Ellen S. Gannett

Senior Strategist at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time

M.Ed., Lesley College
egannett@wellesley[dot]edu
CV

Senior Strategist at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Wellesley Centers for Women focused on policy research, program evaluation, training, and consultation to out-of-school time industry professionals and field.

Ellen S. Gannett, M.Ed., is a senior strategist and former 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 since 1979. 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 and the professional advancement of the field.

Featured Projects

Through her work at NIOST, Gannett currently serves as the project director for the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE), newly launched by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care. NCASE is one of nine national training and technical assistance centers funded by the Office of Head Start and/or the Office of Child Care as part of an integrated early childhood training and technical assistance system. Education Development Center, Inc. will lead NCASE in partnership with NIOST, the National Summer Learning Association, and WRMA, Inc. The goal of NCASE is to ensure that school-age children in families of low-income have increased access to high-quality afterschool and summer learning experiences that contribute to their overall development and academic achievement.

She also serves as senior project advisor on NIOST’s Afterschool Program Assessment System work, which includes a linked system of program evaluation and child/youth outcome measurement tools.

Gannett is a founding member of the HOST (Health Out-of-School Time) Coalition, which co-developed the Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards for Out-of-School Time Programs. With her colleagues at NIOST, she conducted the research and made the recommendations for the Core Knowledge and Competencies for Afterschool and Youth Development Professionals which were adopted by the National Afterschool Association in 2011.

See Ellen S. Gannett's Projects

Background

Education

Presentation Highlights

A speaker and trainer, Gannett has conducted hundreds of seminars and advised policymakers and practitioners throughout the country and internationally. She has been featured in numerous media stories and has given presentations to the following groups:

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 Territories Administrators
Meeting for the Federal Child Care Bureau

Awards and Recognition

Selected Publications

Gannett has co-authored several NIOST publications including:

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

Gannett has also co-authored chapters in the following books:

Employer-Supported Child Care: Investing in Human Resources
Yearbook in Early Childhood Education, Vol. 5: Issues in Child Care
The Changing Landscape of Youth Work: Theory and Practice for an Evolving Field

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.

Affiliations

Gannett was a National Board Member of the American Camp Association from 2009 to 2014 and past co-chair of the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition. She has served as a member of the board for the National AfterSchool Alliance and the QRIS 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, now adults.