Wendy Wagner Robeson News
Dr. Kyle DeMeo Cook of Boston University writes about the Massachusetts Early Childhood Policy Research Summit, which she co-hosted with WCW Senior Research Scientist Dr. Wendy Robeson and Dr. Kimberly Lucas of Northeastern University.- WCW Hosts Early Childhood Policy Research Summit
On April 2, 2025, WCW hosted the first 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. - Then and Now: Insights into Early Childhood Care and Education
Beginning in 1991, we participated in a massive national study of whether child care harms children (it does not). Today, Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., is studying how to get home-based child care providers into the field and keep them there.
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., speaks about the cost of childcare.
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., explains that child care is essential for parents and the economy.- The Challenges of Accessing Child Care While Working Non-Standard Hours
A recent study investigated the complex connections between poverty, work schedules, parents鈥� selection of different types of child care, and work disruptions. - STEAM Camps Continue in Nigeria
In a commentary, Visiting Scholar Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L., shares insights from the newest iteration of STEAM summer camps in Nigeria hosted by WCW.
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., highlights the benefits of a 24-hour child care center while calling for more funding for the industry.
A report from the Administration for Children and Families cites research from our Work, Families & Children Research Group on the importance of quality child care facilities.
A report from the Boston Fed, co-authored by Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., explores the tradeoffs parents make when seeking child care.
Wendy Robeson, Ed.D., shares her expertise on early childhood education.
In an op-ed, Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., discusses the needs of the U.S. child care industry.
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., discusses the Build Back Better Act.- Research Scientist Studies "New Normal" in Child Care
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ph.D., shares findings from a study on child care access in Massachusetts during the pandemic.
Wendy Robeson, Ph.D., discusses the impact of pending legislation on child care policy.
Dr. Wendy Wagner Robeson argues for a new approach to child care, with higher pay and improved career pathways for workers, to address the U.S. childcare shortage following the pandemic.
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., discusses the importance of a robust national child care policy in this Op-Ed for Ms. Magazine.
WCW Senior Research Scientist Wendy Robeson, Ed.D., is quoted in this article that comments on a recently unveiled plan to increase the Child Tax Credit.- A Better Child Care System is Essential to Gender Equality鈥攁nd Economic Recovery
Wendy Robeson, Ed.D., highlights the challenges working families face during the pandemic, and how a national child care policy could help. - New HHS Grant Will Fund Study on Child Care for Low-Income Families
November 11, 2020Our Work, Families & Children Research Group will examine how nonstandard and/or unpredictable work schedules make it difficult for low-income parents to access quality child care.
This Op-Ed featuring WCW Researchers Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., and Autumn Green, Ph.D., discusses the negative effects the closure of child care centers at Universities has on student parents and future educators.
Wendy Wagner Robeson. Ed.D., of WCW is mentioned in this article that discusses the re-opening of childhood care programs during COVID-19.- WCW Recommends Focus on Early Childhood Care and Education in Reopening Plans
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., helps to chart a path forward for Massachusetts early childhood care and education programs, which have been hit hard by COVID-19. - WCW Contributes to Report on Child Care in Boston
March 16, 2020Our Work, Families, & Children Research Group assisted with a report on child care accessibility and affordability in Boston.
- New Findings, Publications, Presentations: Education
Scholars at WCW spoke at conferences and workshops on early child care and social and emotional learning, two crucial education areas.
- Commentary: Advancing Early Childhood Care and Education Policy in the U.S.
Research & Action Annual Report 2017
While not always a pressing domestic priority for all Americans, early childhood care and education (ECCE) for young children has been in the forefront for many working families for decades. In order to work or go to school or training, parents need someone to watch their young children before they are old enough to go to school. Sixty-one percent of children under the age of five are in some type of regular ECCE arrangement, and ECEE serves dual purposes. It not only allows parents to be employed or be in school or training, it also helps prepare children for school and academic success鈥攖his is especially true for children from families with low incomes. Even quality afterschool care or out-of-school-time care for school-age children can be hard to obtain. Finding the kind of care mothers and fathers want for their children and then learning they can鈥檛 afford it has broken many parents鈥� hearts and budgets. What are they to do?
- Commentary by Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D.
Advancing Early Childhood Care and Education Policy in the U.S.
While not always a pressing domestic priority for all Americans, early childhood care and education (ECCE) for young children has been in the forefront for many working families for decades. In order to work or go to school or training, parents need someone to watch their young children before they are old enough to go to school. Sixty-one percent of children under the age of five are in some type of regular ECCE arrangement, and ECEE serves dual purposes. It not only allows parents to be employed or be in school or training, it also helps prepare children for school and academic success鈥攖his is especially true for children from families with low incomes. Even quality afterschool care or out-of-school-time care for school-age children can be hard to obtain. Finding the kind of care mothers and fathers want for their children and then learning they can鈥檛 afford it has broken many parents鈥� hearts and budgets. What are they to do?
- Global Connections, StemKit: Learning and Teaching in Ghana
For the past two summers, 妻友社区 College students who are members of the StemKit team, a science education project under the mentorship of Wendy W. Robeson, Ed.D., WCW senior research scientist, have received grants from the College鈥檚 Career Education Center to teach science protocols and perform research abroad. Isabella Narvaez (Class of 2017) traveled to Ghana in the summer of 2017 to work with junior high schools in the Greater Accra Region, in partnership with The Exploratory, a non-governmental organization that empowers educators and inspires Ghanaian students to be curious, courageous, and community-minded, by making their experience of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics relevant, collaborative, and equitable.
- New Connections, Spring/Summer 2015
Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2015
The 妻友社区 (WCW) hosted Elizabeth Jaeger, Ph.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of the Virgin Island (UVI) and Director of Quality Services with the Department of Human Services in the Office of child Care and Regulatory Services in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) in February 2015. During her meeting with WCW scholars and staff, she discussed 鈥淭he Ecological Context of Early Care and Education in the USVI.鈥� Joanne Roberts, Ph.D. and Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D, Senior Research Scientists, traveled to USVI the following month to do training with a research team from UVI on a much-used environmental measure in center-based programs on St. John and St. Thomas.
A delegation from Ashoka University, India visited the 妻友社区 in May 2015. Madhavi Menon, Ph.D., professor of English at Ashoka; Banita Shastri, Ph.D., Dean of Undergraduate Programs at Ashoka; and Harshbeena Zaveri, Managing Director and President NRB Bearings, Limited, and one of the founders of Ashoka, discussed 鈥淏uilding a Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies in India from the Ground Up,鈥� with colleagues from WCW and 妻友社区 College. - Research undertaken by WCW scholars informs bill to improve child care facilities
For Immediate Release: January 2, 2014
Research Connections, March 28, 2013
Staff- Spotlight: New Funding and Projects Spring/Summer 2012
Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2012
妻友社区 research and action initiatives are funded primarily by federal, state, and corporate grants and contracts. Several new and continuing projects received funding over the past six months. - Q&A: The Changing World of Work and Family Balance
Research & Action Report, Fall/Winter 2010
For many years, research done by the Work, Families, and Children Research Group at 妻友社区 (WCW) has provided policy makers, community leaders, and other scholars with data, commentary, and testimony concerning the effects on family members of many factors, including working conditions, poverty, the division of labor at home, and early care and education. Nancy Marshall, Ed.D., who joined WCW in 1985, now leads the group, which includes Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., and Joanne Roberts, Ph.D., senior research scientists at WCW.
Young Children September 1, 2010
Jason Sachs and Christina Weiland- Is Child Care Bad for Kids?
by Nancy L. Marshall, Ed.D.
From the Fall/Winter 2003 Research & Action ReportRecent headlines have once again raised the question of whether child care is bad for children. After decades of research, advocacy, program development, and policy, what do we really know about child care? Before addressing this question, it is important to talk about the larger question: what do we really know about women鈥檚 (and men鈥檚) lives? The question of child care can only be answered as part of a discussion about how women and men meet the two challenges of both raising the next generation and providing economically for themselves and their families.
Read more. - Comprehensive professional development system needed for Massachusetts early education and care work
November 9, 2005
- Op-Ed: Workforce development & compensation critical to quality early childhood education
Op-Ed submission to the Boston Globe (unpublished)
by Nancy Marshall, Ed.D. and Steve Barnett, Ed.D.
March 30, 2005The creation of the Department of Early Education and Care, developed to administer the Massachusetts鈥� early education care system, puts the state at a critical juncture in advancing its historic commitment to young children. On July 1st, the new department becomes active, and its Board and Commissioner will have the tough task of deciding how to proceed. Well-trained, qualified teachers and providers are necessary for programs to promote children鈥檚 school readiness. The recently released Massachusetts Capacity Study Research Brief: Characteristics of the Current Early Education and Care Workforce provides research-based evidence of the magnitude of the task of workforce development.
Boston Globe
February 6, 2006- New Brief: Workforce Development & Compensation Critical to Quality Early Childhood Education in MA
April 3, 2005
- New Study Focuses on What Home-Based Child Care Providers Need to Survive
Wendy Wagner Robeson, Ed.D., will study those who have recently become home-based child care providers and those who have left the field.
