Wendy Wagner Robeson
Senior Research Scientist
- Ed.D., Harvard University
- wrobeson@wellesley[dot]edu \ Phone: 781-283-3499
- CV
- Google Scholar
Focuses on child development, early care and education, children, families and the early childhood workforce with a focus on policy implications.
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., is a senior research scientist and director of the Work, Families, & Children Research Group at the Wellesley Centers for Women. Her work is focused on child development (birth to age 8), child care policy, early childhood care and education and the early childhood workforce.
Robeson is a co-founder of the Massachusetts Early Childhood Policy and Research Collaborative, along with Dr. Kimberly Lucas, Professor of the Practice in Public Policy and Economic Justice at the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, and Dr. Kyle DeMeo Cook, Research Assistant Professor at the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development at Boston University. In 2026, the collaborative hosted the second Massachusetts Early Childhood Policy Research Summit, a gathering of those who produce and support research and design projects related to the early childhood field in Massachusetts.
Robeson serves as an evaluator for the Family Childcare Success Project, an incubator that supports the growth of family child care small businesses with shared start-up space and resources such as workforce development for educators, especially women of color. Robeson is evaluating whether the project is successful and making recommendations as it moves from pilot stage to full implementation.
With Dr. Kimberly Lucas, Robeson is evaluating the United Way of Massachusetts Bay’s DRIVE initiative, which uses a developmental and behavioral screening tool to help young children who may need early intervention services. The results of this evaluation project will be incorporated into a DRIVE community screening toolkit.
Robeson’s vast body of work includes the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, which sought to determine the relationship between children's early experiences and their developmental outcomes, the Massachusetts Early Care and Education and School Readiness Study and the Ready Educators Quality Improvement Pilot. Robeson also does evaluation work and focuses on emerging early childhood programs aimed at the workforce, families and children.
Robeson began her career as a middle school language arts, reading, ESL and English teacher in Houston, Texas, after graduating from Boston University with a degree in education, math, and English. After finishing her master’s degree in early childhood education at the University of Houston, Robeson pursued her interest in children’s language development and psycholinguistics at Harvard Graduate School of Education and earned her doctoral degree. In addition to her research, Robeson has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has been with WCW since 1989.
