The Law and Policy Research Manager for Education will be the point person for NCYL’s education research and advocacy efforts to continue our Intra-District and Inter-District Education Resource Inequity work and other systemic reform efforts to address inequities experienced by students of color, students with disabilities, and many other marginalized groups. This person will need to be skilled at and interested in quantitative data analyses using large data sets, including the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) and numerous state databases.
Education Team
NCYL's Education team engages in education justice work in partnership with many entities at the national, state, and local levels, across the nation. The team seeks systemic change – through coalition-building, policy advocacy, litigation, research, communications, and organizing – to increase equity within the education systems that serve children and youth, from early childhood through post-secondary education. A description of NCYL’s education work can be found here: https://youthlaw.org/focus-areas/education
Position
The Law and Policy Research Manager for Education will be the point person for NCYL’s education research and advocacy efforts to continue our Intra-District and Inter-District Education Resource Inequity work and other systemic reform efforts to address inequities experienced by students of color, students with disabilities, and many other marginalized groups. This person will need to be skilled at and interested in quantitative data analyses using large data sets, including the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) and numerous state databases.
The role provides significant contributions to partnership development, strategic planning, providing information to the Education Civil Rights Alliance, and program decision-making. The work supports a wide range of advocacy efforts, especially at the state and local levels. This is a great opportunity for a self-starter who is passionate about systemic education reform and protecting the civil rights of school-aged youth. The work is focused on K-12 but may include pre-K and college and career pathways.
This position is supervised by NCYL’s Senior Director of Education.
Essential Functions
- Manage NCYL’s ongoing Intra-District Education Resource Inequity work, with multiple contributors and multiple deliverables and a high level of communication about implementation and progress.
- Engage in education law and policy analyses.
- Analyze large federal and state databases for disparities in resources, opportunities, and outcomes at the state, local, and school levels.
- Establish and maintain relationships with contractors and other external partners.
- Work closely with Director of Education Civil Rights Alliance (ECRA) and Senior Director of Education to conduct analyses to inform ongoing education reform efforts.
- Plan and facilitate relevant ECRA membership, allies, and committee meetings.
- Provide support and oversight to at least 3 grantees engaged in participatory research related to resource inequity.
- Represent NCYL and ECRA at national, state, and local meetings and events.
- Produce high quality program and promotional materials.
Required Qualification
- 5 years of experience in education equity policy research, including quantitative analysis of large data sets (coding, cleaning, and analyzing extremely large administrative data sets, and publishing quantitative descriptive analyses and reports).
Other Qualifications
- A J.D. or other advanced degree is preferred but not required.
- Demonstrated commitment to systemic education reform to promote the civil and human rights of children.
- Demonstrated experience coding large data sets in R, STATA or SPSS and well-established ability to efficiently produce excel workbooks and effective graphics to represent quantitative findings.
- In-depth understanding of federal education law and policy relevant to civil rights.
- Demonstrated experience analyzing and presenting information regarding racial inequities in education.
- Ability to use research findings to help build advocacy strategies aimed at reducing inequities.
- Commitment to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- Demonstrated ability to think and plan strategically, then execute and implement effectively and efficiently.
- Ability to solve complex problems using creative solutions while staying focused on the big picture.
- Ability to grasp and synthesize perspectives from multiple contributors to inform policy solutions.
- Clear and persuasive written and oral communication skills.
- Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, ability to meet deadlines and produce high-quality work product in a fast-paced environment.
- Ability to collaborate effectively with partners inside and outside NCYL, to ensure the work is informed by and is advancing the goals of NCYL and the project.
- Ability to navigate cloud servers, Zoom, Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite, and other software.
Physical Requirements
Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer. This position requires the ability to work remotely and requires some travel.
Salary, Benefits & Location
This is a full-time, exempt position. The salary is competitive at $111,585.00 annually. A geographic salary differential may be applied if the candidate resides somewhere other than the Oakland, CA, Los Angeles, CA, or Washington, DC metro areas.
NCYL provides a robust benefits package including health, dental, vision, and life insurances, generous vacation and sick benefits, paid family leave, flexible spending account, commuter benefits, employer contribution to a retirement plan, paid sabbatical, and short-term and long-term disability insurance.
Candidates must reside in, or be willing to relocate to, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Washington DC, or Wisconsin.
This position is eligible for 100% remote work through December 31, 2023. It is possible that starting in January of 2024, NCYL will require people to work in an office, in which case they will need to be in a location where they can commute to a NCYL office regularly (DC, Los Angeles, Oakland, or Sacramento).
Submit a cover letter and resume at the link below. Please, no emails or calls.
Apply at: https://recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/Jobs/Details/1833694
Applicants with lived experience within any of our practice areas, and Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, are strongly encouraged to apply.
It is the policy of NCYL to provide equal employment opportunities to all Applicants (including Employees) regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding, national origin, age, abilities/disabilities, neurotypicality, socioeconomic status, veteran status, marital status, prior convictions, or any other protected classifications under federal, state, or local law.
Specific skill desired: coding, cleaning, and analyzing extremely large administrative data sets, and publishing quantitative descriptive analyses and reports.