Tamara Sober, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. in Curriculum, Culture and Change, Virginia Commonwealth University
• M.S. in Educational Theory & Practice, Florida State University
• B.S. in Political Science, Florida State University

Research interests

Sustainable shared investment models for teacher residencies, teacher retention, teacher agency, critical economics for the social studies classroom.

Career highlights

• Consultant to the National Education Association (NEA). State policy success lead to the creation of a model for tying the quality of public education to economic development in order to build coalitions and create legislative strategies in 12 NEA state affiliates seeking to increase public education funding. Efforts culminated in the authorship and development of curriculum on Taxation, Economic Development and Funding for Public Schools: Lessons for Members and Citizens; training in Strong Schools, Strong Communities, Strong Economies; and onsite strategic planning for executive directors, state presidents, staff and local community leaders.
• Sober-Giecek, T. & Schnapp, S. (2007). Teaching Economics As if People Mattered. Boston, MA: United for a Fair Economy.
• Teacher of the Year (1998), James River High School, Chesterfield County Public Schools, Va.

Recent publications/projects

• Stemhagen, K. & Sober, T. (2021). Teacher Activism. Oxford Research Encyclopedias. http://oxfordre.com/.
• Sober, T. L. (2019). Identifying and recruiting quality mentor teachers. In C.A. Torrez & M. Krebs (Eds.), The Teacher Residency Model: Core Components for High Impact on Student Achievement, Lanham MD: Lexington Books.
• Prepared to Teach. A Cargill Foundation grant funded learning agenda developed by a national collaboration of IHEs and local school divisions on sustainable, shared investment funding models for teacher residencies.
• Sober, T. L. (2017). Teaching about economics and moneyed interests in 21st century democracy. In C. Wright-Maley & T. Davis (Eds.), Teaching for Democracy in An Age of Economic Disparity (93-112). New York: Routledge.
• Senechal, J., Sober, T., Hope, S., Johnson, T., Burkhalter, F., Castelow, T., ... & Robinson, R. (2016). Understanding Teacher Morale: A Report of the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education, Richmond, Va.

Bio

Dr. Tamara Sober, assistant professor in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education, teaches in the Center for Teacher Leadership’s Richmond Teacher Residency program. Dr. Sober has over 20 years of experience in teacher advocacy and teacher leadership at the local, state and national level. Her scholarship includes social justice education, critical economics for the social studies classroom, and teacher agency. Her passion: recruiting, preparing, supporting and advocating for teachers! Dr. Sober, a life-long Virginia resident, is committed to elevating the teaching profession through: sustainable, shared investment models for teacher residencies; and local organizing efforts to collectively build teacher voice, agency and power. Check out: Teaching Economics As If People Mattered, Understanding Teacher Morale, and Wise Choices? The Economics Discourse of a High School Economics and Personal Finance Course

Curriculum Vitae