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 including the announcement of this year's winners!
Learn from Past Prize Winners
View McGraw Prize programming on-demand.
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.
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.
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.
How Can Computer Agents Help Adults Learn?
Arthur Graesser, Professor of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Memphis – 2018 McGraw Prize winner
Graessar discusses with Penn GSE’s Ryan Baker how artificial intelligence can simulate conversation and advance learning for adults.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
