Judith Pace

Judith (Judy) Pace is Professor of Teacher Education in the School of Education at the University of San Francisco. Her scholarship examines classroom teaching and curriculum and its relationship to diversity, democracy, and sociopolitical contexts. She has a Fulbright Global Scholar award for 2023-2024 to teach and conduct research at university-based teacher education programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and South Africa.

Dr. Pace has published four books, numerous research and practitioner articles, and a website with a framework and resources for teaching controversial issues. Prior to USF, she worked at Project Zero on project-based learning, portfolio assessment, teaching for understanding, and comprehensive school reform. Before that, she taught in Boston area schools.

• Teacher education
• Social studies education
• Teaching controversial issues and contested history
• Classroom relationships, curriculum, and teaching in the sociopolitical contexts of schooling

• Teacher Education Department Chair, 2013–2016
• Coordinator of MAT master's courses, 2012–present

• EdD, Harvard University
• CAS, Harvard University
• MEd, Lesley College
• BA, Brandeis University

• K-12 Teacher in special education and progressive settings in the Boston area
• Researcher and developer, Harvard Project Zero

• Fulbright Global Scholar Award, 2023-2024
• Visiting Scholar, 2016-2017

• Pace, J. L. (2022). Learning to teach controversial issues in a divided society: Adaptive appropriation of pedagogical tools. Democracy & Education, 30(1).
• Pace, J. L. (2021). Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Pace, J. L. (2019). Contained risk-taking: Preparing pre-service teachers to teach controversial issues in three countries. Theory & Research in Social Education, 47.
• Pace, J. L. (2015). The Charged Classroom: Predicaments and Possibilities for Democratic Teaching. New York, NY: Routledge.
• Pace, J. L. (2011). The complex and unequal impact of accountability on untested social studies across diverse school contexts. Theory and Research in Social Education, 39(1), 32-60.
• Bixby J. & Pace, J. L. (Eds.). (2008). Educating Democratic Citizens in Troubled Times: Qualitative Studies of Current Efforts. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
• Pace, J. L. & Hemmings, A. (2007). Understanding authority in classrooms: A review of theory, ideology, and research. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 4-27.
• Pace, J. L. & Hemmings, A. (Eds.). (2006). Classroom Authority: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Selected Media Appearances

• Visions of Education podcast Hard Questions with Judy Pace
• Education for Sustainable Democracy podcast Contained Risk-taking with Judy Pace
• This Week in California Teaching Controversial Issues with Pedro Noguera and Judy Pace

Courses

• Learning and Teaching
• Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice
• Curriculum Currents and Controversies
• Curriculum Development and Design
• Teaching Controversies
• Qualitative Research