MASTER OF SCIENCE IN SOCIAL POLICY +
DATA ANALYTICS FOR SOCIAL POLICY CERTIFICATE
Use data science to actively impact equity, equality, and social justice.
The MSSP Program + Data Analytics for Social Policy Certificate (MSSP+DA) is a STEM-designated degree that empowers you to leverage social policy and data analytics to address economic, educational, and health inequities. Throughout the program, the data analytic material is taught in relationship with the various theories, approaches, and domains of social policy analysis. You’ll learn to use data to help solve disparities of race/ethnicity, gender, and class across systems such as immigration, child welfare, and education.
For students interested in pursuing an MSSP without a data analytics focus, SP2 also offers our Master of Science in Social Policy degree.
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Director’s Welcome
“Our interdisciplinary program provides you with rigorous training in policy analysis, data analytics, and critical theory.”
The SP2 Difference
Complete your degree full-time in 3–4 semesters (the MSSP+DA is only offered on a full-time basis; no variation or extension is possible)
Gain hands-on, career-focused experience through policy internships in data analytics
Learn programming languages such as SAS, R, Python, Java, GIS, and ArcGIS
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Engage in practical policy research in the Data for Equitable Justice Lab
Become part of a diverse global alumni network
World-Class Faculty
The MSSP program faculty are here to help you shape your own area of policy expertise, drawing on decades of scholarship, teaching, and experience in areas including education and social policy, homelessness, integrated database systems, the labor market, and technology, ethics, and social policy. The MSSP+DA program faculty are here to help you shape your own area of policy expertise, drawing on decades of scholarship, teaching, and experience. Their expertise spans areas as diverse as ontologies of computational and data analytics, the integration of administrative data for research, and the usage of interactive visual analytics systems.
Curriculum
The MSSP+DA curriculum provides students with core policy courses and training and skills in the conceptual foundations of data analytics, programming of data structures, applications of machine learning and predictive analytics, spatial analytics, and the data processing techniques for web scraping and data visualization for a broader public audience. Students will learn programming languages such as SAS, R, Java, Python, GIS, and ArcGIS for the processing, cleaning, and analyzing of digital data for social policy.
Electives
You may choose two elective courses to maximize breadth in multiple substantive policy areas or to specialize your degree in an area of social policy analysis and conduct further research.
Elective courses may be identified in any of the 12 graduate schools at Penn. For more information on selecting elective courses, please visit the MSSP Resources page.
Course Grid
The course grid reflects the required 12 course unit course of study for MSSP+DA students to ensure on-time graduation. Any alteration from the plan of study requires approval from an academic advisor.
1st Semester (Fall)
- MSSP 6280: Policy: Analysis of Issues, Strategy and Process (1 CU)
- MSSP 7100: Democratizing Data (1 CU)
- MSSP 6070: Practical Data Science (1 CU)
- MSSP 8970: Applied Linear Modeling (1 CU)
- MSSP 6060: Data for Equitable Justice Lab* (non-credit, 0 CU)
4 CU
2nd Semester (Spring)
- MSSP 6310: Law and Social Policy (1 CU)
- MSSP/SWRK 7300: Community Mapping (1 CU)
- MSSP 6080: Practical Machine Learning (1 CU)
- Elective (1 CU)
- MSSP 6060: Data for Equitable Justice Lab* (non-credit, 0 CU)
4 CU
3rd Semester (Fall)
- MSSP 6340: Capstone I: Telling Stories with Data (0.5 CU)
- MSSP 6680: Economics for Social Policy (1 CU)
- MSSP 6290: Research & Evaluation Design (1 CU)
- Elective (1 CU)
3.5 CU
4th Semester (Spring)
- MSSP 6350: Capstone II: Internship (0.5 CU)
0.5 CU
*MSSP 6060: Data for Equitable Justice Lab is required to be taken in both the Fall and Spring semesters of the first year of study.
Data for Equitable Justice Lab
The Data for Equitable Justice Lab gives MSSP+DA students an opportunity to analyze some of today’s most important social issues through data and, with faculty support, create a product for audiences well beyond the classroom and campus.
Social Policy Internship
The MSSP+DA program provides students with competitive and cutting-edge opportunities to complete policy internships in data analytics that emphasize competency development in both policy analysis and data analytics. These parallel competencies position graduates to work in the fast growing and developing world of data analytics for social policy. Credit for internships is incorporated into the MSSP+DA Capstone Seminar, and students most often complete the internship in their final spring semester. The Data Analytics policy internship must consist of a minimum commitment of 150 hours.
Ready to join the MSSP+DA community?
FEATURED ALUMNI
Rebecca McGavin, MSSP+DA’18
“The MSSP+DA program allowed me to study, research, and find a way to combine my passions for data, visualization, and social policy. It was the people: my cohort, professors, and the administration who enabled me to thrive and pursue my passions while developing advanced quantitative and critical methods.”
Related News
Student Life
08/16
Jessie Harper joins SP2 as director of inclusion education and Social Justice Scholars Program
Dr. Jessie Harper has joined SP2 as the inaugural director of inclusion education and the Social Justice Scholars Program. Dr. Harper comes to SP2 after nearly two decades at Penn’s Graduate School of Education (GSE), where she most recently served as assistant dean of faculty affairs and diversity.
Student Life
07/20
SP2 student and alumnus named 2023 Data Fluencies Dissertation Research Grantee
In support of a project aiming to advance responsible use of data and technology in the U.S. child welfare system, PhD student Julian Quiros, MSSP+DA’17, has been named a 2023 Data Fluencies Dissertation Research Grantee.
Faculty & Research
07/12
New year brings new leadership appointments for SP2 faculty
Four SP2 faculty members have been appointed to new leadership roles to direct the PhD in Social Welfare Program, the Master of Science in Social Policy Program, and School-wide strategic initiatives.