Education Policy | Penn Today

A high school classroom with several empty desks.

Absenteeism actively harms everybody—even the students who show up

A new brief co-authored by Penn GSE associate professor Michael Gottfried breaks down the issue of absenteeism and introduces a three-tier strategy for administrators, teachers, and parents to employ.

Marchers waving gay pride flags make their way long a boardwalk with the skyline of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the background

Q&A

Anti-LGBTQ measures

Penn Law’s Tobias Wolff discusses the Florida “Don’t Say Gay” bill and a Texas directive on transgender children.

Scores on Pa. standardized tests fell in 2021, but many students didn’t take them

Jonathan Supovitz of the Graduate School of Education commented on the drop in Pennsylvania students’ standardized testing scores. Given the pandemic and the challenges of virtual learning, Supovitz said the scores are “not surprising, and it is also entirely consistent with other places in the country.”

Man in blue jacket on Penn's campus in late afternoon winter light.

Pandemic shifts: Oliver Kaplan on outing and education policy

The pandemic led Oliver Kaplan, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, to reconsider his academic path. He changed his major to philosophy and now hopes to shape educational policy for LGBTQ+ students.

Graphic depiction of students learning remotely.

Six takeaways from two years of online learning

As two full years of this explosion in virtual learning approaches, Penn GSE associate professor and director of the Penn Center for Learning Analytics Ryan Baker shares some thoughts on best practices, and which practices should be avoided.

Briana Nichols stands among a group of twelve people in Guatemala.

Briana Nichols focuses her work not on migrants, but on the people who stay

When Briana Nichols, a joint doctoral candidate in Penn GSE and anthropology, started working within communities of extensive migration, she says the thing they cared about the most was what it took to not migrate.

Advocates urge action on bill to establish Asian American and Pacific Islander curriculum in N.J. schools

Jessica Kim, a doctoral student in the School of Social Policy & Practice, is organizing a demonstration in support of a bill to require New Jersey schools to teach students about the history and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. “Education is critical,” she said.

two panels depicting conditions in philadelphia public schools. the one on the left is a cartoon of students working in a classroom with issues such as mold, vermin, and asbestos and lead highlighted. on the right is an updated version of the same classroom with these issues removed and text below asks "what is your dream for philadelphia schools?"

Public schools, COVID-19, and addressing education’s aging infrastructure

Urban planners and architects are working to address one of the many challenges faced by public schools by designing healthy and engaging outdoor educational spaces.

Sharon Wolf gesturing with her hands speaking to someone in an office.

Sharon Wolf’s work in Ghana expands to address pandemic-related inequalities

The assistant professor at Penn GSE applies research of children, their primary caregiver, and teachers throughout the pandemic about their experiences with remote schooling to a new approach in controlling learning opportunities before gaps in learning form.

professor standing in front of Graduate School of Education building

Centering Black students in language education

Ensuring equity for Black students in language education was the focus of a conference co-organized by the Graduate School of Education’s Nelson Flores, an expert in bilingual education.

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