News

On October 13, 2021, the 2011 McGraw Prize winner Mitchel Resnick was named this year’s recipient of the LEGO prize -- an honor that, since 1985, has been presented each year to an individual or organization that has made outstanding contributions to the lives of children.

Read the full article "Keeping up with Winners: Mitchel Resnick"

Excelencia in Education, co-founded in 2004 by McGraw Prize winner Sarita E. Brown, recently received the largest gift in the organization’s history from philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett.

Read the full article "Keeping up with Winners: Sarita E. Brown"

2018 McGraw Prize winner Reshma Saujani is well known as the Founder and CEO of the international nonprofit, Girls Who Code. Most recently, however, she founded the Marshall Plan for Moms movement.

Read the full article "Keeping up with the Winners: Reshma Saujani"

2013 McGraw Prize winner Deborah Bial is the President and Founder of the nonprofit, The Posse Foundation which uses its signature Posse model to support young scholars with diverse demographic backgrounds through attending, enrolling and completing college and emerging as strong leaders from diverse backgrounds who are able to develop consensus solutions to complex social problems.

Read the full article "Keeping up with the Winners: Deborah Bial"

The prestigious Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education continues to shine a light on people who have had an extraordinary impact on the field. This year’s winners, announced today by the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, are Richard Baraniuk, Doug and Lynn Fuchs, and Carol D. Lee. Each is recognized for their achievements in higher education, preK-12 education, and learning science research respectively.

Read the press release "Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Announces 2021 Winners"

Reshma Saujani, the founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, was inspired to form the non-profit organization after noticing the dearth of girls in computer science classrooms.

“I’d see boys who wanted to be the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg and I kept thinking ‘where are the girls?’ Saujani, a 2018 McGraw Prize winner, asked during an April 8 webinar in a conversation about educational equity with Michael Golden, Executive Director, Catalyst @ Penn GSE.

Read the full article "How to create an education system where equity is the rule"

In the first celebration of the McGraw Prize in Education since the University of Pennsylvania became home to the award, President Amy Gutmann said this year’s three winners are among the “great minds devoted to improving education through innovation. They are building a better future for us all by putting their evidence-based insights into practice.”

Estela Mara Bensimon, Michelene (Micki) Chi, and Joseph S. Krajcik were honored at a virtual gala on Wednesday for their achievements in higher education, learning science research, and pre-K–12 education, respectively. Each of the awardees will receive $50,000.

“We applaud teachers everywhere who share the common bond of inspiring others to learn and to grow,” Gutmann said in her remarks. “Excellence in education is the single most powerful force for understanding and for change. And, so, innovation in education must be our future.”

Keep reading "Three educators celebrated at Penn GSE as winners of the 2020 McGraw Prize in Education"

Press Release

The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Family Foundation and Penn GSE Create New Partnership to Advance Excellence in Education

February 2020

The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Family Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education have established a new three-year, $3 million partnership to enhance and expand the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education, one of the most prestigious honors in the field.

Read the full article "The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Family Foundation and Penn GSE Create New Partnership to Advance Excellence in Education "