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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern University is seeking applications for the position of assistant professor of educational research. You can find a description of the position and application instructions here:

http://coe.georgiasouthern.edu/positions.htm

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The College Board

Associate Research Scientist - #2599 (Aug 2010)

The College Board, a national educational organization, is conducting a search for an Associate Research Scientist who will assist in the design and development of educational assessments to be used by teachers for the purposes of instructionally relevant and actionable feedback. This position is resident in our Research and Development office in Newtown, PA and will work collaboratively with teacher professional development program staff, senior researchers, product development staff and others throughout the organization.

-- Position Summary
The Associate Research Scientist will develop classroom assessments that will take the form of selected response, constructed response as well as informal, formative assessment strategies and activities that are embedded in instruction. This position will develop psychometric scaling techniques to support instructional feedback, will manage external test developers, and will conduct a variety of analyses related to the use and impact of the instructionally relevant and actionable feedback. Strong skills are required in assessment design and educational measurement.

-- Responsibilities
* Manage external test developers and subject-matter consultants who will be under contract to the College Board for the design and development of classroom assessments to produce instructionally-relevant and actionable feedback. Establish and execute processes and procedures to ensure that vendors and external consultants meet expectations of quality while staying within timeline and budget constraints.
* Collaborate extensively and maintain effective working relationships with various members of a multi-disciplinary team of experts in assessment design, teacher professional development, educational evaluation, product development and business management.
* Collaborate with internal and external experts to design, develop and maintain appropriate psychometric scaling techniques for the selected response and constructed response student data.
* Collaborate with internal and external experts to design and develop instructionally-relevant and actionable feedback for students, teachers, principals and district staff.
* Manage communications and relationships among various internal and external stakeholders for all projects related to the design and development of assessments designed for instructionally-relevant and actionable feedback.
* Establish and execute clear and comprehensive documentation of classroom assessment project, including development and dissemination of routine internal reports as well as external reports and scholarly publications.
* Conduct a variety of research and analysis using internal and external data in support of the design and development of the classroom assessments and reports, as well as the ongoing revisions and investigations of efficacy of the instructionally-relevant and actionable feedback.

-- ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
* Collaborate with staff within the College Board to design and implement assessment and educational initiatives in middle and high schools.
* Collaborate with research scientists within and external to the College Board to design and conduct research studies to support the development of educational initiatives particularly as it affects reduction of achievement gaps.
* Collaborate with research scientists within and external to the College Board to design and implement research studies that assess program impact on student achievement for individual programs and combinations of programs, particularly in middle school and high school. Identify variables at student, teacher, school, school district, and state levels susceptible to policy and/or programmatic interventions.

-- Qualifications
Candidates must have a Doctorate in educational research, measurement, evaluation, curriculum and instruction or a related field. The ideal candidate will have 1-3 years of directly-related post-Doctorate work experience in educational assessment design; new Doctoral-level candidates will be considered if they are able to demonstrate expertise commensurate with job requirements.

The ideal candidate must be able to demonstrate assessment design expertise; possess knowledge of the use of assessment data to drive instruction; demonstrate the ability to develop and analyze various educational data-collection instruments and surveys; and demonstrate the ability to analyze complex assessment and other education-related data using advanced educational measurement and statistical methods. Preferred candidates will demonstrate experience in large-scale educational project management and educational program evaluation.

Candidates with experience and/or knowledge of teacher professional development and classroom instructional research, theory, methods and practice will be given preference.

Candidates must possess strong skills in assessment design, psychometric modeling, educational measurement, research design and methodology, advanced statistics and use of psychometric and statistical software.

-- Other Requirements
* Candidates must possess superior written and oral communication.
* Ideal candidates will have knowledge of and be able to demonstrate commitment to the College Board mission of educational excellence and equity for all students.
* Demonstrated ability in assessment design and development.
* Demonstrated ability to design and conduct educational research studies and statistical analyses.
* Project management experience.
* Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including public speaking.
* Excellent organizational, managerial and consultation skills.
* Demonstrated ability to assume responsibility and set priorities.
* Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues of various professional backgrounds.
* Ability to work on several projects simultaneously.

-- Benefits
We offer our employees an outstanding benefits package which includes 4 weeks of paid time off, a generous retirement savings plan, tuition reimbursement and ongoing professional development and training.

-- Apply
If you are interested in joining the College Board’s Organizational Effectiveness team in one of these positions and you meet our qualifications, we encourage you to apply by visiting our Careers page at www.collegeboard.com/careers. Please search for the job title and submit your resume and a brief, introductory cover letter.

Please contact Janet Wooten(JWooten@collegeboard.org

-- Mission
The College Board’s mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. We are a not-for-profit membership organization committed to excellence and equity in education. Among our best-known products are the SAT®, PSAT/NMSQT®, and Advanced Placement Program®.

The College Board is committed to diversity in the workplace and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The College Board participates in E-Verify, a service of DHS and SSA, where required. Please understand that only qualified applicants will be contacted.

Monday, August 16, 2010

WestEd

Position Title: Project Manager/Assessment Coordinator
Reports to: Director of Operations
Program: Assessment & Standards Development Services
Salary: Level G - $67,118 - $83,897
Location: San Francisco, CA
Time Base: 100%
Position No: 3312

WestEd, a nonprofit research, development, and service agency, works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults. While WestEd serves the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah as one of the nation's Regional Educational Laboratories, our agency's work extends throughout the United States and abroad. WestEd has 17 offices nationwide, from Washington and Boston to Arizona, Southern California, and its headquarters in San Francisco.

Assessment and Standards Development Services (ASDS) is involved extensively at the local, state, and national levels in planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating standards and assessment tools, methods, and systems. Some of ASDS work is aimed at revealing how well students or workers are learning or performing; other parts of our work address broader concerns of accountability and program or school success. ASDS serves as the test-development contractor for high-stakes assessment programs in several states. Its projects also examine the technical aspects of assessment, as well as focus on a range of assessment and accountability-related issues for various student populations (e.g., English language learners, students with disabilities) and for traditional academic areas and developing fields (e.g., alternative school accountability).

Position Description

Brief Position Description:
The Project Manager/Assessment Coordinator will support the program managers and directors of the Assessment and Standards Development Services (ASDS) program by helping to manage the flow of work on various ASDS assessment development and research projects. The Project Manager/Assessment Coordinator will also be expected to perform a leadership role within the coordinator team, for an area of specialty: Proactive project planning; Assessment project management; or Systems and process innovations.

The position will be based in WestEd's San Francisco office.



Responsibilities

CORE RESPONSIBILITES:

* Provide professional-level project coordination for a variety of assessment projects under the direction of Program Directors and Managers.

* Interface on a regular basis with internal staff at all levels in the organization, clients, and partners, building effective relationships.

* Keep track of progress, issues, and risks informing leadership on an ongoing basis and escalating issues and risk in a timely manner.

* Provide effective team leadership to the project support teams, assigning, supervising, and providing feedback on work, to ensure quality and efficiency from the support functions.

* Supervise one or more staff members, providing training, mentoring, coaching and on-going performance management.

* Ensure consistency of approach across the program by following established processes and protocols while engaging in process improvement when appropriate.



PLUS ONE ADDITIONAL SET OF RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Proactive project planning – Provides leadership to a team that implements and monitors project plans, issues logs, risk assessments, and other project management tools, to ensure the delivery of high-quality products and services.

2. Assessment project management – Provides leadership for an assessment project, under the guidance of a Program Director.

3. Systems and process innovations – Provide leadership to a team that develops and implements new systems and procedures that improve quality and increase efficiency within and across projects, and act as liaison within and outside of ASDS when determining appropriate processes to meet project needs.




Qualifications

CORE QUALIFICATIONS

* Bachelor’s degree, advanced degree preferred.

* Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment dealing successfully with short- and long-term priorities simultaneously.

* Significant independent decision-making experience.

* Excellent interpersonal communications skills.

* High-quality customer service skills, dependability, reliability and professionalism.

* Experience managing staff preferred.

* Experience with Microsoft Word and Excel.

* Demonstrated working knowledge of database use.

* Ability to quickly adapt to new computer programs/software.

* Resourcefulness and careful attention to detail while also keeping the “big picture” and program context in mind.




PLUS ONE ADDITIONAL SET OF QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Proactive project planning – Track record as an effective and efficient project manager, with at least 3 years experience independently developing and implementing plans and procedures, evaluating and assessing problem areas, providing recommendations for solutions, and using Project Management software, tools, and processes.

2. Assessment project management – Some project leadership experience and some industry experience. Examples of industry experience include working with state education agency, and federal or state funded programs, and/or with the process of creating student assessment tests: from item entry to complete forms, scoring activities, and associated release documents.

3. Systems and process innovations –Very experienced with the system development life-cycle, with the proven ability to design programs and processes, and to supervisor, mentor, and train staff to follow the system development life cycle from requirements gathering through sign-off. Requires sophisticated knowledge of Microsoft Access, Excel, SQL scripts, FTP site technology/file sharing, and Word, including the ability to create sophisticated diagrams, charts, graphs, tables, and simple statistical calculations. Additionally, the following are desired: Adobe Acrobat; In Design; Adobe Illustrator (.gif, .tif, .ai, .eps file types); Mail server technologies; and SPSS.



To apply, please confirm that you meet our core qualifications and specify which additional set of responsibilities you are qualified to perform.


Application Process

We invite you to Apply for this Position.

Human Resources
WestEd
730 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
http://www.WestEd.org

WestEd is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Positions are open until filled.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Evaluation Group at TERC

Mass Extinction Evaluator/ Researcher Job Description
The Evaluation Group at TERC is growing, and we are looking for an aspiring researcher/
evaluator (R&D 3) to join our team and to take major responsibility on the impact evaluation of
an NSF-funded, technology-driven, informal science education project for middle school
students. Qualified candidate must have training (Masters or Doctoral level) and 5 or more years
of experience in education research or evaluation and uses of technology in education, preferably
in the context of informal science education and/or math, science and technology education
program evaluation. Position is half-time with the possibility of additional time/ funding for new
evaluation work development, or on other projects as they are funded.
Responsibilities: With limited supervision from TERC Evaluation PI, work with client to find
and/ or design and test instruments, assessments, and coding protocols to be incorporated into
innovative, collaborative, online “curated game” on environmental science issues. Focus of
instruments is assessment of interest/ engagement, scientific inquiry and collaboration skills, and
attitudes about science and science careers, as well as surveys about student background and
overall experience. Organize, design and conduct a small number of interviews and focus groups
on user experiences. Understand (or be willing to learn about) issues related to protection of
human subjects in research and work with client to be sure appropriate procedures and
protections are implemented. Train others in use of coding protocols. Work with others to code
and analyze data using qualitative and quantitative methods, both during game rollout to assess
data quality and make adjustments as needed, as well as more thoroughly after game completion.
Read current literature within the field. Take major responsibility for writing evaluation report,
collaborating with other project staff. Meet regularly with PI and other project staff to oversee
progress, identify issues, brainstorm solutions, and adjust approach and work plan.
Opportunity to work with Evaluation Group leaders to respond to new requests to work with
clients to develop evaluation portions of STEM education project proposals and to lead or colead
the evaluations should the projects be funded.
Skills and Desirable Characteristics: Curiosity and inquiring habits of mind. Experience and
skills using software tools (e.g., Excel, Filemaker, SPSS, R, Fathom, etc.) for data coding, data
cleaning and restructuring, and for statistical analyses. Ability to work well independently and
with others. Ability to listen actively and communicate well both verbally and in writing. Can-do
attitude. Candidates from under-represented racial and ethnic groups or who have significant
research experience with such groups are encouraged to apply.
Please submit a resume and a statement of interest by email to Jim Hammerman at
jim_hammerman@terc.edu or c/o TERC, 2067 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140.
Please do not call. (Ref. #10-19)
TERC is a not-for-profit R&D organization committed to improving mathematics, science, and
technology learning and teaching. Founded in 1965, TERC is internationally recognized for
creating innovative curricula, fostering teacher professional development, pioneering creative
uses of technology in education, supporting schools and school districts in the integration of
technology into classroom practice and developing equitable opportunities for under-served
learners. Publication of TERC's materials and dissemination of our R&D findings is a top
priority. Additional information regarding job postings and the application process is available
from TERC’s Human Resource Department. Please include your fax number or address with
your request. For more information visit TERC's web site at: www.terc.edu.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Michigan Department of Education

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has an opening for the lead psychometrician for the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, or MEAP. MEAP is Michigan's grade 3-8 general assessment in Mathematics, Reading, Science, Social Studies, and Writing. The complete position posting is available at: http://bit.ly/c2y05P.