Abby Reisman

Dr. Abby Reisman is an Associate Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE). Her work focuses on document-based historical inquiry, curriculum design, and teacher professional development. She holds editorial roles in journals like Cognition and Instruction and the Journal of the Learning Sciences. Prior to Penn GSE, she was a visiting professor at Columbia University and a researcher at UCLA’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. She earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she led the Reading Like a Historian curriculum project in San Francisco’s urban high schools.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Education, Stanford University
• Classroom teaching experience at a progressive NYC high school

Research Interests:

Dr. Reisman investigates how to teach historical analysis through document-based methods. Her projects include designing curricula for secondary schools, developing instructional coaching models leveraging video analysis tools, and studying novice teachers’ discussion facilitation practices. She emphasizes equity in social studies education, exploring tensions around race and identity in classroom discourse.

Awards & Recognition:

• 2025 Penn GSE Annual Awards
• 2019 Middle States Council Harry J. Carmen Award
• 2015 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 2013 William Gilbert Award (American Historical Association)
• 2011 Larry Metcalf Award (National Council for Social Studies)

Grants & Initiatives:

Her work is funded by the Spencer Foundation, McDonnell Foundation, and Penn’s University Research Fund. She leads a longitudinal study on teacher discourse practices and an online coaching platform for history educators. Her Reading Like a Historian curriculum remains a landmark urban education intervention.

Lab/Team:

Collaborates with the Stanford History Education Group and Penn’s history teacher leaders to create video-annotated repositories for professional development. Current projects focus on virtual teacher coaching and adaptive expertise in history instruction.