Commitment to Research

The Center for Gender and Ethical Leadership in Society

The Center for Gender and Ethical Leadership in Society is a testament to Hewitt’s differentiated commitment to designing a K-12 academic program that improves girls’ lives and outcomes both in school and in the workplace. Through the work of our distinguished research partners and current research projects, the Center inspires girls and young women to forge a more gender equitable workforce and society, both for themselves and for the many generations of girls and young women to follow.

Hewitt’s Center for Gender and Ethical Leadership in Society is affiliated with the following universities and organizations.

Klingenstein Center Teachers College Columbia University

NAIS National Association of Independent Schools

Through our differentiated commitment to putting research into practice, Hewitt girls and young women learn to build their leadership capacity and a sense of purpose in a way that is truly unmatched.

Research Partners

In addition to our ongoing work with Visiting Research Scholars such as Dr. Lisa Damour, Hewitt partners with a variety of thought leaders working in the space of gender and education.

Dr. Lauren Bailes
University of Delaware, School of Education and Human Development

Dr. Katie Clonan-Roy
Cleveland State University; EnGenderED Research Collaborative

Dr. Nicole Furlonge
Klingenstein Center, Teachers College, Columbia University

Dr. Carol Gilligan
New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

Dr. Charlotte Jacobs
University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education; EnGenderED Research Collaborative

Dr. Tonya Leslie
New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

Dr. Frances Rust
University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education

Naomi Snider
New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

Dr. Terri Watson
City University of New York

As youth action researchers, students tackle real-world challenges that are personally meaningful to them, and play a critical role in creating impactful and sustainable change in their school communities for the benefit of both current and future students.

Meet the Team

Dr. Sarah Odell, Director of Faculty Practice and Research
Dr. Daron Cyr, Postdoctoral Fellow in Gender and Ethical Leadership

Dr. Sarah Odell, Director of Faculty Practice and Research

In addition to directing Hewitt's Center for Gender and Ethical Leadership in Society, Dr. Sarah Odell teaches leadership courses at the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University and at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She has presented at the American Educational Research Association and the University Council on Educational Administration conferences. Dr. Odell holds a B.A. in creative writing from Wellesley College, an M.S.Ed. in school leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Daron Cyr, Postdoctoral Fellow in Gender and Ethical Leadership

Dr. Daron Cyr received her Ph.D. from the Learning, Leadership, and Education Policy program at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. Her research experience has predominantly focused on gender, leadership, and gendered racial microaggressions. Dr. Cyr’s doctoral work followed a B.S. in elementary education and an M.A. in curriculum and instruction, also at the University of Connecticut. Prior to pursuing a Ph.D., she taught kindergarten and first grade and wrote curriculum in New Haven, Connecticut.

Research Projects

Hewitt Action Research Collaborative (HARC)

The Hewitt Action Research Collaborative (HARC) is a consortium of schools committed to using institutional data to guide students as they formulate research questions. As youth action researchers, students tackle real-world challenges that are personally meaningful to them, and play a critical role in creating impactful and sustainable change in their school communities for the benefit of both current and future students. Through HARC, upper school students learn how to create and pursue a research topic, developing a depth of knowledge and mastery that comes over the course of a full academic year. To culminate their yearlong study, students present their findings and recommendations at a roundtable of scholars, school leaders, students, and faculty who consider implementation of their ideas.

After the success of its inaugural year, HARC has expanded to become a credit-bearing elective offered to students in grades 10 and 11, whose high school transcripts will reflect this unique and highly distinguished student-led research experience. All members of HARC will have the opportunity to present their coursework at a conference or have it published. Additionally, all Hewitt ninth graders will participate in a new, required research seminar where they will learn the same valuable foundational research skills that HARC students developed this year.

HARC partner schools include Boston’s Winsor School, Chattanooga’s Girls Preparatory School, Lycée Français de San Francisco, and the The Young Women's Leadership School of Astoria.

The Art of Teaching at Hewitt: Creating a Community of Practice

Hewitt has made an important investment in being a community of educators who reflect on their teaching practice and continue to grow and evolve for the everyday benefit of their students. To assist us with this important work, we have partnered with Dr. Frances Rust (University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development), who meets regularly with faculty to guide them through deep and reflective conversations examining their own teaching practices.

Hewitt teachers explore new, research-backed pedagogies to ensure that each Hewitt girl is appropriately challenged and engaged in her learning. One area of focus for our work with Dr. Rust in the 2023-2024 school year is increasing authentic student engagement, which we are measuring through our annual YouthTruth survey data.

Strengthening Healthy Resistance and Courage in Girls: Part II

This study revisits Dr. Carol Gilligan’s groundbreaking work on girls from 30 years ago, which fundamentally changed how the field of developmental psychology understands girls. In the first phase of the study, Dr. Gilligan and her research team of Naomi Snider and Dr. Tonya Leslie interviewed Hewitt students across lower, middle, and high school to hear what girls’ voices sound like today to ensure that at Hewitt, future programming centers their voices and their needs.

This three year study is aimed at ensuring that Hewitt's programming continues to center the needs of girls and young women and will impact how all educators think about girls’ development. We look forward to Dr. Gilligan’s preliminary findings from the pilot phase of this project.

Leading with Love: Creating a Community of Belonging for Black Girls at Hewitt

With support from a Klingenstein Center Seed Grant, Dr. Lauren Bailes (University of Delaware) completed a quantitative analysis of data from Hewitt’s 2022 YouthTruth survey (a school culture survey). Her work gave us a more in-depth look at our own data and a better understanding of the experiences of Black students at Hewitt. Dr. Bailes shared her qualitative and quantitative findings with our faculty and staff to give them key insights on how they can create positive change within and beyond the classroom for Black Hewitt students in our middle and high schools.

With her deep expertise working with Black girls in schools and improving their educational experiences, Dr. Terri Watson (City University of New York), met regularly with upper school students in Hewitt’s Black Student Union to explore how their teachers make them feel supported, successful, and loved and provided critical mentorship and support to Black Hewitt students.

Connecting K-12, Higher Education, and Industry: A Leadership Toolkit for Girls

Over the course of the 2022-2023 school year, The Hewitt School worked with consulting firm Mine the Gap to create a first-of-its kind K-12 leadership toolkit. Designed for teachers across grades and disciplines, this new leadership toolkit guides Hewitt teachers through exercises to examine their own leadership styles and provides current research on the barriers women face in gaining access to leadership, the unique experiences women bring to leadership roles, and how organizations can support women leaders.

We have already begun training our professional community in how to use the toolkit to incorporate tangible skills into their teaching practices that will help Hewitt girls and young women navigate the leadership pipeline. In the 2023-2024 school year, every Hewitt middle schooler will benefit from this leadership toolkit by taking a brand new research-based leadership course designed for girls and young women.