WCW Education Research:

Equity & Diversity; STEM; Literacy

Since its founding in 1974, the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) has conducted numerous research studies on issues related to education. WCW scholars have also developed cutting-edge curricula and training programs that benefit learning environments and outcomes.

Recent initiatives that focus on Equity & Diversity in Education include:

Gender, Race, and Inclusive Education
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.

SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity)
The SEED Project, a staff development equity project for educators, prepares teachers to lead their own year-long seminars in public and private schools on making curricula, teaching methods, and school climates more gender-fair, multicultural, and international.

Recent initiatives that focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering & math) include:

Fairer 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.

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.

Recent initiatives that focus on Literacy include:

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