Francesca Pomerantz, Ed.D. is the chair of the Department of Childhood Education & Care, McKeown School of Education, Salem State University in Massachusetts. Her research, writing and teaching focus on preparing and supporting teachers to teach literacy. As the Lead Faculty for School and Community Partnerships from 2014-2023, she was responsible for the field component of the university’s teacher preparation program, developing school partnerships and placing over 175 teacher candidates per year. She also served as department chair from 2009 until 2012 and coordinated the M.Ed. in Reading Program from 2001-2015.
Francesca received her Ed.D. from Boston University in Literacy, Language and Cultural Studies, her M.A. in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and her B.A. in English from Amherst College. She has worked as a literacy coach and consultant to schools in Massachusetts. Prior to coming to Salem State in 2001, she directed a project to increase opportunities to read at home for children in the Boston Public Schools, taught classes for adults and children in the Intergenerational Literacy Project in Chelsea, MA, taught developmental reading and writing for college students, adult basic education, ESL, and GED preparation classes. For five years, she directed federally-funded student support services programs for first-generation and low-income college students in Vermont and Massachusetts.
Francesca has received numerous grants and awards for international research and study, including the Whiting Foundation Fellowship for travel to the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, a Fulbright Specialist Project Grant for higher education consulting in Albania, an English Language Specialist Project Grant for providing workshops to EFL teachers in Mexico and a British Academy Fellowship for research about culturally responsive literacy teaching in Scotland.
