We need teachers more than ever.
A Real Change
Penn GSE presents a new vision to transform society for good
Spring 2025
But the economics of teaching are particularly challenging: novice teachers, on average, make under $50,000 a year, 26 percent less than similarly educated professionals. On top of that, the average debt load per student in the United States is nearly $39,000, and teachers carry additional debt to cover extra training. It’s no wonder that 44 percent of teachers leave the profession in the first five years.
Katharine Strunk, Dean of Penn’s Graduate School of Education, knows that GSE makes an impact: preparing educators who are empowered and respected, producing educational research that is expansive and innovative, leveraging technological advances to enhance learning, and making educational equity a reality.
But changing the calculus of the teaching profession takes a bold approach, and so GSE has created a new strategic vision, Together for Good: A Vision for Transformational Impact.
GSE has an ambitious goal of raising $110 million to make its teacher training programs free, supporting 80 students per year. That kind of visionary philanthropy would impact 250,000 children over the course of 10 years, an investment of just $440 per child. Without debt, new teachers could focus on their passion—teaching—and not worry about how they were going to make their next student loan payment. And with access to a network of alumni and ongoing contact and support, teachers have the resources to excel in their careers.
“Penn is a place where you do work that is intended to be applied,” says Strunk, who is also the George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education. “We have some of the most brilliant scholars in the world housed here, but the difference is that we are not doing this research just to add more knowledge for knowledge’s sake. We are actually thinking about how we use that knowledge to improve the lives of learners and educators throughout the world.”
Everything we do here is intended to feed back into our communities—whether they’re here in Philadelphia, across the country, or across the globe.”Katharine Strunk, Dean of Penn’s Graduate School of Education
The strategic vision is built around four ambitious priorities and needs generous support from Penn’s global community of alumni and friends to make this bold vision for the future into a reality.
Build
Prepare and sustain a highly skilled education workforce from preschool through postsecondary education
GSE will:
- Offer high-quality programs that evolve to address the real-time needs of educators, leaders, and counselors.
- Make Penn GSE’s degree and non-degree programs more accessible to more people.
- Advocate for necessary policy changes in Philadelphia, statewide, and nationally.
“When we go into schools and we look for new mentors, who’s raising their hand? It’s our graduates saying, ‘Yes, I want to give back. I want to help, because I can see that the preparation that I got at Penn GSE helped my students learn, and I want that for all the rest of the students in this school, in my community, in our city.’”
— Patrick Sexton
Assistant Dean of Educator Preparation and Undergraduate Programs
Collaborate
Collaborate with local, national, and global communities through scholarship and programs for the public good
GSE will:
- Deepen relationships with Philadelphia public schools.
- Change the national conversation on community-engaged scholarship.
- Expand global engagement and accessibility of Penn GSE scholarship.
“We are seeking to effect powerful, sustainable, and demonstrable change in educational and human outcomes for kids and families by being strong, present, engaged, responsive neighbors.”
— Caroline Watts
Director of Penn GSE’s Office of School and Community Engagement
Transform
Innovate by bridging theory and practice to conduct educational research with consequence
GSE will:
- Conduct research that addresses the great challenges of our time.
- Make interdisciplinarity the norm, not the exception.
- Prepare stakeholders to use novel technologies and practices.
“We know a lot about learning science and how people learn, and it is experiential. We are so excited to have a makerspace and an AV/VR lab in our new building to be able to give students the opportunity to experiment, be creative, and use technologies in new ways—to become capable and facile with those technologies and also to think how they can apply them immediately, especially in teaching and learning.”
— L. Michael Golden, GRD’07
Vice Dean of Innovative Programs and Partnerships
Elevate
Elevate education’s role within democratic society
GSE will:
- Encourage productive conversations within Penn GSE.
- Promote democratic values across the University.
- Equip students and leaders to foster civic engagement.
“I think we’re at a moment where everyone understands the importance of discourse and the importance of conversation—nobody can deny it. And I think the challenge is that we’re still working with really impoverished models of what classroom discourse looks like . . . . As a school of education, we must support teachers in addressing this knotty problem of how to navigate discussions in this really complex historical moment.”
— Abby Reisman
Associate Professor of Teacher Education
“In 10 years, my hope is that we have changed the world,” says Strunk. “I know that sounds grandiose, but I don’t think it is. We have the potential at GSE to do the work that ensures more people can learn and succeed in a just and thriving society… It’s time for real change, and I think that Penn GSE is poised to do it.”
To support Together for Good: A Vision for Transformational Impact, contact Janice Rafferty Grady, Vice Dean for Development & Alumni Relations, at (215) 573-6623 or rafferty@upenn.edu.
