Ellen S. Gannett, M.Ed.

Director at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time

Ellen S. Gannett is director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College. A national action/research project, NIOST has provided research, evaluation, technical assistance, consultation, and specialized training on afterschool programs throughout the United States for more than 30 years. Ms. Gannett ensures that research bridges the fields of child care, education, and youth development in order to promote programming that addresses the development of the whole child.

Ms. Gannett’s work ranges from system building for afterschool and youth development to professional development to creating evaluation systems. She directs a national team of 20 Education and Training Associates who travel across the country to lead workshops for out-of-school practitioners and directors. Ms. Gannett serves as the Principal Investigator for the Robert Bowne Foundation Afterschool Matters Initiative and the Career Pathways Project at NIOST, and is project director for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education technical assistance and training initiative for 21st Century Community Learning Center grant recipients. She is a senior project advisor on NIOST’s work with United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania (UWSEPA), and recently rolled out NIOST’s Afterschool Program Assessment System in Wyoming. Ms. Gannett is also a Senior Project Advisor on the Robert Wood Johnson project on the development of Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards for Out-of-School Time Programs, and is a founding member of the HOST (Healthy Out-of-School Time) Coalition.

A national speaker and trainer, Ms. Gannett has conducted hundreds of seminars and advised policy makers and practitioners throughout the country and internationally. She has been featured in numerous media stories and co-authored several NIOST publications including the following: Core Knowledge and Competencies for Afterschool and Youth Development Professionals; Youth Work Core Competencies: A Review of Existing Frameworks; Setting the Stage for a Youth Development Associate Credential: A National Review of Professional Development Credentials for the Out-of-School Time Workforce; Links to Learning: A Curriculum Planning Guide for Afterschool Programs, and chapters in the following books: Employer-Supported Child Care: Investing in Human Resources and Yearbook in Early Childhood Education, Vol. 5: Issues in Child Care. She also co-authored the 1998 edition of ASQ: Assessing School-Age Child Care Quality as well as the Project’s publication, School-Age Child Care: a Policy Report.

Ms. Gannett is a National Board Member of the American Camp Association 2009-2012, co-chair of the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition, and a 2010 National Afterschool Association (NAA) annual convention planning committee member for the Workforce Development Track. She has served as a member of the NAA board and the Professional Development Task Force with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. She is the former Board Chair and Founder of the parent-run afterschool program which was attended by her two daughters, who are now adults.

Video: Wendy Surr, M.A., and Ellen Gannett, M.Ed., explore the current issues surrounding expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) in this WCW video series. Surr and Gannett emphasize that afterschool programs and extended learning days should not focus on just more time in the day, but how that time is used and how well that time is used. Expanded learning opportunities offer a different kind of learning that can take advantage of different settings in the community and integrates both cognitive and social development in children. Click here to watch the videos. 

Education:
M.Ed. Lesley College, Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, 1974
B.S. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 1972
Merrill-Palmer Institute, Detroit, MI, 1971-1972

Selected Presentations
National AfterSchool Association Annual Conventions
World Forum on Early Care and Education
National Elementary Schools and Principals Association
Massachusetts Elementary Schools Principals Association
American Association of School Administrators
National School-Age Care Alliance
National Community Education Association, National Center for Community Education
National Association for the Education of Young Children
National League of Women Voters
Scottish Out-of-School Care Network
New Zealand Out of School Time National Conference State and Territorities Administrators
Meeting for the Federal Child Care Bureau