Partnerships
Our partnerships drive us forward.
See how, through our spotlights on selected current and historical partners, as well as on adjacent collaborations called affiliates, below.
Current Partner Spotlight
School District of Philadelphia
Over the past seven years, Penn GSE graduate students have been providing possibility mentoring to middle school students at two schools within the School District of Philadelphia. Possibility mentoring is a specialized form of youth mentoring that combines a focus on relationship-building between the mentors and mentees with an exploration and pursuit of students’ interests and related goals. The mentoring is provided through a small-group format of 3-5 students per mentor. The sessions run once per week with an average of 25 sessions per academic year.
The five-step possibility mentoring model has been studied extensively over the past five years using an action research approach in which mentors are required to study their own mentoring processes, including the strategies they use, their perceptions of effectiveness and challenges in the work, and student progress toward pursuing their self-selected goals. Over this period of time, more than 500 middle school students have been served with the mentoring approaches, and student progress has been studied deeply. The following themes have been extracted through those studies: Early resistance is common and must be addressed relationally; more than 85% of the students clarify their interests over time; more than 70% of the students create short and longer-term goals related to their prioritized interests; of the students who create longer-term goals, nearly all of them make some degree of progress in acting on them with mentor and peers support; and students tend to make the greatest progress when the work toward their goals concludes with a public presentation to audiences of adults and peers, including presentations at the participating university.
Based on results from the possibility mentoring case studies, the model has been replicated on a small scale in Brazil with positive results, and is being prepared for implementation in different regions in China over the coming year. Case studies from the action research approach have been completed and are under review for publication.
SpeakUp!
SpeakUp! is a Devon, PA-based nonprofit dedicated to helping teens develop supportive relationships with the adults in their lives. They have partnered with thirty middle and high schools in the greater Philadelphia region to organize in-school events which enable teens to talk openly, honestly and without judgment about difficult topics, and reach out for support within their homes and schools.
We have joined with SpeakUp! and their partner, the Center for Parent-Teen Communication at based within the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, to study their programming. This work has started as an evaluation of current internal participant feedback data, with considerations to expand the scope to include exploratory and then narrative research approaches (see our Consulting page for more). Relevant to our international character is a consideration to apply the SpeakUp! model internationally and in turn, study this application.
Northeast Normal University
Penn GSE’s Global Possibility Network and Northeast Normal University (NENU) in Changchun, China have established a robust partnership to promote possibility development in China over the past five years. Professor Nakkula has hosted five visiting scholars from NENU at Penn GSE, with Professor Fei Jiang leading the development of the partnership in China, alongside Professors Yang and Gao. NENU has sponsored Professor Nakkula’s three visits to China, during which Professor Yang facilitated formal relationships with four universities: NENU, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, Yunan Normal University, and Wenshan University. These partnerships are focused on implementing and studying possibility development approaches at the middle school and potentially college level. Associate Professor Bo Feng has led the publication of a quantitative analysis of mentoring data, with findings suggesting that mentoring is most effective when relational approaches are paired with clear goals, including school engagement and character development. NENU colleagues have also supported studies on Chinese mothers’ perceptions of their children's possibilities, which is now being prepared for peer-review publication.
Historical Partner Spotlight
Seeds for Progress
Seeds for Progress is a Nicaragua-based nonprofit committed to transforming lives through quality education in rural Central American communities. Our work complements the generational handover of knowledge and know-how. Local teams help facilitate skill development and create opportunities for improvement. Since 2009, GPN affiliate and Penn GSE Professor of Practice Sharon Ravitch, with the participation of GPN Founder Mike Nakkula, has worked with Seeds for Progress to improve schooling for coffee farming communities in rural Nicaragua, as well as parallel efforts to cultivate transferable skills among the community’s adolescents and young adults.
PeopleBench
The Project for Mental Health and Optimal Development at Penn GSE collaborated with Australia-based PeopleBench to assess and improve workforce resilience in schools. This partnership focused on the implementation and evaluation of PeopleBench’s Resilience Tracker™, a diagnostic tool that visualized data on staff resilience across seven dimensions: Living Authentically, Finding Your Calling, Maintaining Perspective, Mastering Stress, Interacting Cooperatively, Staying Healthy, and Building Networks. The project involved four school districts and over 800 staff members, using both quantitative and qualitative methods to gather data on resilience.
Key findings demonstrated the tool’s ability to help school leaders develop data-driven action plans aligned with cyclical stress patterns during the school year. Leaders valued the ability to quantify their instincts about staff well-being, while staff appreciated the inclusion of their voices in resilience planning. The project also expanded understandings of resilience, moving beyond just managing stress to include holistic strategies that addressed a variety of resilience factors.
Affiliate Spotlight
Presti Education
Headquartered in New York, the United States, with offices in Melbourne, Australia, and Hong Kong SAR, Presti Education is a leading provider of innovative, inclusive and impactful educational services in the Asia- Pacific region. It is dedicated to cultivating future leaders and facilitating lifelong learning.
Presti is currently (2024) partnering with us to launch a pilot run of an initiative called the GPN Youth Academy, an extracurricular, mixed-mode, experiential learning program for youth from the Asia-Pacific region. The program offers both online and onsite modules designed to foster leadership, self-discovery, and career exploration. With unique features like the Dream Job Workshop and AI Future Impact sessions, the curriculum provides a comprehensive understanding of future possibilities and prepares students for modern workplace challenges. The initiative encourages global partnerships and aims to inspire students to contribute to their communities. The pilot will launch initially online, with subsequent iterations planned for onsite learning at the University of Pennsylvania’s campus in Philadelphia, USA.
PossibilityU
PossibilityU seeks to reimagine post-secondary planning and college counseling through possibility development. Founded by a certified school counselor and former student of Nakkula, PossibilityU emerged from a desire to bridge the gaps observed in traditional post-secondary planning interventions. PossibilityU seeks to foster a student support approach that empowers students as true experts in their own lives through relationships and self-exploration. Their proactive, strengths-based approach prepares students for life beyond college admissions, prioritizing both personal and professional development.
PossibilityU has partnered with us to develop a six-week Possibility Portfolio program for middle school and high school students. Using Nakkula’s five-step model, students will feel empowered to discover their possibilities by exploring their interests and strengths, identifying what motivates them, and preparing a practical roadmap that makes their possibilities tangible. This Portfolio will be a launching point for continued post-secondary prep counseling support, equipping students with the tools, resources, and confidence to envision and pursue their goals
