Past Features

Working for Peace in Iraq

This spring, Thomas Hill found himself in Iraq, teaching a course in conflict management in a brand-new master's program in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Dohuk. Says Hill, "Dohuk University is now the only university in Iraq with such a program, and the four current students will become the first Iraqis to earn degrees in this subject in their home country."
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Digital Effects

Think of a video game. Now think of a video game designed to appeal to male players. As games have been growing into an increasingly influential industry that often sparks gamers' interest in the expanding fields of computer science and information technology, concerns about gender barriers have become more pressing. GSE's Yasmin Kafai's research brings new light to this issue. Read more >>

Youth, Race, and Anger

Howard Stevenson is studying a videotape of a high school basketball game. Somewhere in the whirl of play is what educators call a "teachable moment." Blink and you'll miss it. Read more >>

Our Man in Washington

"Half of the students who begin college never finish," said President Obama in his address to Congress in February. Obama went on to announce an ambitious goal for the country: to once again lead the world in our proportion of college graduates. Helping to attain that challenge will be Glenn Cummings, a student in Penn GSE's Executive Doctorate in Higher Education program... Read more >>

Research as Public Work

"Working at West Philly High puts a human face on the theories we study in class," says John Puckett. A professor at Penn GSE, Puckett is describing what students take away from his Research as Public Work seminar. Co-taught with Elaine Simon, director of Penn's Urban Studies program, the class brings together Penn undergraduates and students from West Philadelphia High School (WPHS). Read more >>

Education in Wartime

During World War II, schoolchildren planted Victory Gardens and collected old tires and cans to support the war effort. Baby boomers ducked under their school desks as sirens blared, a Cold War drill to prepare them for future nuclear attack. A generation later, America responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, with similar displays of unity and urgency. This is typical of the way democracies respond to war and conflict, asserts GSE assistant professor Sigal Ben-Porath. Read more >>

Once Upon a Time...

Asked what a book titled Red Riding Hood might be about, Keyron answers, "Probably she read and she write a lot, and she live in the 'hood." Penn GSE Prof. Larry Sipe is delighted by the triple pun but, since he's been studying young children's literary understanding for the past 12 years, he's not surprised by Keyron's verbal dexterity. Sipe is intrigued by what happens when teachers read aloud to their young students... Read more >>

Bringing Nanotechnology to the Philadelphia Schools

"After a week of researching and investigating a problem and finding a solution using nanotechnology, I found myself very attracted to the subject," Sarita Saju recalls. Her interest in the subject was sparked at a summer session of ITEST-Nano, a collaboration of Penn GSE, Penn’s Nano/Bio Interface Center, and the School District of Philadelphia.  Read more >>

Citizen, Tax Thyself

Like many other cities, Philadelphia entered 2009 with a budget deficit. Clearly, there would need to be changes if the city were to weather the recession. How, then, should city leaders decide what programs to cut? Enter the Penn Project for Civic Engagement (PPCE). Read more >>

Seeing with New Eyes

"It's the most dangerous neighborhood in Philadelphia. I went out there and I drove around. I can’t teach there."

A student in the master’s program in teacher education voiced his concern about his practicum site to the program coordinators. But they were not easily deterred.

The next year, the students walked. Read more >>

English in the Global Classroom

In a Delhi classroom, the teacher corrects a student’s arithmetic error: "Jitne ki table hai utne ko hi aage plus karma hai," she begins.

English is the language of instruction in this Indian classroom, but Amarjeet, the teacher, draws simultaneously on Hindi and English to explain the intricacies of multiplication.

As English emerges as the world’s lingua franca, such scenes are playing out in more and more schools across the globe. And for educational linguists like Nancy Hornberger, they are evidence of the ways that multilingualism can thrive even when English is the official language of instruction.  Read more >>

Is There a De Facto National Curriculum?

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires states to have content standards — statements of what kids should know in math, language arts, English and science — and to assess kids' achievement against those standards.

Some believe that these requirements are creating a de facto national curriculum. Is there any evidence that NCLB had this effect?

Penn GSE's Andy Porter and Morgan Polikoff, with John Smithson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, decided to find out. Read more >>

Mastering the Craft of Research

"It was the first place I presented academic research," says GSE doctoral student Sarah Lipinoga, "and an amazing venue for becoming professionalized into the research world."

That conference — the Ethnography in Education Research Forum — is held annually at Penn GSE and brings together researchers, practitioners, and graduate students to explore the latest issues in education from the perspective of qualitative research, especially ethnography. Read more >>

The Power of Executive Education

Delvin M. Dinkins listened closely — to students, to parents, and to colleagues. As a public school principal, he kept hearing calls for change, and he stepped up to the plate.

"Leaders are challenged more than ever to deliver on their schools' promises of an education for the 21st century. But delivering on this promise is next-to-impossible without the tools, infrastructure, or public confidence," says Dinkins.

Dinkins, a principal in Pennsylvania's Tredyffrin/Easttown School District, chose to further his leadership potential through the Mid-Career Doctorate Program at Penn's Graduate School of Education. Read more >>

Partnerships for Improving Education

Imagine walking into a Philadelphia public school and hearing the strains of Vivaldi. Follow the music and you can observe a group of aspiring musicians practicing the violin. Just down the corridor, you come upon a group of teachers engaged in an impromptu collegial conversation. Peek into a kindergarten classroom to find an eighth grader helping one of the little ones with her reading.

For students at the Penn Alexander School — the neighborhood public school created by an innovative partnership of the University of Pennsylvania, the School District of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers — this is all in a day's work. Read more >>

Managing Growth

The last decade has seen China emerge as a major player on the international stage and in the global economy. On the educational front, too, the country is experiencing unprecedented growth.

To cope with the tremendous challenges that this growth presents to a highly structured 50-year-old system, higher education in China is borrowing more and more from American models of curriculum and institutional management. Read more >>

Neck and Neck

Analysts typically bemoan the performance of American kids when it comes to international comparisons of academic achievement.

But are American students really at the back of the pack? When Penn GSE Professor Ed Boe looked at the data, he found a far more nuanced — and brighter — picture. Read more >>

Take a Deep Breath

Head Start teacher Janet Luckey was struggling to open a thick envelope of classroom materials one morning. Her students, ages 3 to 5, knew just what to do. "Don't get frustrated, Mrs. Luckey," they advised. "Go get some scissors."

Luckey laughs, remembering. Coping with frustration was one of the behavioral skills she'd been teaching her preschoolers as part of GSE's innovative EPIC program. Now her students were teaching her.  Read more >>

Leaders Needed

"The days of the principal as the lone instructional leader are over," says John DeFlaminis, executive director of the Penn Center for Educational Leadership. "We no longer believe that one administrator can serve as the only instructional leader for an entire school without the substantial participation of other educators."

DeFlaminis also says a proven approach needs to be more widely used by educators to improve the practice of education: "distributed leadership."  Read more >>

The Road Back to Teaching

"Non-traditional" Students are the Norm in GSE / TFA Partnership

First-time teacher Wilson Boyd had an assignment in one of Philadelphia's most troubled high schools.  The challenges confronting Boyd — kids with reading skills that lag far behind their grade level, kids with disengaged parents, kids who've given up on school — are typical for urban schools like Olney West. Boyd, on the other hand, was something of an anomaly.

A Teach For America corps member not long out of college, Boyd was also a master's student at Penn GSE. He was working  hard to improve his students' reading skills, thinking that he'd be successful at his job if student achievement moved up an average of two grade levels.  Read more >>

Catastrophe, Education, and Hope

Professional Development in Aceh After the Tsunami

"Before the tsunami, there were 17 classes with 40 children in each class," explains Kathy Schultz, "and afterwards, eight classes with about 20 children."

Schultz, an associate professor at GSE and Director of Teacher Education, was Penn's person-on-the-scene for its response to the 2004 tsunami that devastated much of coastal South Asia. Initiated by Penn President Amy Gutmann shortly after the disaster struck, GSE's effort focused on long-term recovery by working with locals to improve teacher education and professional development in the region. Read more >>

Who Are These Guys?

It all depends on whom you ask

Pelon (the tall guy with the glasses) and Cricket are two of the "Homies" created by LA artist David Gonzales. Homies represent social types typically found in places with a longstanding Latino presence, and each comes with a life story.

In their LA birthplace, Homies sparked debate about racial stereotyping and the gangster lifestyle. But Homies have found an eager market among young Spanish-speakers in communities that have only recently seen an influx of immigrants.

Over the past few years, Penn Professor Stanton Wortham has been studying one of those communities.  Read more >>