9/20
Secondary Education
How to encourage student attendance
From Penn GSE’s Educator’s Playbook, Michael Gottfried highlights approaches that schools and teachers can take to address absenteeism by identifying root causes and creating a supportive environment for all students.
Helping Philadelphia high school students communicate health research
Annenberg School doctoral students Thandi Lyew and Brittany Zulkiewicz worked with local teens through a Penn Graduate Community-Engaged Research Fellowship.
Penn GEMS brings STEM to summer camp
Penn GEMS, an annual engineering, math, and science camp for middle school students, is a weeklong dive into various engineering disciplines, made possible with philanthropic support for community partnerships.
Dental School inspiring high school students through Summer Mentorship Program
This summer, the School of Dental Medicine welcomed 16 high school students from the broader Philadelphia area for the Provost’s Summer Mentorship Program.
A new generation reinterprets Paul Robeson, singer, actor, advocate, and all-American icon
In collaboration with The Netter Center for Community Partnerships, ninth-grade students from Paul Robeson High School trained to become youth docents at the Paul Robeson House and Museum through a program funded by The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.
Seeking solutions to a shortage of educators
Penn’s Graduate School of Education contributes to the conversation about the scarcity of Black men as K-12 teachers.
To spread important messages about teen mental health, make community connections
After creating memes and TikToks with Philly high schoolers, Jeffrey Fishman’s honors thesis explores how those messages can effectively reach their audience.
Student climate champions gather to share stories and inspiration
More than 150 Philadelphia high schoolers came together at WHYY in a climate storytelling event organized by the public media company and the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities.
Netter Center marks 30 years of community partnerships
With science experiments, garden plantings, and twirling flags, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships celebrated its 30th anniversary at West Philadelphia High School.
Cross-disciplinary collaboration for a healthier planet
The Environmental Innovations Initiative announces a third round of funded research communities to catalyze interdisciplinary research at Penn, investigating issues from regenerative agriculture to project-based learning for global climate justice.
In the News
Drilling into a model of a skull: a ‘cool’ taste of doctoring for Philly high schoolers
The “Pipeline Plus” summer program at Penn Medicine, run by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, is designed to teach Philadelphia high school students about careers in the health sciences.
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Schools in poorer neighborhoods struggle to keep teachers. How offering them more money and power might help
Richard Ingersoll of the Graduate School of Education says that giving educators more authority at their workplace makes them feel like respected professionals.
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Lego, martial arts and dance classes: How one school tackled school absenteeism
A 2022 Penn study found a return of three dollars for every dollar invested in City Connects, a pilot project that links students with support for basic needs and enrichment activities.
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How gross inequalities in institutional wealth distort the higher education ecosystem and shortchange the vast majority of middle- and lower-income undergraduates
Penn is noted for its pledge to contribute $100 million over 10 years to renovate decrepit Philadelphia schools, potentially assisting a more diverse student body.
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Texas has taken over the Houston school district. Educational outcomes have not always improved in other states that have done so
Jonathan Supovitz of the Graduate School of Education says that there’s evidence in both directions on the question of whether state takeover of individual districts can improve student learning.
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Black students in Lower Merion got racist emails. One mother says the school should have done more in response
Andrea Kane of the Graduate School of Education says that a school administration’s response to racism depends on the specifics of the incident, such as how much disruption was caused and whether threats of violence were made.
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