Penn GSE Practice Professor Joni Finney gives high marks to Pennsylvania Governor Rendell's proposed Tuition Relief Act, calling it "serious, thoughtful attempt to address Pennsylvania's college access and affordability challenges."

Spelman College in Atlanta is just one of several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to face challenges amidst the growing financial crisis. The all-women's school recently cut more than 30 staff members and announced plans to restructure its Education Department. Spelman College President Beverly Tatum and scholar Marybeth Gasman, who follows HBCUs, discuss campus hardships.

The financial woe faced by Morris Brown College is just the latest example of how a wounded economy creates serious challenges for higher education in America, and the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are no exception. Many of the schools already operate with limited resources.

Writing in Forbes magazine, Penn GSE Practice Professor Joni Finney discusses Higher Ed in Hard Times.

Harris Sokoloff, director of GSE's Penn Project for Civic Engagement, weighs in on Philadelphia's budget crisis with an op-ed on civic forums to the Philadelphia Daily News and a follow-up in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

By Leslie Nabors Oláh

In the 1974 Lau v. Nichols decision, the Supreme Court affirmed that all students, regardless of native language, are entitled to "a meaningful opportunity to participate in the educational program." This unanimous decision effectively added English Language Learners (ELLs) to the growing list of U.S. citizens to benefit from the civil rights movement.

By Stanton E.F. Wortham

As has often been noted, the United States has a conflicted attitude toward immigration. The idea of people from other lands coming to America in search of a new and better life is perhaps the most essential component of the national ethos. Especially in times of increased immigration, however, many Americans also resist what they perceive as non-American influences.

GSE Professor Rebecca Maynard discusses abstinence-only sex education on NPR.  Click here to listen.

New research by Penn GSE Professor Rebecca Maynard has shown that abstinence-only sex education has no effect on the onset of sexual activity among children or on the likelihood that, if they do engage in sex, they will use a condom.

By Andy Porter 

Back in the 1960s, the noted sociologist Christopher Jencks called for income tax redistribution to address the issue of racial inequality. Today, he looks to education: “Reducing the test score gap is probably both necessary and sufficient for substantially reducing racial inequalities in education attainment and earnings.”