Penn GSE faculty recently published new scholarship on workforce development, STEM learning, executive function, racial literacy, language education, and collaborative learning.
Assistant Professor Sade Bonilla: “Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead? Evaluating the Effects of Virginia's Workforce-Targeted Free College Program” (Economics of Education Review)
As states increasingly invest in tuition-free college programs, policymakers want to know whether those investments improve educational and workforce outcomes. Sade Bonilla and former Penn GSE postdoctoral research fellow Daniel Sparks found that Virginia's workforce-targeted free-college initiative increased financial aid access, reduced student borrowing, and boosted certificate completion in high-demand fields, suggesting that carefully designed programs can help strengthen pathways into the workforce.
Professor Yuko Goto Butler: “Task-based Approaches to Teaching Additional Languages in Primary School” (John Benjamins)
Many language classrooms emphasize vocabulary drills and grammar exercises when teaching primary school students a second language. In this new book, Veronika Timpe-Laughlin and Yuko Goto Butler offer practical, research-backed strategies for designing language instruction around meaningful communication.
Associate Professor Bodong Chen: “Advancing Collaborative Discourse Through Knowledge Synthesis” (International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning)
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) seeks to understand how technology can support meaningful knowledge-building among learners. Xinran Zhu, Bodong Chen, and David DeLiema found that "knowledge synthesis" activities helped students connect and refine ideas generated through online learning—such as students’ online posts to discussion boards, instructors’ slides and videos, and other digital artifacts—fostering richer collaborative discourse and deeper collective understanding.
Lecturer of Educational Practice Iryna Kozlova: “Training EFL Teachers to Incorporate Virtual Space in 3D Task Design” (Journal of Education for Teaching)
As virtual and immersive technologies become more common in education, teachers need support in using these tools effectively. Iryna Kozlova and Nuket Nowlan found that while teachers readily incorporated virtual environments into language-learning activities, many needed additional guidance to take full advantage of the opportunities these spaces offer for authentic communication and learner exploration.
Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education Howard Stevenson: “Changing Racial Options in Proximal Spaces: The “Earnest Struggle” of Teaching History as a Fight for Justice Now, Not Just Then” (Urban Education)
Teaching the history of racial oppression can be emotionally taxing for both students and educators, particularly at a time when racial tensions remain highly visible in public life. Howard Stevenson and a team of current and former Penn GSE doctoral students—Sasha Mejia-Bradford, KJ Mosley, and Jai Smith—argue that racial literacy can help learners recognize and navigate the stress associated with confronting both historical and contemporary racism, creating space for deeper engagement with questions of justice.
Associate Professor Sharon Wolf: “Executive Function from Observation and Reflection Tool (EFFORT): Validation of a Culturally Adaptable and Publicly Available Item Bank in Seven Countries” (Behavioral Sciences)
Researchers and practitioners often struggle to measure executive function consistently across cultural contexts. Sharon Wolf was part of a research team that validated a publicly available assessment tool in seven countries, providing a new resource for studying and supporting children's cognitive development across diverse educational settings around the world.
Graduate School Education Presidential Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Affairs Susan A. Yoon: “Making the Case to Improve Teachers' STEM-Integrated Content Knowledge: An Analysis of Teachers' Adaptive Expertise and Impacts on Student Classroom Experiences” (International Journal of STEM Education)
Preparing students for increasingly data-rich and interdisciplinary careers requires teachers who can adapt STEM learning to new contexts. Susan A. Yoon and a team of then–Penn GSE postdoctoral research fellows and doctoral students—Jooeun Shim, Amanda Cottone, Katherine Miller, and Noora Noushad—found that teachers’ ability to adapt STEM-integrated content influenced students’ classroom experiences, highlighting the importance of professional learning opportunities that build both content knowledge and instructional flexibility.
Graduate School Education Presidential Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Affairs Susan A. Yoon: “Unpacking Relational Trust Mechanisms in Teacher-Researcher Co-Design Partnerships: Insights from a Case Study” (AERA Open)
Trust is often cited as essential to successful research–practice partnerships, but it can be difficult to identify how trust develops and is sustained. Tugce Aldemir, Susan A. Yoon, Jooeun Shim, and Katherine M. Miller examined a long-term teacher–researcher collaboration and found that shared authority, transparent communication, and commitment to common goals helped create the conditions for productive co-design work.
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