Naming and Endowment

Educational Leadership

Penn GSE’s deep and long-standing commitment to educational leadership could not be more relevant today as schools, institutions, and organizations enter a new era. Penn GSE’s expertise in educational leadership spans research and practice, and the School’s impact is unique in its reach across the sectors of K–12, higher education, and corporate learning. Our executive-format programs allow working professionals to pursue a degree. Our alumni shape learning for children and adults at schools, districts, colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit companies. Our graduates navigate complex circumstances, effect change, and shape and advance institutional missions. Penn GSE is producing the leaders who can chart a bold course into the future.

Citizenship Education

To become active and informed citizens, young people must discover how to think critically about current issues and engage with their communities. Penn GSE is advancing citizenship education by expanding educational access and preparing young people to participate in U.S. civic life. Our faculty and students strengthen the teaching of civics and government, develop and implement innovative curricula, create learning experiences outside the classroom, and organize community service. Our graduates go on to educate and nurture the next generation of citizens in a variety of roles as educators and leaders in K–12, higher education, and cultural institutions. At Penn GSE, we are strengthening this foundation of our nation’s future.

Professorships

Penn GSE faculty are shaping the field of education in a changing and challenging landscape across pre-K–12 and higher education. Our faculty apply their expertise to create national models that advance student-centered learning in high-needs schools in Philadelphia and fuel innovation in schools across the United States. They pioneer the use of integrated data to help the children at greatest risk across the country and partner to transform education in locations around the globe. In the face of seismic shifts in the nation and world, our faculty help educators navigate issues of virtual and hybrid learning, mental health, access, and equity. Throughout this work, Penn GSE faculty remain deeply committed to giving their students the best possible educational experience.

Scholarship and Fellowship

Penn GSE seeks to recruit the finest master’s and doctoral students to become the educators and leaders the world needs, regardless of their ability to afford a Penn GSE education. Our students’ passion for learning, service, inclusion, equality, and opportunity drives them to become leaders in education. They engage in vibrant class discussions, undertake original research, and manage student organizations to advance the interests of our diverse school community. Through their fieldwork in Philadelphia public schools and elsewhere, they contribute to our world and learn essential skills and knowledge. Our students go on to lead in a variety of roles as college presidents, school principals, superintendents, teachers, counselors, researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, and policymakers, and more.

Early Childhood Education

Faculty and students across Penn GSE work from a variety of disciplines to improve early childhood education, pursuing mutually beneficial partnerships with communities, families, and educators to unlock opportunity for the youngest children. Their research and practice affects public policy, curricula, assessments, and interventions. They provide resources for families and teachers to promote social-emotional learning in kindergarten and design curricula to meet the needs of underserved urban populations. By pioneering the use of integrated data to improve support and education for children, they have helped states, cities, and counties across the nation. Working closely with young children, families, and educators, they increase understanding of the challenges in children’s lives and improve relationships between parents and schools.

Learning Sciences and Technologies

How do people learn? How can educational environments optimize learning? At Penn GSE, our vibrant Learning Sciences and Technologies master’s and doctoral programs answer these questions to shape twenty-first-century learning. They prepare students to pursue fulfilling and creative careers as educators, researchers, and developers of next-generation curricula, technology-enriched learning environments, and instructional programs. The programs’ award-winning faculty design and research classrooms, virtual worlds, museums, and student groups across multiple educational settings. Their innovations range from online learning communities and teacher professional development to new approaches in curriculum and pedagogy. Through learning sciences and technologies, Penn GSE is transforming learning environments and curricula to better reach students.

Facilities and Technology

Penn GSE is embarking upon a building expansion that will keep the School—and the future educators and leaders we produce—at the forefront of a new era in education. Our internationally regarded faculty will guide the design of twenty-first-century learning spaces that are both flexible and technologically advanced to accommodate a range of forward-thinking teaching and learning approaches. By strategically expanding the School’s central building at 3700 Walnut Street, merging it with nearby Stiteler Hall, and adding a two-story building with a makerspace, innovation studio, and multimedia lab, we will bring the majority of our programs and people into one campus location. The result will be a state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary hub for Penn GSE’s nearly 1,400 students.