Explore Research & Initiatives

The Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD) is dedicated to fostering open, equitable, and democratic societies through higher education.

A center for global education innovation, Catalyst @ Penn GSE connects people and ideas to develop new ways to advance education in novel and meaningful directions.

Catalyst Community Conversations (CCC) develops, implements, and facilitates public deliberative conversations on important issues.

The mission of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education is to improve education and human capital development by producing high quality evidence on the costs, effects, and economic benefits of policies and interventions.

The Center for School Study Councils (CSSC) serves as a catalyst for public school superintendents to be proactive leaders and facilitates their professional learning and application of that learning.

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL) examines how college- and career-ready standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation.

The Coalition for Educational Excellence provides innovative resources, research-based training, and technical assistance and consultation to school district leaders throughout the Mid-Atlantic region in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

The Collaboratory for Teaching and Teacher Education is committed to advancing knowledge about the fundamental elements of discussion-based pedagogy and what it takes to support teachers to keep discussion at the center of classroom life.

The Community Based Mathematics Project brings together Philadelphia teachers and Penn GSE faculty and students to develop locally relevant and social justice oriented mathematics curriculum.

The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) is a joint effort of seven graduate schools of education. Its research focuses on school reform, governance, policy, and finance.

The Core Practice Consortium brings together teacher educators from across institutions, disciplines, and theoretical perspectives to grapple with questions about how better to prepare novice teachers.

The Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) is a large-scale field trial of a mathematics formative assessment program conducted by CPRE and funded by the National Science Foundation.

The Digital Discourse Project is a research group focused on best practices for high-quality digital discussions about literature in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms.

Semillas Digitales (Digital Seeds in English) is a research-based initiative that collaborates with local stakeholders to improve education in coffee-producing communities in Nicaragua through holistic teacher support and technology integration.

Convened by the Center for Urban Ethnography at Penn GSE since 1980, the Ethnography in Education Research Forum is the largest annual meeting of qualitative researchers in education.

The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education celebrates innovation in education by recognizing outstanding individuals who have dedicated themselves to improving education and whose accomplishments are making a difference today.

The Institute for Research on Higher Education (IRHE) is a university-wide research institute that conducts research relevant to policymakers and educational practitioners.

The Knowledge Building Innovation Network (KBIN) connects members of knowledge building’s global community to continuously innovate on infrastructures for learning and knowledge building.

NCAL focuses on research, innovation, and training in adult education and technology. ILI, established by UNESCO and Penn in 1994, provides leadership in research, development, and training in international literacy and educational development, with an emphasis on developing countries.

The McGraw Center is developing a global community of learning leaders across all educating sectors, advancing how we anticipate, plan, and focus our practices to meet today’s and future challenges.

The EBPC is considered the most prestigious and well-funded education business plan competition, celebrating and nurturing meaningful innovations in education, offering a full range of supports to elevate ideas to the next level and move research into practice.

The Office of School and Community Engagement (OSCE) at Penn GSE connects Philadelphia students and families, educators, school leaders, and community organizations with the expertise and resources of the Penn Graduate School of Education.

PEDAL: Practical English for Daily Living offers free English as a Second Language classes taught by students in the M.S.Ed. TESOL program. It provides courses for family members of staff, students, professors, scholars, and post-docs at Penn, as well as Community courses for West Philadelphians.

The Penn Center for Learning Analytics uses a blend of large-scale and small-scale research methods, from analytics and data mining to ethnographic and field observation methods, to study learning and engagement.

The Penn Early Childhood and Family Research Center aims to advance the use of science in a context of public trust to address problems affecting the well-being of young children and families facing systemic injustice and disadvantage.

Penn GSE Global Possibility Network (GPN) is both a research consultancy for youth development organizations worldwide and a community of youth development stakeholders convening through projects, events, and media productions to share knowledge and collaborate.

A professional development model designed to empower educators to intentionally integrate character-based leadership education into their academic teaching.

The Penn Learning Network at Penn GSE designs and delivers high-quality professional learning experiences that support educators, leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and professionals across sectors.

The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) is network of over 800 teacher consultants who work with teachers and other educators to explore literacy, writing, teaching, and learning in their classrooms and schools regardless of grade or discipline.

The PASS program empowers educators, school leaders, and administrators to develop AI literacy, lead strategic planning efforts, and build institutional capacity with a strong focus on ethical awareness and informed decision-making.

The Project for Mental Health and Optimal Development, based at Penn’s Graduate School of Education, explores the relationship between mental health and optimal development among children, youth, and the adults who support them.

A partnership between Penn GSE and PeopleBench to introduce a scalable, research-informed approach to workforce strategy aimed to improve teacher wellbeing, resilience, and retention.

A teaching approach where students solve real-world problems through meaningful projects that build knowledge, collaboration, and essential skills. Learn more about Penn GSE applies Project-Based Learning locally and globally through education.

The PLATO Teacher observation tool captures literacy instruction across curricular approaches with students in grades 3-9.

The Resilience Empowerment Collaborative (REC) is a research, program development, and training center that brings together community leaders, researchers, authority figures, families, and youth to study and promote racial literacy and health in schools and neighborhoods.

Responsive Math Teaching (RMT) is an NSF-funded research project focused on improving mathematics instruction in a network of elementary schools through a research-practice partnership between Penn GSE and the School District of Philadelphia.

A multimodal curriculum for high school and college educators and students about the ongoing global impact of 9/11, focusing on the years 2001-2021.

The Research and Interventions Promoting Positive Learning Environments (RIPPLE) Lab group conducts research on how children’s early education experiences shape their development and learning, and how policies and programs can improve these experiences.

The Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education journal is an electronic, student-run publication and interactive forum to investigate critical issues in urban education.

West Philadelphia Collaborative History is a website with resources on the history of 20th- and 21st-century West Philadelphia, along with a series of programs to encourage community collaboration and to support educators seeking to use local history in the classroom.

Working Papers in Educational Linguistics is a student-managed journal focused on the many areas of research within educational linguistics.