Grad School of Education receives $1.5 million grant

Penn's Graduate School of Education is out to prove that it does indeed take a village to raise a child.

A program supported by a $1.5 million IBM grant will bring together professionals from Penn, IBM, the Philadelphia school district and the Pennsylvania Department of Education to create a new web-based network for the city's school teachers and ultimately improve the education of Philadelphia students.

The multi-year effort will use the IBM Learning Village software to create a virtual community -- the Penn Beginning Teachers Network -- where Philadelphia school teachers and Penn faculty and students will interact.

The goal is to pool resources from the public and private sectors to give teachers the best possible preparation and support.

"We need to bring together the best thinking from multiple perspectives," Graduate School of Education Associate Dean Nancy Streim said. "Private and public partnerships are crucial."

For teachers in their first three years of teaching in the Philadelphia School District, the Penn Beginning Teachers Network will provide the opportunity for mentoring by more experienced teachers and education faculty.

"This kind of collaboration is really significant for the district to be able to achieve what it needs to achieve," Philadelphia Secretary of Education Debra Kahn said.

Vice President for Budget and Management Michael Masch, who serves on the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, said the school district approved the grant without hesitation.

"IBM said they would give us a million and a half dollars and we said yes," Masch said. "I've had a lot of difficult decisions and this was not one of them."

Program developers say they hope this additional support system will improve teacher quality and retention, curbing the current teacher shortage problem.

"It is aimed at helping support new teachers in Philadelphia... with the ultimate goal of providing highly qualified teachers for the children of Philadelphia and other urban districts," Streim said.

For graduate education students at Penn, the Beginning Teachers Network will incorporate more technology into teacher education courses and provide video case studies of effective teaching.

"Penn brings intellectual resources to the school district and the school district brings a wealth of practical experience," Streim said.

As a result, both sides will benefit from the relationship.

IBM will back the program with technology, research and financial support.

Masch says this grant is part of a larger corporate movement in support of education.

"Major corporations are coming to recognize that improving urban public schools is the civil rights movement of the 21st century," he said. "Young people in urban schools have to do better academically. Major corporations recognize that."

IBM Corporate Community Relations Executive Diane Melley said she believes large companies should play an active role in educating America's youth.

"It makes good business sense to be involved in public education," Melley said. "We're in a unique position because we can be involved in a hands-on way."

"Having a strong education system is important to the future of this country and the future of businesses," she added.

IBM has been involved in various efforts to support public education for over seven years.

This particular grant is a part of IBM's $15 million Reinventing Education program. The program has awarded grants to 20 leading schools of education in nine states. It will serve 65,000 teachers and over six million students nationwide.

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