Education


Scholars at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) have conducted research on a range of educational issues, including quality early education; equitable opportunities in STEM fields and literacy; and bullying prevention and sex-education programming. Scholars and trainers from WCW have also developed curricula and facilitated programs that promote equity and diversity and social-emotional learning in educational settings. Our research has raised public consciousness about serious education issues and has informed public policy.


    Active Projects in this Area




  • APT Validation Study Phase 1: Identifying and Minimizing Measurement Error

    Ongoing since 2010
    Afterschool programs

    This study will test the Afterschool Program Practices Tool's (APT) stability and accuracy as a measure of afterschool program quality.




  • Collaborative Language and Literacy Instruction Project (CLLIP) Research and Evaluation-Year 4

    2007 - 2012
    Studying the Effectiveness of Literacy Intervention

    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.




  • Community Dialogue and Needs Assessment for Addressing Traumatic Stress among African Resettled Refugee Youth in New Hampshire

    2007 - 2011
    Assessing Refugee Youth Mental Health in NH

    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.




  • Gender, Race, and Inclusive Education

    Ongoing
    Inclusive Education: K-12/Higher Ed

    Peggy McIntosh offers presentations, workshops, and consulting on: white privilege and privilege systems in general, diversifying organizational thinking, gender-fair and multicultural curricula, diversifying teaching methods, and feelings of fraudulence.




  • Growth and Scaling Grants Program for Social and Emotional Learning Program Providers

    Ongoing since 2013
    Social and Emotional Learning

    Funding will support refining plans for growing and scaling Open Circle to serve large school districts across the U.S. 




  • Improving Teacher Quality through the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum

    Ongoing since 2011
    A three-year initiative to expand the influence of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity)

    The aim of this three-year initiative is to expand the influence of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), to make its model of schooling inclusiveness for all children and families, including its innovative professional development practices, more widely known and available to educators in the United States.




  • Massachusetts Early Care and Education Studies

    Ongoing since 1999
    Assessment of Early Care and Education in Massachusetts

    workfamilieschildren_small20This group of inter-related research projects seeks to understand the state of early care and education in Massachusetts and make recommendations for quality outcomes.




  • Measuring the Impact of a Middle School Comprehensive Sex Education Curriculum

    Ongoing since 2007
    Assessing Middle School Sexual Education

    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.




  • Media and Identity Study

    Ongoing since 2011
    Studies

    The purpose of this online nationwide survey study is to understand how different types of media (i.e. social, technological, televised) impact young people’s sense of social identities, including racial/ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, political attitudes, and civic engagement.




  • National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST)

    Ongoing since 1978
    NIOST

    This long-term program has brought national attention to the importance of children's out-of-school time using research, training and advocacy to strengthen children's emotional, physical, and social development.




  • Open Circle Boston Public School Research Study

    Ongoing since 2013
    Social and Emotional Learning

    This research and evaluation study examines process outcomes and program impact for a Kindergarten to Grade 5 implementation project in 23 elementary schools within a large urban school district. 




  • Physical Activity Study in the Natick Public Schools: Focus on BOKS

    Ongoing since 2011
    Health Benefits of Physical Activity

    This project will focus on the BOKS program, which aims to improve kids' academic performance and overall health using physical activity to jump start children's brains in the morning.




  • Professional Development Module

    Ongoing since 2009
    Professional development

    This project will analyze and prepare a report on credentialing and certification models related to professional development learning in afterschool staff and administration.




  • Promoting Public Awareness of the Road to Educational Equity for Girls of Color: A Multi-Level Media Strategy

    Ongoing since 2011
    Educational Equity

    The goal of this collaborative project is to invite public discourse about overcoming barriers to educational equity for girls of color in order to affect educational policy and practice. The specific goal of the project was to create a multi-media strategy in two phases in order to stimulate conversation almongst multiple constituencies.
     

     




  • SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum

    Ongoing
    Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED)

    international work The National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum engages teachers from all subject areas, grades, and types of schools to create gender fair, multiculturally equitable, and globally informed education.




  • The Audit Study: Do Some College Activities Boost Chances of Entry to Corporate Careers?

    Ongoing since 2011
    Education and careers

    This study looks at what influence college activities have on recruiters considering people for corporate leadership positions.




  • The Importance of Information in the Choice of Study Place and Field

    Ongoing since 2011
    Educational choices and higher education

    This project will evaluate how much high school seniors know about the labor market impacts related to their study choices and how additional information affects their application process and choices among alternative study places. The project combines experimental and interview data from Finland with the extensive register records related to higher education applications and choices. The experimental phase of the project was completed during fall 2011 in almost 60 randomly selected high-schools, and the second phase of the study will be implemented during summer and fall 2012. This project is funded by the Network of Higher Education and Innovation Research (HEINE) at the University of Helsinki.




  • Womanist Studies and Applied Womanism

    Ongoing since 2012
    Womanist Studies and Applied Womanism

    This work revolves around helping to build and define the burgeoning field of womanist studies.




  • Women's Review of Books

    Ongoing since 1983
    A Bi-monthly Literary Review Publication

    Since 1983 the Women's Review of Books has provided a forum for serious, informed discussion of new writing by and about women. Women’s Review of Books provides a unique perspective on today’s literary landscape and feature essays and in-depth reviews of new books by and about women. Women's Review of Books is published by the Wellesley Centers for Women in collaboration with Old City Publishing in Philadelphia, PA.


    • Archived Projects in this Area




  • Developing Direct Connections on Bullying and Harassment to Curriculum Frameworks and Performance Standards Nationwide Using Bullyproof

    2004-2006
    Linking Bullyproof to Curriculum Frameworks and Performance Standards: Nationwide

    This project led to the development of a teacher's manual that links curriculum on bullying and harassment directly to national education standards, based on Bullyproof curriculum.




  • Development and Evaluation of Sexual Violence/Harassment Prevention Programs

    Completed
    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.




  • Empathy Project

    1998 - 2008
    Teaching Preschoolers Empathy

    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.




  • Fairer Science

    2005-2008
    Gender and Science

    This project seeks to help scientific researchers better communicate their findings on gender as it relates to science, technology, engineering and math to key audiences: media, advocates, policy makers, public.




  • From Out-of-School to Outer Space: Exploring the Solar System with NASA

    Completed in 2011
    Afterschool Activities from NASA

    The project combines out-of-school time (OST) professional advisors, the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST), and NASA experts from across the agency to use research-based strategies to develop afterschool activity guides adapted from NASA Planetary Science formal education curricula.




  • Gender Equity in Model Sites (GEMS)

    2004-2005
    Gender Equity in Schools

    This project was centered around the question of research, funding, and results: was it possible to implement gender equity in a school over just three years?




  • Global Issues Teaching Guide

    Completed in 2000
    Teaching Global Issues: Junior & High Schools

    international work  This teaching guide was developed after scholars attended the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, and includes discussion of human rights, ethnic conflict, and biodiversity.




  • Health and Safety in Massachusetts Early Care and Education Programs

    2006
    Assessing Health Practices in Early Education

    This project prepared a report to describe the prevalent health practices and concerns in early care and education programs in Massachusetts, as part of a larger project of the Schott Fellowship in Early Care and Education.




  • Hear Our Voices: Evaluation Project

    Completed in 2005
    Girls in Computer Clubhouses

    This project was an evaluation of an all-girls program that provides technology resources, female mentors, and a learning environment to improve girls' attitudes toward and understanding of computers.




  • Influence of Early Care and Education on Children's Outcomes and Family Functioning: An Ecological Model

    2004-2006
    An Ecological Model: ECE, Children's Outcomes and Family Functioning

    workfamilieschildren_small20This study examines the varying quality of child care in Massachusetts and across the nation, and its effect on children's performance and family functioning.




  • Massachusetts Early Care and Education and School Readiness Study

    Completed in 2007
    Early Care and Education and School Readiness: Massachusetts

    workfamilieschildren_small20Researchers focus on aspects of school readiness, including social and language development, along with other data such as hours in care, so as to better understand the ways in which a child's growth is influenced by situational factors. 




  • Middle School Bullying & Sexual Violence: Measurement Issues & Etiological Models

    Completed
    Informing Sexual Violence Prevention

    This research project addresses a critical issue by examining the overlap of bullying perpetration/victimization and sexual violence in order to inform sexual violence prevention in US schools.




  • Oral Storytelling in Math: Evaluation Project

    1998-2001
    Learning Math through Storytelling

    This was an evaluation of materials/programs to help educators teach spatial relations and geometry through the use of storytelling, and its benefits for girls and boys.




  • Raising Confident and Competent Girls: How Schools Can Support Girls

    Completed
    How Schools Can Support Girls

    This project examined the lives of middle-school aged girls from various social, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. Researchers focused on issues such as self-confidence, bridging the home-school culture gap, and student and teacher resources.




  • Sexual Harassment and Gender Violence in Schools: A Research and Development Project Linking Schools

    1995-1999
    Title IX, Sexual Harassment and Gender Violence in Schools

    This project created a collaborative intervention model and curriculum for schools and community-based organizations in order to understand and counter rising rates of rape, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination in school environments.




  • State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care Needs Assessment

    Completed in 2012
    Early Childhood Education

    workfamilieschildren_small20The purpose of this project is to inform the Massachusetts board of Early Education and Care (EEC) of the resources that will best serve families and communities in supporting the holistic development of children, youth, and families.




  • Success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (SISTEM)

    2006-2010
    Girls' Ongoing Success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (SISTEM)

    While girls do well in science and math courses in middle school, they are less likely to enroll in higher-level STEM courses in high school, thus few will choose these subjects for a college major, and even fewer will complete such a major or go on to pursue a STEM career. The increased knowledge generated by this study will inform ways to increase the participation of girls and other under-represented groups (e.g., racial and ethnic minorities, low-income youth) in sustained STEM study and employment.




  • Teasing and Bullying

    2000 - 2008
    Addressing Teasing and Bullying in Schools

    This project worked to examine and counteract the effects of the culture of bullying on children and youth by raising awareness about bullying and by exploring the links between bullying, other forms of aggression, and violence through a combination of research, action, and advocacy.




  • Undergraduate Science Education Grant Evaluation

    Ongoing since 2012
    An evaluation of student outcomes 

    workfamilieschildren_small20The Wellesley Centers for Women will develop appropriate assessments, collaborate with the Office for Institutional Research and team members to collect date, conduct data analyses, prepare reports, and provide feedback from the evaluation to Science Center and College representatives.




  • Understanding the Impact of Arts Programming on School Dropout

    Completed in 2011
    Afterschool programs and school dropout

    This study will investigate the effective practices and support offered in an arts-based afterschool programs to reduce the dropout rate among high school students.




  • WEEA: Review Project

    Completed
    Gender Equity in Educational Materials

    This long-term project was designed to assess gender equity educational materials which were created in relation to the development of Title IX.




  • Women in Development IQC: Gender Matters

    2002-2005, 2007-2008
    School-related Gender Violence in Developing Countries

    international work   Through this project, a review was developed to identify, annotate, and synthesize research studies and projects/interventions addressing primary and secondary school-related gender-based violence in developing countries. The review was conducted in 2002-2003 and again in 2007-2008.




  • Women in Engineering: Evaluation Project

    Evaluating Women in Engineering

    This was an evaluation of a program that aimed to increase the number of middle school girls interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.




  • Zero Tolerance

    2000-2003
    Sexual Harassment Policies: Zero Tolerance

    Through this project, researchers examined experiences of sexual harassment in schools even when zero-tolerance policies may exist.