John P. Spencer

Associate Professor of Education
Department Chair

John Spencer thinks all schooling ought to be like a liberal arts education at Ursinus: thought-provoking, life-changing, and relevant to the world beyond school. He finds it troubling that so many students say their classes in school are “boring” or “pointless,” but he believes Ursinus Education graduates are helping to build a more inspired future in education, in classrooms and beyond.

Spencer’s development as an educator and scholar goes back to his own undergraduate experience in a liberal arts setting, at Brown University, where he studied history and earned teaching certification in a program led by educational reformer Theodore Sizer. Since that time—as a social studies teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, a leader of professional development programs for educators around the country, and a member of the Ursinus faculty since 2007—he has tried to model the kind of collaborative, intellectually engaging approaches to teaching and learning that he hopes his students will foster in their own careers.

Spencer’s research is in the history of education. He is the author of In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform (University of Pennsylvania Press), which is both a biography of an African-American school leader and a history of American school reform since the 1940s.

Department

Education

Degrees

  • Ph.D., New York University
  • B.A., Brown University

Teaching

Educational Psychology

Curriculum and Instruction

Methods Practicum

Education and Inequality

Educational Innovation and Reform

Research Interests

History of Education

School Reform

Urban Education

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Recent Work

In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012)

“‘Intellectual Power’ for All: Theodore Sizer and the Origins of the Coalition of Essential Schools at Phillips Academy, Andover.” In New Perspectives on the History of the Twentieth-Century American High School, edited by Kyle P. Steele, 53–80. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79922-9_4.

“From ‘Cultural Deprivation’ to Cultural Capital: The Roots and Continuing Relevance of Compensatory Education,” Teachers College Record 114, no. 6 (2012)

“Updating ‘No Child Left Behind’: Change, or More of the Same?” Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, May, 2010

“A ‘New Breed’ Of Principal: Marcus Foster and Urban School Reform in the United States, 1966-1969,” Journal of Educational Administration and History 41, no. 3 (2009), 285-300.

“Public Education: High Schools,” The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, 2013.

Related News

John Spencer has been selected as a Mellon Periclean Faculty Leader.
Ursinus, PV School District to Partner on “Education and Inequality” Course through Project Pericles

John Spencer, an associate professor of education and education department chair, has been selected as a Mellon Periclean Faculty Leader and will teach the class, which will be modified from an existing course to include a civic engagement component with a community partner, the Perkiomen Valley School District (PVSD).

Strengthening the Teacher Pipeline conference was held at Ursinus College.
Teachers Wanted: Ursinus, PVSD Lead Conference for Area School Leaders

More than 40 school administrators representing 12 area K-12 school districts attended “Strengthening the Teacher Pipeline,” a special conference cohosted by Ursinus College and the Perkiomen Valley School District and designed to promote collaborative opportunities to attract and retain teachers.

Indira Joell '19
Interdisciplinary Opportunities at Ursinus Lead to a Dynamic Career
Indira Joell ’19 gives credit to her Ursinus education and mentorship for igniting a passion for teaching, learning, and creating equity in educational access and achievement.