The Wellesley Centers for Women is home to more than 50 individual research, education, and action projects. Some are short-term, specifically focused investigations, evaluations, and trainings. Others are part of larger, long-term initiatives addressing critical areas in the lives of women, children, and families. Our Postdoctoral Research Training program offers three full-time research fellow positions and our international collaborations strive to improve the lives of women and girls across the globe. Learn more about these important initiatives.
This collaboration between the Asian University
for Women (AUW) and the Wellesley
Centers for Women
resulted in the design of a year-long gender studies course, Women Shaping
Society.
Racial/ethnic self-identification can vary over time and place, in other words, some adolescents of mixed ancestry report different single-race or mixed-race identifications at different times and in different situations. This report seeks to explore whether adolescents of mixed-ancestry have particular strengths or weaknesses compared within their single-race-reporting peers.
This research looked at longitudinal data about adult memories of abuse-related traumas from childhood. Findings from this project can be used to design interventions for and promote the health and well-being of victims of childhood sexual abuse and violence.
A National Research, Writing and Action Initiative
The primary objective of this project is to manage the continuation of the well established Afterschool Matters Initiative, which includes several publications and a Research Grantee program, in addition to planning for the national expansion of a related action/research writing initiative.
APAS is an assessment system that helps programs link quality and youth outcomes together in a comprehensive and integrated fashion. It was developed to help address the accountability challenge that faces afterschool programs.
This study was created to better understand how children spend their after-school time, and how it may be best used to improve growth and learning. The study was stratified by ethnicity and took into account gender and social class.
The Work, Families & Children team has conducted a series of studies for the Boston Public Schools (BPS), including the BPS K1 and K2 Programs Needs Assessment, and a 2007-08 follow-up study.
Universal Access to Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators
Using a randomized control design, Michelle Porche will conduct an evaluation of the Boston Ready professional development intervention to test its effectiveness.
Researchers of this project found that adults who have an awareness of their own relational needs and capacities have the potential to be more effective caregivers and role models in childcare setting, resulting in better outcomes for both the adults and children.
Researchers gathered economists, policy-makers, and funders to develop several recommendations for building a skilled and stable workforce for After School Programs.
During this phase of work, NIOST will design and develop two additional measurement tools—a youth survey (SAYO-Y) and a family survey (SAYO-F). These two tools will be used by Massachusetts Department of Education grantees to better understand youth needs, their program experiences and help pinpoint areas where youth may benefit from additional support.
This group of inter-related research projects examines three related changes in the U.S. workplace - rising employment in the service industries, increased diversity of the workforce, and the increase in numbers of older workers.
WCW researchers participated in a study, led by Dr. Valora Washington and under the auspices of the Bessie Tartt Wilson Children’s Foundation, to evaluate the child care voucher system in Massachusetts.
Building Strong Afterschool Initiatives: Policy Planning
This project sought to improve the availability and preservation of out-of-school time programming and to disseminate information on recruiting, training, development, and finance.
The CLLIP Research and Evaluation Project is designed to assess the impact of a literacy intervention for low-income poor performing school districts in the state of Ohio. Longitudinal data consisting of standardized literacy assessments, and surveys from students (preschool through 6th grade), parents, and teachers are analyzed and evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the CLLIP intervention.
The project involves a needs assessment of child and adolescent refugee mental health services in New Hampshire and utilizes community dialogue strategies for integrating youth, family, provider, school and community knowledge and expertise towards addressing refugee mental health needs especially as it relates to trauma and in the context of resettlement.
This program brings together a working group of lawyers and jurists
from Asia to focus on law reform in the region. The working group will
examine the role that gender-based strategic litigation can play in
advancing equality, non-discrimination, and human rights.
Researchers will interview women board members and men who have served on boards with women among Fortune 1000 companies to determine how a critical mass of women serving on a board affects corporate governance.
This project connected high-level leaders from different cities and states to educate them on the dynamic landscape of after-school programs. in hopes of directing the influence, funding, and high expectations of these leaders towards a "critical mass" of associated initiatives across the country.
A Collaborative Multi-Level Experimental Evaluation
The goal of this study is to increase the capacity of schools to prevent Dating Violence/Harassment (DV/H) by evaluating the effectiveness of current multi-level DV/H prevention programming in middle schools within a large urban school district.
This project explores the ways in which states attempt to regulate consensual adolescent sexual behavior through criminal law. In the end, the researchers hope to encourage a close-in-age exemption for Massachusetts, which currently is one of a small number of states that do not have any such exemption.
Linking Bullyproof to Curriculum Frameworks and Performance Standards: Nationwide
This project led to the development a teacher's manual that links curriculum on bullying and harassment directly to national education standards, based on Bullyproof curriculum.
Sexual Violence/Harassment Prevention Programs in Middle Schools
This study is designed to help increase the capacity of programs
to prevent sexual violence and harassment. The long-term goal/objective
of this study is to help prevent intimate partner violence,
sexual violence, and sexual harassment by employing the most
rigorous
methods to evaluate strategies for altering the violence-supportive
attitudes and norms of youth.
One of the major developmental tasks of preschoolers is to develop empathy; this project researches and designs curriculum in order better understand and cultivate empathy at a young and critical age.
This project is a multi-faceted engagement with Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts to conduct an evaluation of the Get Real middle school sexual education curriculum.
