Secondary Education

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.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Educational inequities? Follow the numbers, says Ericka Weathers

The Penn GSE professor studies how policies that are supposed to be race-neutral, like school funding formulas, truancy policy, or special education, end up failing marginalized groups, and urges a look at the results of past policies to better inform moving forward.

From Penn GSE

Building a better world, one side gig at a time

The 10th piece for this series showcases a nurse who founded a low-cost dance studio, a staffer who fosters kittens, an HR specialist who teaches high schoolers life skills, and an English professor who volunteers for his old summer camp.

Michele W. Berger, Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Fox 29 (Philadelphia)

American Education Week: Philly schools highlight initiatives to motivate, inspire students

Faculty from Penn recently taught students at Henry C. Lea Elementary School in West Philadelphia for the second year in a row.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

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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CalMatters

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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The Irish Times (Dublin)

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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Inside Higher Ed

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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NBC News

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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