This is an interim backfill role to cover for someone who will be out on parental leave. The duration of the assignment is targeted for 18 months starting in ~May 2019. However, the start and end dates may change.
This role has primary responsibility to provide thought leadership on the use of data to promote learning across the K-12 strategy, measurement of place-based programmatic work and ensure quality measurement, learning and evaluation support to a set of critical internal and external stakeholders. This is an incredible opportunity to bring rigor and meaningful measurement, learning and evaluation to the foundation and our grantees, helping us all to use evidence to focus attention on pressing issues and promising solutions.
This role will provide guidance on framework-level measurement (Groups of investment portfolios), as well as grant-level measurement. This role will manage evaluation and measurement contracts, ensuring that the deliverables advance the work of the team and our grantees. This role will play a targeted leadership role in the foundations work to improve the health of the charter sector and with other place-based investment portfolios such as the Networks for School Improvement (NSI) and Education to Employment Pathways Strategies. Across the K-12 strategy, this person will work closely with our programmatic teams, bringing a performance management, continuous improvement, and learning capacity to their work.
Our ideal colleague has deep technical research, measurement and/or evaluation skills. He or she has equally thorough communication and collaboration skills. We're looking for someone who can connect rigorous measurement with overall strategic goals in K-12 education, helping us all to ultimately improve our work. To be successful with our team, this person will need to be solutions-oriented, flexible and a team player, skilled in collaborative approaches regarding evaluation and measurement options.
- Serve as a primary Measurement, Learning and Evaluation point of contact for a number of internal teams and their leadership, with specific emphasis on using data and research for learning and to understand the progress of K-12 investments against goals.
- In partnership with internal teams, scope measurement, learning and evaluation projects related to their strategies; execute projects as needed. Historically, this role has worked with the Teachers, Leaders and Charters (TLC) and Networks for School Improvement (NSI) portfolios.
- Help the K-12 team build measurement, learning and evaluation capacity through the development of templates, toolkits and protocols to support the rigorous use of data and evidence across the strategy.
- Plans, manages and executes a wide range of activities in support of strategic planning, prospect and develop complex investment opportunities, grant management and external relationship management.
- Consult with grantees to achieve desired impact of grants; conduct site visit, provide technical guidance, convene meetings, and apply and evaluate milestone-based performance objectives.
- Manage internal processes and portfolio progress while ensuring appropriate documentation, grant budgeting and reporting. Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.
- Lead communication of research and evaluation findings in collaboration with Communications and Knowledge Management teams. Lead learning efforts to ensure findings are understood and used.
- This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with grantees and partners in the field.
We believe that energized people, working well together, fueled by great leadership in an inclusive environment in which they thrive, will do phenomenal things.
- Expertise in education research, measurement, and evaluation methods
- Ability to interpret and explain complex, technical research findings to a wide range of audiences
- Extensive project contribution and project management experience
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Understanding of broad field of education reform
- In-depth knowledge of statistical methods, evaluation design, qualitative research methods, data collection and management.
- Excellent written & oral communications skills effective with a broad & diverse audience.