Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2015
Achieving Gendered Justice: Developing Substantive Research & Action Strategies for Justice-Involved WomenProject Director: Erika Kates, Ph.D.
Funded by: Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation
The project builds upon and expands both the research-based knowledge about justice-involved women’s concerns and the practical lessons of networking and advocacy learned over the period of five years in which Kates founded and facilitated the Women in Prison Project (2008-2010) and the Massachusetts Women’s Justice Network (2011-2015).
Census SBOX Project
Project Director: Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D.
Funded by: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
This project focuses on the new longitudinal Survey of Business Owners (SBOX) and other Census Bureau data sources that can be used to cross-verify and amend the information collected via the SBOX. As part of the project, Kerr will conduct entrepreneurship research using the most recently available SBO data, during which she will also evaluate any complications in the production data sets, and develop best practices for other researchers based on her exploratory work. The best practices will be collected into a specific internal data memo.
Depression Prevention Dissemination
Project Director: Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D. (With Boston Children’s Hospital)
Funded by: Sidney R. Baer Foundation
With this renewal of support, Gladstone will continue her work training In-Home Therapy clinicians in the Family Talk intervention, and supporting the use of the intervention with In-Home Therapy clients. In addition, she will lead the development of a website for parents who are concerned about the effects of depression on the family. Finally, this project will continue to support analyses of data from the Prevention of Depression intervention.
21st Century Community Learning Centers State Monitoring Activities with Tracking, Synthesis and Analysis, and Technical Assistance in Implementing a Successful State Program
Project Director: Georgia Hall, Ph.D. (With Global Evaluation & Applied Research Solutions, GEARS)
Funded by: U.S. Department of Education
The purpose of this project is to provide the U.S. Department of Education with fiscal, analytic, and logistic services for grant compliance monitoring and data gathering for program improvement and to provide technical expertise to State Educational Agencies to assist in carrying out their responsibilities for 21st CCLC program implementation.
National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE)
Project Director: Ellen Gannett, M.Ed. (With Education Development Center, EDC)
Funded by: The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care
The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) in partnership with Education Development Center, Inc., the National Summer Learning Association, and Walter R. McDonald Associates will form and operate the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE). The NCASE will support out-of-school-time and summer programs to expand learning opportunities for school-age children. NIOST will develop and disseminate research-informed resources and provide training and technical assistance to states, territories, tribes, and community partners to support expanded access to and supply of high-quality afterschool and summer programs that foster children’s development and learning, especially for low-income children and families.
Responding to Sexual Assault on Campus: A National Assessment and Systematic Classification of the Scope and Challenges for Investigation and Adjudication
Project Director: April Pattavina, Ph.D.
Funded by: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice
This study will document the current landscape (the breadth and differences) of campus approaches to investigations and adjudication of sexual assault. Informed by a victim-centered focus, Pattavina with Linda M. Williams, Ph.D. and Nan Stein, Ed.D. (Wellesley Centers for Women) and Alison Cares, Ph.D. (Assumption College) will develop a typology/matrix of approaches based on documented features of campus policies related to sexual assault gathered from a national sample of 1,000 colleges and universities from across the U.S. Supplementing the typology/matrix development will be interviews with and surveys of campus stakeholders and key informants to identify implementation strategies and challenges associated with each type of response model. The project will result in guidelines that will assist colleges with assessing their capacity and preparedness to meet new and existing demands for sexual assault response models.
Enhancing Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Efforts through Situational Interventions: Adapting an Evidence-Based Model
Project Director: Nan Stein, Ed.D. (With the Center for Effective Public Policy)
Funded by: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART)
Stein, in partnership with the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP), the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), and Applied Research Services (ARS) will address campus sexual assault prevention, with an overarching goal of contributing to national and institutional efforts to prevent and reduce campus sexual violence effectively. This project is designed to complement existing prevention activities at an identified college/university—as part of a more comprehensive campus sexual assault prevention program—by adapting and implementing Shifting Boundaries, an evidence-based situational prevention strategy, originally developed to reduce sexual and dating violence in middle schools, for application and piloting to reduce perpetration opportunities and behaviors in a college/university setting.
Gratitude Project
Project Director: Nova Biro, M.B.A.
Funded by: The John Templeton Foundation through the University of California, Berkeley Greater Good Science Center
Based on emerging research on the science of gratitude, Open Circle will develop, pilot, and assess new gratitude components for its student curriculum and teacher professional development program for social and emotional learning in elementary schools.
Additional Funding
Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D. received additional funding from National Institutes of Health for “CATCHIT / PATH project” with the University of Illinois. Collaborating with Boston Children’s Hospital, Gladstone also received additional funding from Sidney R. Baer Foundation for “Family Matters: Preventing Adolescent Depression by Treating Parents and Families.”
Georgia Hall, Ph.D. received additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for “Monitoring the Uptake of National Afterschool Association Healthy Eating Standards and Best Practices.”
Amy Hoffman, M.F.A. received continued funding from Massachusetts Cultural Council for the Women’s Review of Books.
Emily Howe, M.Ed., in collaboration with the Wisconsin Indian Education Association, created the Wisconsin SEED Institute. This project was funded by the Ho-Chunk Nation Legislature.
Nancy Marshall, Ed.D. with Wendy Robeson, Ed.D. provided Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition and Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening for Preschool data analyses to Nurtury.
The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) received support for training, technical assistance projects, and continuing evaluations from Jacksonville Children’s Commission, Boston AfterSchool & Beyond, Providence After School Alliance, United Way of Rhode Island, Reebok International, United Arts Council of Collier County, Wyoming Afterschool Alliance, Maine Parents Federation, Connecticut Afterschool Network, City of St. Paul Sprockets Program, and New Jersey School-Age Care Coalition.
The National SEED Program of WCW received gifts from various individuals and supporters.
The Open Circle program of WCW received various gifts from friends and supporters of the social and emotional learning program.
Joanne Roberts, Ph.D. received continuing support from Thrive in Five of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley for “QRIS Quality Improvement Grant Assessment.”
Wendy Robeson, Ed.D. and Joanne Roberts, Ph.D. provided intensive training on the use of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) to the University of the Virgin Islands.
Nan Stein, Ed.D. provided coaching and technical assistance for the implementation of the Shifting Boundaries Program to the Rape Prevention and Education Programs at the California Department of Public Health. Stein continues to provide litigative consultant services to the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section.
