Our policy experts bring high-quality evidence into policy deliberations.
Whether we’re advising state legislators on school lunch funding programs or guiding higher education leaders in implementing transformative degree models, we seek equitable solutions for the greater good of society.
Research & Action Initiatives
Discover how groundbreaking research initiatives are transforming education through innovative standards, policies, and assessments.
-
Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD)
The Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD) is dedicated to fostering open, equitable, and democratic societies through higher education.
-
Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education
The mission of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education is to improve education and human capital development by producing high quality evidence on the costs, effects, and economic benefits of policies and interventions.
-
Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning
The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL) examines how college- and career-readiness standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation.
-
Consortium for Policy Research in Education
The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) is a joint effort of seven graduate schools of education. Its research focuses on school reform, governance, policy, and finance.
-
CPRE Mathematics Formative Assessment Project
The Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) is a large-scale field trial of a mathematics formative assessment program conducted by CPRE and funded by the National Science Foundation.
-
Institute for Research on Higher Education
The Institute for Research on Higher Education (IRHE) is a university-wide research institute that conducts research relevant to policymakers and educational practitioners.
Education Policy News
On May 17, in the Palestra, Penn GSE commemorated the achievements of the roughly 600 master’s and doctoral graduates at this year’s Commencement ceremony.
The McGraw Center for Educational Leadership hosted Obama’s education secretary for public conversation with Dean Katharine Strunk.
A new study from Penn GSE’s Center for Benefit–Cost Studies of Education puts numbers on California's educational challenges.
Weaver examines the broad implications of the evolving role of college athletics and the coming impacts to institutions and students.
This award will support the assistant professor in Penn GSE’s Policy, Organizations, and Leadership division in a five-year research plan on institutional responses to truancy.
In a San Francisco public radio story, Quinn discusses how desegregation-era policies triggered lasting enrollment shifts and funding challenges in San Francisco’s public schools.
From first-time presenters to seasoned scholars, the Penn GSE community showed up big at AERA 2025 with fresh ideas and powerful conversations.
Penn GSE students explored policy, shared research, and burnished their professional development at the recent Comparative and International Education Society conference in Chicago.
Penn GSE alumni from across the academic spectrum have advised politicians, worked in the White House and the statehouse, and spurred change in our nation’s schools and universities thanks to their evidence-backed expertise in education policy.