Penn GSE In the Media

Caroline Watts, Diane Waff, Zachary Herrmann, Marsha Richardson, and Regina Bynum were selected to implement their initiative “Bridging Gaps and Building Capacity: Student and Educator Supports for School Reopening in Learning Network 2.” The initative will provide evidence-based programming and professional development at one to two summer learning sites in West Philadelphia, followed by network-wide professional learning supports throughout the 2021-22 academic year.

Krystal Strong is featured in one of the two new murals along the sides of the Municipal Services Building, across from Philadelphia’s City Hall. They honor Black activists of the past year, as well as the past several decades.

Ryan Baker is quoted on how the pandemic has necessitated innovation in remote learning, noting that, “There’s been a move to using high-quality interactive online learning environments.”

Joni Finney is quoted on the effectiveness of the chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. 

Laura Perna pointed to equity gaps in labor market returns for people who hold the same type of college credential, noting that the risk of taking out a loan to attend college isn’t distributed equally in society.

In the Conversation, Laura Perna, Jeremy Wright-Kim, and Elaine Leigh examine the design of free college programs and how the design influences their effectiveness.

Richard Ingersoll spoke about how schools and school boards are working to meet demands from parents and lawmakers. “All these demands by parents are very understandable, such as lower class size,” said Ingersoll. “Who wouldn’t want their child to be in a class of 18? And, yes, let’s teach Mandarin and, yes, let’s bring back Latin. There are so many demands but very little recognition of the costs.”

Nelson Flores said that instead of debating whether or not an institution should use the word “Latinx,” people should try to understand why the word is used.

Jalil Mustaffa Bishop spoke about the impact of student debt on the racial wealth gap. “The thing that was clear to us when we were talking to Black borrowers across degree-levels and across income-levels was that student debt was consistently described as a burden,” he said.

Jonathan Zimmerman talks about his latest book and the state of education in the U.S. In addition to failing to teach people how to distinguish information from disinformation, the education system hasn’t taught them to engage across differences, Zimmerman says. “The only institution that has even a chance of intervening in that,” he says, “is a school.”

Ameena Ghaffar Kucher interviewed Pakistani American students in New York and observed that they transformed “the negative experience of being ostracized into a positive experience of solidarity and group membership with other Muslims, both in their immediate community and globally.”

Yasmin Kafai and professors across several departments at Utah State University have partnered to create an imaginary virus, allowing students to virtually explore many aspects of living in a pandemic. Children can play in this risk-free environment with more control than they often have in the real world.

Jonathan Zimmerman told The 74 that the sometimes vituperative arguments about American ideals and history held a vital place in K-12 classrooms.

Sigal Ben-Porath joins host Jay Shapiro to explore what protections universities owe their students.