Barbara Beatty is Associate Professor of Education and Chair of the Education Department at Wellesley College. A member of the faculty since 1981, she teaches courses in history of education and history of childhood and child welfare; supervises student teachers; and advises student research in urban education and education policy. Her own research interests focus on history and policy in preschool education, teacher education, and the relationship between psychology and education.
Professor Beatty received an A.B. in Romance Languages and Literature (Spanish) from Radcliffe College (1968) and an Ed.M. (1973) and an Ed.D. (1981) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in education policy and history of education. She taught kindergarten in the Boston Public Schools (1968–72), directed the Lesley-Ellis School, and was an Assistant Professor at Lesley College (1973–81). She has received fellowships from the Radcliffe Research Scholars program (1983–84), the Spencer Foundation (1996–97), and the American Association of University Women (2001–02). She has received program grants from the U.S. Department of Education Secretary's Discretionary Fund for Mathematics, Science, and Critical Foreign Languages (1986–87) and Massachusetts Board of Regents (1988-89).
Professor Beatty’s publications include Preschool Education in America: the Culture of Young Children from the Colonial Era to the Present (Yale University Press, 1995; Korean edition, Kyoyukkwahaksa Company, 1998), which was awarded an Outstanding Academic Book Award by Choice Magazine in 1996. Her article "From Laws of Learning to a Science of Values: Efficiency and Morality in Edward L. Thorndike's Educational Psychology" appeared in The American Psychologist in 1998. A chapter, “‘The Letter Killeth’: Americanization and Multicultural Education in Kindergartens in the United States,” appeared in Kindergartens and Cultures in 2000. A chapter “Policy, Politics, and Preschool Advocacy” appeared in Who Speaks for America’s Children? in 2001. She is the author of numerous other chapters, biographical studies, essay reviews, and book reviews. Her edited volume, When Science Encounters the Child: Education, Parenting, and Child Welfare in Twentieth-Century America, was published by Teachers College Press in 2006. She has been Secretary of Division F of the American Educational Research Association, an Associate Editor of History of Education Quarterly, and serves as an outside reviewer for many academic programs and presses.
As a mentor, advisor, and lecturer, Professor Beatty encourages students to pursue careers in teaching, school administration, education policy, and research. She is Campus Coordinator for the Boston Higher Education Partnership, a member of the Consortium for Excellence in Teacher Education, and consults on national and state policy initiatives to universalize access to preschool education.
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Profile last updated: 7/06