News

Penn’s unique cross-school collaboration leaves a lasting impact on education, research, and Philadelphia.

The Emmy award-winning actress/writer/producer/comedian is known for her hit ABC comedy Abbott Elementary, which she created, executive produces, and stars in.

Doctoral student Barrett Rosser and the Philadelphia Writing Project are expanding the notion of literacy to help young Black women express self-love, build community and foster their identities.

The Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence and Equity helps middle and high school student leaders find their voices. The organization recently held its annual 2-day training for more than 700 students and faculty from 25 school districts. 

Howard Stevenson says that Black men share intimate and personal stories in barbershops, making them ideal places to help deal with emotional and physical.

Penn GSE is bringing hope and opportunity to a new era. In keeping with Dean Pam Grossman’s vision of access and inclusion, practical knowledge, powerful partnerships, and innovation for impact, Penn GSE is unleashing the power of possibility through education—building a diverse pipeline of the educators and leaders the world needs. The School is grateful to the generous donors who are investing in this work. Here are three stories of support for Penn GSE’s mission.

Updates on a presidential visit, the new Penn GSE building expansion, and more.

Amid a growing shortage, Penn GSE prepares and empowers future teachers to thrive—and persist—in the classroom.

Dean Pam Grossman hosted the School District of Philadelphia’s new superintendent, Tony B. Watlington, at a welcome reception on campus.

More than 130 local educators came together at a recent writing conference co-hosted by the Philadelphia Writing Project.

Colleagues from Penn GSE and the Netter Center were honored for being selected in the first cohort of the new Projects for Progress award.

Abby Reisman joins five other Philadelphia educators to discuss American history, equity and inclusion, critical race theory, and other hot-button issues schools and teachers face in 2022.

A team of emerging Penn GSE professionals earned valuable on-the-ground training as counselors this summer, teaching kids tools such as breathing, mindfulness, and motivation.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Responsive Math Teaching project shows Philadelphia teachers and students how rewarding math can be.

It's not easy to get a room full of 5-year-olds to pay attention. It's even trickier when the 5-year-olds are in 25 different rooms.

In its second year, the Office of School and Community Engagement's six-week summer program helps students with both academic difficulties and socio-emotional struggles.

The Penn GSE program shows West Philadelphia middle schoolers how to steer drones through spacious classrooms at Hamilton Elementary and the Penn Alexander School.

A new mural at a Philadelphia-area high school is more than a colorful work of art. It’s the product of a hands-on learning experience that helped unite a local school community while promoting mental health. Penn GSE’s Consortium for Mental Health and Optimal Development was instrumental in designing the project and bringing partners together.

Three stories of support underline how giving to Penn GSE is opening doors and bringing hope and opportunity to a new era.

Already reeling from the ongoing disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, local classrooms have been beset by gun violence and its troubling effects on mental health.

A panel of experts, school leaders, and students will discuss Philadelphia’s historic levels of gun violence and how the rise in violence is affecting students and schools still reeling from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students, staff, and faculty from across Henry C. Lea Elementary School, the Penn Graduate School of Education, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and the University of Pennsylvania gathered to celebrate a new era in the Penn-Lea partnership.

GSE Dean Pam Grossman and Lea Principal Aaron Gerwer answer questions about the partnership, its history, and their shared vision for prioritizing the needs and desires of the Lea community.

“Teaching Independence: Bridging the Communications Gap” brought educators from around the area together to discuss the complicated task of teaching race and its relation to America’s founding in a harshly divided political climate.

Janine Remillard speaks about a local program that prepares Black girls for careers in STEM fields. “Black girls need to be in an environment where they can thrive by being supported as learners, and by being able to look around and see others like themselves,” she says.

Designed to level the playing field and create a more diverse pool of leaders for Philadelphia schools, the Pathway to Leadership Program will see its first students this summer.

Following the formalization of a five-year, $4.1 million deal between Penn and Henry C. Lea Elementary School,  many throughout the city are wondering how the extra support will transform the school over the coming years.

The University and its Graduate School of Education will contribute more than $4 million to the West Philadelphia K-8 school throughout the next five years.

Legacy of pioneering Civil Rights and education activist Bob Moses was the focus of schoolwide conversations at Penn GSE’s 2nd annual One Book, One GSE event, where students, faculty and staff discussed Moses’ book Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights.

A joint Penn GSE and Netter Center for Community Partnerships initiative meshed academics and joy to prepare students to return to classrooms this fall.

Local educators, students, and education advocates came together to celebrate the Penn Alexander School, a partner of Penn GSE, which was awarded the National Blue Ribbon Award

Mike Nakkula comments on the development of LGBTQ student support programs in the Philadelphia public school system. “Being closeted and hiding are major risk factors,” Nakkula said. “Creating spaces in schools where students feel like they have a chance to voice their concerns, that’s a critical developmental act.”

An inaugural Penn Projects for Progress program led by a Penn GSE team focused on reconnecting West Philadelphia students to school and one another, rather than academic remediation. 

Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher spoke about “history from the last 20 years that is completely neglected.” The “Teaching Beyond September 11” curriculum “is really speaking to that gap and helping young people understand just how the world has changed as a consequence of that awful day,” she said.

Educational and social inequities have long been top of mind for Penn GSE’s Professor Vivian Gadsden, who works with families and educators to uplift the underserved and develop a new definition of child well-being.

Penn GSE graduate Nora Gross is turning her dissertation, which followed two years in a Philadelphia school where three boys died in shootings, into a book for the University of Chicago Press.

Caroline Watts, Diane Waff, Zachary Herrmann, Marsha Richardson, and Regina Bynum were selected to implement their initiative “Bridging Gaps and Building Capacity: Student and Educator Supports for School Reopening in Learning Network 2.” The initative will provide evidence-based programming and professional development at one to two summer learning sites in West Philadelphia, followed by network-wide professional learning supports throughout the 2021-22 academic year.

The largest fundraising effort in Penn GSE’s history is helping the School realize its five priorities and provide learners with the foundation for lifelong opportunity.

‘It’s kind of like one lever that has a lot of dominoes fall into place once it’s pulled,’ says Katie Barghaus.

CodeQuilt Philadelphia, part of CS4Philly Week, gives students a voice in saying who codes and why they do it.

The role of educators and leaders worldwide is more important than ever in today’s landscape. Four Penn GSE alumni share the challenges they have faced as while charting a promising path forward.

Gottfried is the newest member of Penn GSE’s Education Policy Division.

Vice Provost for Student Engagement Valarie Swain-Cade McCollum was interviewed about Penn’s summer program for rising high school seniors.

Aaron Gerwer will be the new leader at Lea and Lauren Overton will head Penn Alexander. Penn GSE has partnerships with both K-8 schools.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shifted Rand Quinn’s class online this spring, his students decided their main project should change too.

Caroline Watts commented on the six weeks it took for the Philadelphia school district to distribute laptops to its students after Gov. Wolf ordered schools to close. “The greater the lag in the time off, the harder it is to engage students,” said Watts.

Penn GSE is working in Philadelphia to establish national models of instruction and data use—and improve children’s lives both in and outside of school.

In the debut of her Parent Scoop podcast, Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher discusses the most important things parents and kids can do while they are stuck at home.

The city needs more college graduates. Laura Perna argues a Kenney Administration proposal that includes scholarships and supports would put Philadelphia on track.

Penn GSE’s Michael Nakkula and Andy Danilchick are at the forefront of research into possibility development, an emerging field in the study of human development.