ExpandED Schools is dedicated to ensuring that all young people have access to enriching learning opportunities that affirm their identities, teach them valuable skills, and spark new possibilities. Through program development, capacity-building, research and advocacy, we work toward our vision of a vibrant and stable publicly-funded system of school-community partnerships so that all New York City children thrive.
Established in 1998, the organization today reaches more than 119,000 children and 900 programs throughout New York City to ensure that students in under-served communities have access to innovative, engaging ways of learning to enable them to reach their full potential. Over the last two decades, ExpandED Schools’ program, research and policy efforts have led to increased recognition of the academic, social, and emotional benefits of afterschool, increased funding, and new models for school-community partnership. The pandemic further highlighted the importance of academic and SEL support as well as ExpandED’s vital function in providing high-quality learning activities.
This fall, ExpandED Schools is launching a dual-impact initiative scaling access to high impact tutoring city-wide. This initiative, in partnership with the NYC DOE and other city agencies, will help coordinate efforts to ensure high impact tutoring services reach all students who would benefit from them while also building capacity of the district, tutoring providers, and community-based organizations to deliver high impact tutoring. Initial implementation will focus on reaching 15,000 early elementary and middle school students in five to ten selected school districts over the next three years, as well as coalition-level support to reach additional students, schools and tutor partners throughout the city. In parallel, the initiative will also establish a strategic tutor-to-teacher pipeline to recruit and train the next generation of diverse and talented New York City public school educators.
Duties & Responsibilities
Reporting to the Senior Director of Research, the Senior Research Associate will play a leading role in building and implementing systems to collect and analyze data at multiple levels, in order to inform our understandings of the successes and challenges in program implementation, share our work with funders and other stakeholders, and drive improvement and scaling of effective tutoring citywide. Specifically, the Senior Research Associate will manage and analyze data at the school, district, and provider level to support continuous improvement in accelerating students’ academic learning and supporting their social emotional wellbeing; in addition, they will lead evaluation of tutor characteristics, training, experiences, career interests, and needs for support. The Senior Research Associate will:
- Support the development and implementation of multi-method culturally responsive research designs, including identification of analyses to answer targeted programmatic and policy questions; proactively ensure that all data collection tools align to research questions.
- Develop, test, and use data collection tools and protocols (extant data from tutoring providers’ assessments, survey instruments, interview guides and observation protocols).
- Manage all data collection activities, developing and maintaining quantitative and qualitative data collection protocols (including extant data, survey instruments, interview guides, and observation protocols).
- Serve as the primary liaison between ExpandED, the NYC DOE, and a to-be-determined external evaluator regarding the external research and evaluation scope.
- Conduct quantitative data analyses, as needed.
- Support writing and dissemination of evaluation results – including progress toward goals, making sense of research findings, and developing steps for improvement – in a variety of formats to funders, policymakers, practitioners, and education researchers through written reports.
- Support presentation of results through oral presentations in meetings and at conferences to research audiences and practitioner audiences, with the goal of supporting continuous improvement.
- Collaborate proactively with members of the ExpandED research and high-impact tutoring teams to ensure that work is aligned with ExpandED’s research approach, systems, and goals, and to support knowledge sharing and learning across program teams within the organization.
- Perform other work as assigned.
Desired Qualifications:
- Passion for research and connections to policy and practice.
- Deep commitment to ExpandED Schools’ vision of an equitable public education system that prepares young people for long-term success in the 21st century economy.
- Significant experience in social sciences or education (Master’s degree preferred, but experience will be evaluated for a similar level of knowledge and skills).
- Experience and interest in evaluating programs in the fields of youth development, after-school and/or education, including meeting administrative requirements.
- Knowledge of field research, qualitative and quantitative research techniques.
- Strong working knowledge of SPSS or other statistical package, advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, vlookup), and data visualization tools such as Microsoft PowerBI.
- Ability to balance multiple projects and meet multiple, fast-paced deadlines.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills to appeal to a variety of audiences (lay, practitioner experts, and scientific/academic audiences).
- Demonstrated sensitivity to conduct research in diverse communities and the ability to relate to program staff, as well as knowledge in culturally responsive research practices.
- Strong cultural competence with respect for and knowledge of the cultures of stakeholders we work with and communities we serve.
- Flexibility, adaptability, and comfort with complexity and change.
- Ability to support multiple large, complex projects in a fast-paced environment, and work as part of a team.
- Exceptional organization, motivation, and detail-orientation.
Salary Range: $70,000 – $74,000
Benefits:
ExpandED Schools offers competitive salaries commensurate with experience and a comprehensive benefits package. Our benefits package includes:
- Full-time and eligible part-time employees receive medical, dental and vision plans for employees and dependents, largely subsidized by ExpandED Schools
- Health, dependent care and transit pre-tax accounts
- Employer-paid life insurance and supplemental disability coverage
- Paid time off package which includes 24 vacation days, 8 sick days, and 12 paid holidays
- 403b retirement plan with eligibility for employer contribution of 5% of annual compensation after one year of employment (no match requirement)
- Commitment to work-life balance
- Partial tuition reimbursement offered to employees after six months of service
- Professional development opportunities, including funds to participate in training and coaching
ExpandED Schools believes in the importance of being a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization that enables our students and staff to thrive. We are committed to building a talented team that reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students. ExpandED Schools is an equal opportunity employer, and as such, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.
Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to: [email protected], Subject: Senior Research Associate. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
