parents Can Reach Their Brains and Hearts (Rowman & Littlefield) with Penn GSE professor Dr. Peter Kuriloff and Penn GSE alum Dr. Shannon Andrus. The book focuses on how schools can support the development and educational needs of girls by adopting a gender conscious perspective. Dr. Jacobs has also co-authored and solo-authored journal articles that focus on the development of adolescent girls of color at the intersection of race, gender, and socioeconomic status. For these articles, Dr. Jacobs drew on her dissertation research, which focused on the schooling experiences of high school-aged Black girls who attend elite independent schools.
In addition to her role with the Independent School Teaching Residency program, Dr. Jacobs consults with schools about diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, and also serves as the executive director of the Girls Justice League, a non-profit organization supporting the social, educational, and economic rights of girls in Philadelphia.