Betsy Starr

Research Associate

A.B. Bowdoin College, M.Ed. Harvard Graduate School

Elizabeth Starr, M.Ed., has been a Research Associate at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women since 2007. Her work has focused on workforce development, quality improvement, and system-building.

As part of the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE), a technical assistance center launched by the U.S. Office of Child Care, she facilitates webinars and peer learning opportunities focused on strengthening the school-age workforce.  She is also a collaborator on the Power of Us Youth Fields Workforce Study funded by the Wallace Foundation and a co-editor of The Heartbeat of the Youth Development Field: Professional Journeys of Growth, Connection, and Transformation, a volume in Current Issues in Out-of-School Time.

Since joining NIOST, Ms. Starr has contributed to many projects including: work with the U.S. Department of Education to support the 21^st CCLC program through state monitoring and technical assistance; the Wallace Foundation’s Next Generation Afterschool System Building Initiative; work with the Wyoming After School Alliance on the Wyoming Afterschool Professional Development System Framework; the Career Pathways Project; Youth Work Core Competencies: A Review of Existing Frameworks and Purposes; Credentialing for 21st CCLC Staff: An Overview of the Benefits and Impacts. She and her colleagues at NIOST conducted the research and made the recommendations for the Core Knowledge and Competencies for Afterschool and Youth Development Professionals which were adopted by the National Afterschool Association in 2011 and revised in 2021.

Before joining NIOST, Ms. Starr also contributed to other projects at the Wellesley Centers for Women related to early child care and education, including the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. She enjoyed her work as a child and family advocate at a residential program for survivors of domestic abuse here in Massachusetts and as a mental health counselor for children and teens in school and clinic settings in Vermont. She still enjoys any time spent with youth (especially her own teenagers)

Ms. Starr holds a M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an A.B. in Psychology from Bowdoin College.