Working title:

Embedded Researcher

Official title:

RESEARCHER(E05DN) or ASSOC RESEARCHER(E05FN) or ASST RESEARCHER(E05LN)

Degree and area of specialization:

Master's required in economics, sociology, education or public policy, education psychology, operations research or related field. Ph.D. preferred.

Relevant work experience
*Quantitative research in education (statistics, econometrics, and/or psychometrics experience). Conduct multivariate modeling in a variety of contexts. Specific experience working with student achievement data and educational program data.
*Capacity to conduct longitudinal analysis and calculate and interpret growth or "value-added" models controlling for schools and other inputs a plus.
*Research collaboration with education administrators, practitioners, or agencies, or training of educational practitioners.
*Training of school district personnel in how to conduct or interpret such analyses as well as supporting district personnel in developing tools to communicate findings to district stakeholders in meaningful ways.
*Familiarity with educational data structures, data management, data analysis, and reporting. Technical knowledge of data structures and data sets typically used in large urban school districts. Ability to work with technology administrators and/or system developers to communicate the data requirements of advanced analytical models.

Minimum number of years and type of relevant work experience:

Minimum of 3 years experience in four or more of the following.

* Demonstrated ability to develop and implement rigorous research design and quantitative statistical analysis.
* Ability to communicate research findings, both written and oral, to a broad range of audiences including policy makers, funders, academics, and internal management and staff.
* Expertise in longitudinal growth modeling or other advanced models, such as multilevel or generalized linear models is preferred.
* Knowledge of large scale assessment design and psychometrics.
* Experience with designing, carrying out, and writing up program and policy evaluation projects.
* Understand the interpretation and statistical properties of various kinds of standardized student assessments. Background in psychometrics, including IRT or Rasch models a plus.
* Proficiency in SAS, Microsoft Office Suite. Experience with R or S-Plus a plus.
* Proven track record of balancing workflow of research projects, maintaining quality work, timely completion of projects, including development of research designs, writing research reports, and disseminating results to a variety of audiences.
* Familiarity with various systems of accountability in education, the advantages of such systems, as well as the threats to the reliability and validity of data posted by high stakes accountability systems.
* Experience working with urban school districts, education practitioners, educational research, and/or educational agencies preferred.

Principal duties:

WCER is seeking to fill up to four Embedded Researcher positions at different sites. The embedded researchers will work under the functional direction of the research director at our partner sites - either the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), or the Bush Foundation and under the technical direction of Dr. Robert Meyer, Director of the Value-Added Research Center (VARC) at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The embedded researchers would be responsible for conducting rigorous policy research and program evaluation studies, training existing staff within the school districts and related state agencies in advanced statistics, and the presentation of analysis results to lay audiences.
Embedded researchers will have offices at WCER and be considered WCER employees. Potential applicants may be located in Madison, Chicago, Minneapolis, or Milwaukee. Work requires weekly on-site participation in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Madison. The embedded researchers will work a minimum of three days each week in the school district and two days at WCER.
This schedule may be adjusted with approval from the respective site research directors.

Range of functions of the Embedded Researcher (s):

* In collaboration with personnel at the research partner site, identify research priorities, design and conduct program evaluations, and disseminate results to the district.
* Collaborate on designing data analysis and evaluation projects associated with Value-Added Research Center efforts.
* Identify data needs for ongoing and planned research. Document gaps in data availability, concerns about data quality, lags in data reporting, or other systemic barriers to achieving research goals. Work with project directors to build capacity in these areas.
* Prepare reports for scholarly and public dissemination as well as those required by funding agencies.
* Present research findings at seminars and national conferences.
* Develop partnership capacity for conducting Value-Added analysis of student outcome data.
* Design, develop and support the implementation of Value-Added training materials to district staff and stakeholders.
* Provide training and support for district dissemination of Value-Added analyses.
* Work with district research and IT leaders to identify compelling uses for data warehouse and other decision support systems.
* Consult with districts on issues relating to test design and specifications.

Additional Information:

Award documents are being negotiated. Appointments will be made when funding is made available.