The Penn GSE Magazine

Dear Alumni and Friends,

As I write, we are concluding a semester unlike any other. Since the University’s transition in March to virtual teaching and learning due to COVID-19, Penn GSE students have been continuing their studies off campus. Many of them faced the disruption of moving, in some cases across the world. Our faculty and staff have adjusted to working and teaching remotely. I’m sure that you are navigating unanticipated circumstances that impact your work, home, and family life. Across our nation and around the globe, it is a time of tremendous uncertainty and challenges.

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In the face of enormous changes, however, the strength of the Penn GSE community has remained unchanged. If this time has taught me anything, it is that our community is a resilient and generous one. Across the School, people have jumped in to develop resources for working and teaching remotely and to provide training. Faculty have redesigned their syllabi and offered advice to help educators and parents adapt. Staff have helped each other stay in touch and maintain our operations. Students have met virtually to support one another. Although distance divides us, we are united as a community.

Much of this issue of The Penn GSE Magazine captures the on-campus portion of our spring semester. I hope you will find in it a source of inspiration, and a reminder of the daily rhythms we long to resume in brighter times ahead. In February we were delighted to mark the launch of an exciting new partnership with the prestigious Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education and to offer the first programming of our new Center for Professional Learning .

This issue brings a particular focus to Penn GSE’s strengths in urban education. In the cover story , you will learn how the School is working in Philadelphia to build national models of instruction and data use to improve underserved children’s lives. Our alumni feature  highlights an array of graduates working in cities across the country as leaders and educators. As we look at the present and future of urban education, it is a devastating fact that the COVID-19 crisis has complicated an already challenging landscape. Urban schools have struggled to provide education to students lacking internet access at home. The economic impact of the crisis is exacerbating the risks outside of school—poverty, hunger, homelessness, and more—faced by underserved children. These troubling shifts make our work as educators more important than ever.

The faculty, students, and alumni featured in this issue have gone on to adapt to the “new normal” of remote and virtual work, and it is clear that they have tremendous dedication and expertise to offer in these challenging times. Educators and leaders are being called upon for courage and innovation to help their organizations address the crisis, and we look forward to sharing how our alumni have contributed. Please share your stories with us at www.gse.upenn.edu/alumni.  

We also want to help you stay connected and continue learning, during the crisis and beyond. I hope you will explore our new platform for alumni, Penn GSE Connects, at penngseconnects.gse.upenn.edu, and visit our events calendar at www.gse.upenn.edu/event to find our online learning opportunities for educators and leaders.

I could not be prouder of all our community has accomplished, during familiar and unfamiliar times, and I thank you, our alumni and friends, for your part in our extraordinary impact.

Pam Grossman
Dean, Penn Graduate School of Education
George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education

This message appeared in the Spring 2020 print edition of The Penn GSE Magazine, published May 12, 2020. For responses to recent events, please visit the Penn GSE Messages from the Dean’s Office page and the Penn Alumni Antiracist Education & Action page.

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