Kathryn A. (Katie) Wheeler
Research Associate
- Ed.D., Harvard University
- katie.wheeler@wellesley[dot]edu
Kathryn A. Wheeler, Ed.D. (Katie) is a Research Associate. Her area of expertise is in assessing the quality of out-of-school-time programs, and she has a special interest in programs designed to empower girls and those focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
Wheeler’s current projects at NIOST include: (1) serving with the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE), funded by the Office of Child Care, to curate a free, online resource library for system administrators in the OST field; (2) working as a technical assistance provider and program observer for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 21st CCLC; (3) acting as an APT (Assessing Program Practices Tool) Observer for Boston Afterschool & Beyond, a public-private partnership that aims to increase year-round learning opportunities for under-served youth in Boston; (4) investigating the impact of the MIT Online Science, Technology and Engineering Community (MOSTEC) program on its high-school-aged participants; (5) exploring the implementation and participation impacts of the BASE (Building the Abilities and Skillsets of Educators) pilot on staff at For Kids Only, a multi-site OST program in the Greater Boston area; and (6) coaching afterschool programs in Philadelphia on how to improve the quality of their program while focusing on creating a literacy-rich environment, a multi-year literacy project funded by the William Penn Foundation.
Wheeler worked at NIOST in the 1990s, then took a hiatus to serve as the founding Executive Director of the Girls’ Coalition of Greater Boston, an organization that supported girls by offering professional development, networking, advocacy, and collaboration opportunities for adults working with or on behalf of girls. She later served as Editor of Teen Voices, a magazine by, for, and about adolescent girls. She returned to NIOST in 2016. Wheeler holds a Master’s degree and a Doctorate in Education from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with honors from Pitzer College. She is a trustee of the Anna B. Stearns Charitable Foundation and the proud mother of three college-age children.
See Kathryn A. Wheeler's Projects
Wheeler holds a doctorate in education from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, where she worked with renowned scholar, Dr. Carol Gilligan, examining girls’ relationships with science. She holds a bachelor of arts with honors in psychology from Pitzer College.
Wheeler served as editor-in-chief of Teen Voices -- a feminist magazine for adolescent girls -- and editor of Girl Matters, a journal for adults who live and/or work with girls. She was also executive director of the Girls’ Coalition of Greater Boston -- an organization that served girls by supporting their adult advocates.
Wheeler is the current president of the Anna B. Stearns Foundation. She is also a member of the Religious Education committee and the nursery volunteer coordinator at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading (MA).
Doctoral qualifying paper at Harvard University was passed with distinction.
