Skip to main content

Events

Together, Catalyst @ Penn GSE and the McGraw Prize are advancing innovation in education through a growing array of programming featuring McGraw Prize winners.

Upcoming Events

Please join our mailing list to learn about upcoming events!

Join Our Mailing List 

Learn from Past Prize Winners

View McGraw Prize programming on-demand.

Play video: Leveraging Distributed Intelligence

Watch this video

Leveraging Distributed Intelligence

Roy Pea, David Jacks Professor of Education & Learning Sciences at Stanford University – 2022 McGraw Prize winner 

Dr. Roy Pea examines the implications of distributed intelligence for the design of educational systems, learning technologies, and the conduct of everyday life.

Play video: The Challenge of Providing Access

Watch this video

The Challenge of Providing Access

Barry Dunn, President of South Dakota State University – 2022 McGraw Prize winner 

President Dunn discusses the moral imperative for public and private institutions to expand access to the benefits of higher education to the indigenous people of the United States and the uniquely holistic approach to student success that institutions must take to be successful.

Play video: Leading When the Context Is Chaos

Watch this video

Leading When the Context Is Chaos

Cheryl Logan, Superintendent of Omaha Public Schools – 2022 McGraw Prize winner 

Dr. Cheryl Logan shares how to prepare for successful and effective leadership when the context is chaos—including socio-political strife, workforce challenges, and rapidly evolving instructional shifts.

Play video: Town Hall Discussion on the Future of Educational Leadership

Watch this video

Town Hall Discussion on the Future of Educational Leadership

LaVerne Srinivasan, Carnegie Corporation – 2022 McGraw Prize juror; Chris Lehmann, Science Leadership Academies – 2014 McGraw Prize winner; Sarita Brown, Excelencia in Education - 2009 McGraw Prize winner 

A Town Hall discussion on the future of educational leadership moderated by Penn GSE Dean Pam Grossman.

Play video: Town Hall Discussion on the Future of Educational Leadership

Watch this video

2022 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Celebration

Cheryl Logan, Barry Dunn, and Roy Pea – 2022 McGraw Prize Winners 

We honored the 2022 McGraw Prize winners, Cheryl Logan (Omaha Public Schools), Barry Dunn (South Dakota State University), and Roy Pea (Stanford University), with an in-person celebration at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City on November 3, 2022.

Play video: Intensifying Instruction to Strengthen Student Success

Watch this video

Intensifying Instruction to Strengthen Student Success

Doug and Lynn Fuchs, Institute Fellows at the American Institutes for Research and Research Professors in the Departments of Special Education and Psychology and Human Development at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University – 2021 McGraw Prize winners 

Doug and Lynn Fuchs detail the process of combining peer-mediated learning and complementary structured small-group and one-to-one interventions to synergistically impact students’ academic outcomes and social well-being.

Play video: Addressing Learning Inequalities through Human Learning and Development

Watch this video

Addressing Learning Inequalities through Human Learning and Development

Carol D. Lee, Professor Emeritus in the School of Education and Social Policy and in Learning Sciences and African-American Studies at Northwestern University – 2021 McGraw Prize Winner 

Carol D. Lee discusses how transformational conceptions of what supports robust learning challenge the assumptions that undergird the ways we design schooling environments to support learning.

Play video:Open Education Resources (OER) as Disruptive Innovation

Watch this video

Open Education Resources (OER) as Disruptive Innovation

Richard Baraniuk, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University, Founder and Director of open education initiatives OpenStax and OpenStax CNX - 2021 McGraw Prize winner 

Professor Baraniuk discusses the past, present, and future of the open access education movement, from Connexions to Coursera, and from OpenStax College to edX.

Play video:McGraw Prize Webinar: How Can Computer Agents Help Adults Learn?

Watch this video

How Can Computer Agents Help Adults Learn?

Arthur Graesser, Professor of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Memphis – 2018 McGraw Prize winner 

Graesser discusses with Penn GSE’s Ryan Baker how artificial intelligence can simulate conversation and advance learning for adults.

Play video: 2021 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Celebration

Watch this video

2021 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Celebration

Carol D. Lee, Douglas H. & Lynn S. Fuchs, & Richard Baraniuk 

We celebrate the 2021 winners Douglas H. and Lynn S. Fuchs (AIR, Vanderbilt), Richard Baraniuk (Rice), and Carol D. Lee (Northwestern) whose work in preK–12 education, higher education, and learning science research are making a huge difference in the lives of students.

Play video: Catching the Dream for America’s Children of Color

Watch this video

Catching the Dream for America’s Children of Color

Judith Griffin, Founder and President of Pathways to College — 2008 McGraw Prize winner 

Griffin explores how we can catch and cultivate the dreams and innate abilities of students of color through four commitments to them, and to each other.

Play video: How will we create an education system where equity is the rule?

Watch this video

How will we create an education system where equity is the rule?

Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code - 2018 McGraw Prize winner 

An interactive sessions with Saujani on how we can transform the education system to support all learners.

Play video: Innovation for Equity: Meeting the Moment

Watch this video

Innovation for Equity: Meeting the Moment

2020 McGraw Prize winners - Estela Bensimon (Higher Education), Michelene Chi (Learning Science Research), Joseph Krajcik (Pre-K–12 Education) 

For more than three decades, the McGraw Prize in Education has recognized outstanding individuals deeply committed to harnessing innovation in education to improve the lives of learners worldwide. View a panel discussion and Q&A with the 2020 McGraw Prize winners moderated by Penn GSE Dean Pam Grossman.

Play video: 2020 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Celebration

Watch this video

2020 Virtual Celebration for McGraw Prize Winners

The 2020 McGraw Prize in Education winners Estela Bensimon, Michelene Chi, and Joseph Krajcik were honored on October 21, 2020 in a virtual celebration to applaud their exceptional contributions to the field of education.

Play video: Engineering Equity in K-12 STEM Education

Watch this video

Engineering Equity in K–12 STEM Education

Dr. Christine Cunningham, Professor, Penn State University - 2017 McGraw Prize Winner 

This session explores a set of research-based inclusive curricular design principles for the creation of engineering curricula. Using examples and research from preschool, elementary, and middle school, it explores how well designed curricula can develop children’s facility with, knowledge of, and interest in engineering and science.

Play video: Leveraging Data to Close the Higher Education Opportunity Gap

Watch this video

Leveraging Data to Close the Higher Education Opportunity Gap

Tim Renick, Senior Vice President for Student Success, Georgia State University - 2018 McGraw Prize Winner 

Can we eliminate equity gaps in college success rates? For the past decade, Georgia State University has been at the leading edge of demographic shifts in the southeast. While doubling the numbers of non-white and low-income students it enrolls, the university has simultaneously committed to use data to inform systematic institutional change. In the process, Georgia State has raised graduation rates by 62 percent and closed all achievement gaps based on race, ethnicity, and income-level. The university now awards more bachelor’s degrees to African Americans than any other non-profit college or university in the nation.

Play video: Remaking the Culture of College for Learning & Success

Watch this video

Remaking the Culture of College for Learning & Success

Sandy Shugart, President & CEO, Valencia College - 2017 McGraw Prize Winner 

Our colleges and universities, especially the enormous institutions that have grown up over the last fifty years, were not designed to be places of deep learning. Their “deep architecture” and the cultures they fostered have valued many other competing interests—growth, reputation, brand, enrollment, stewardship—but generally, not student learning and success. Is it possible to reshape the culture and the deep architecture around these values, in spite of their underlying business models, labor models, politics, and competing interests?

Play video: How will the National Leap into Remote Learning Change the Trajectory of Education?

Watch this video

How will the National Leap into Remote Learning Change the Trajectory of Education?

Julie Young, President and CEO of Florida Virtual School - 2011 McGraw Prize Winner 

Learn how Julie Young led the nation in moving K–12 teaching and learning online as the founding President and CEO of Florida Virtual School. Julie then took virtual learning to a new level at ASU Prep, a tuition-free college preparatory school that serves students in grades K–12. Now that districts across the country are operating remotely under stay-at-home orders, hear what might happen next from one of the world’s leading authorities on virtual and online K–12 education.

Play video: School Restart & the Importance of Involving Parents

Watch this video

School Restart & the Importance of Involving Parents

Ariela Rozman, CEO, The New Teacher Project - 2012 McGraw Prize Winner
Timothy Daly, President, The New Teacher Project - 2012 McGraw Prize Winner 

As schools consider what it means to re-open, they will be faced with a multitude of challenges. How do they assess students and determine how much learning they have gained or lost? How do schools assign students to grades and classes? How do they create a plan to address the gaps that may have widened, and use the coming year to narrow them? How do they plan ahead for possible interruptions and re-starts to the 2020-21 school year due to COVID-19 outbreaks?