Description

WestEd works with education and social service agencies to promote excellence, achieve equity and justice, and enhance outcomes for children, youth, and adults. We support clients to build the relationships, capacity, knowledge, and skills to be successful and achieve outcomes. Among other services, WestEd provides technical assistance and evaluation/research services in many areas, including educator effectiveness, school improvement, data use in education, college and career readiness, special education and assessment, to name a few.

WestEd's work, which generates approximately $170 million in annual revenues, is focused in the following areas: 1) training and technical assistance; 2) research and evaluation; and 3) policy advisory. Our core values include research-based approaches to serving the needs of our clients, ensuring excellence and integrity in all our work, equity, and striving for impact. To view our 2020 Year in Review from our CEO, Glen Harvey, please visit here.

Throughout WestEd's over 50 year history we have maintained a strong commitment to staff diversity. Individuals of different ethnicities, races, abilities, gender identities, and sexual orientations, as well as from different cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, work at all levels of the organization. We value the range of perspectives provided by this diverse workforce and the ways in which those perspectives enrich and inform our agency and the work we do. Read more about WestEd's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Program Description

The Improvement Research Specialist will join WestEd's Improvement Science Team, which currently has 16 members. Our work focuses on complex, collaborative projects that develop the capacity of partners to transform systems in ways that improve educational outcomes for historically underserved communities. Our work covers a variety of educational spaces, from early grade literacy to middle school math and teacher preparation. Team members are lifelong learners with a commitment to advancing educational equity and we strive to "walk the walk" of improvement by applying improvement principles and methods to the way we operate as a team. The Improvement Science Team is housed within WestEd's Division 3, which employs around 260 people.

Position Description

WestEd is seeking to fill the position of Improvement Research Specialist to support educational organizations in the teacher workforce space in identifying, developing, and using data to inform their on-going systemic improvement efforts. The Improvement Research Specialist will collaborate with other team members and clients to develop the capacity of partners to transform systems in ways that improve educational outcomes and advance equity. The team integrates quality improvement methods, content expertise, and practitioner knowledge to guide educators in the design and management of more effective and just systems. The Improvement Research Specialist will work with WestEd staff, partner organizations, and network affiliates to bring data and evidence to bear on problems of policy and practice in the teacher workforce space.

Candidates should have significant knowledge and experience related to K-12 teacher workforce issues (which can include pre-service, in-service, classroom instruction, evaluation, and/or labor market dynamics). We also seek candidates with cultural competency and a passion for fostering racial justice and equity through improvement, evaluation, and policy work in the teacher workforce space. Central to this work is experience integrating the identification, collection, analysis, and use of data. The ideal candidate will be able to effectively manage complex projects, competing priorities, and fast-paced timelines, plan and implement improvement projects, and provide outstanding client services.

Responsibilities

• Gather, analyze, and synthesize information related to the teacher workforce through various methodologies
  
  
  
  • Qualitative - interviews, observation, document analysis
  
  
  • Quantitative - ability to make sense of output from basic quantitative analyses (univariate and bivariate statistics)
  
  
  • Literature reviews
  
  
  • Integrating data from various sources to produce a more complete picture
  
  
  
  


• Produce knowledge products
  
  
  
  • Write reports suitable for various audiences (e.g. educators, researchers, policymakers)
  
  
  • Produce process maps, concept maps and other graphical representations of ideas
  
  
  • Codify a set of processes and practices into a change package
  
  
  • Design and deliver presentations
  
  
  
  


• Communicate and collaborate, with external partners and internal team members
  
  
  
  • Understand the current policy environment surrounding the teacher workforce and how knowledge products in this area are being used
  
  
  • Stay abreast of current research in the teacher workforce space
  
  
  • Prioritize and elevate the voices and concerns of practitioners and users who are closest to the ground level of the work
  
  
  • Center equity concerns, including identifying opportunities to attend to issues of inequity, and to include voices from underrepresented communities
  
  
  • Design and conduct data collection and analyses in ways that are responsive to the concerns and questions of those who will ultimately use the research or knowledge products
  
  
  • Work as a member of the team
  
  
  
  


• Project design and management
  
  
  
  • Develop data collection and analysis plans to conduct improvement-oriented research, with support
  
  
  • Manage lines of work - develop timelines and meet deadlines
  
  
  • Direct the work of research and administrative assistants
  
  
  • Collaborate with WestEd colleagues to contribute to strategic business development opportunities, including leading teams to respond to requests for proposals and leveraging networks to grow new business
  
  
  
  

Qualifications

• Master's degree or Doctoral degree in education, psychology, or related field, plus at least 3 years of experience in K-12 teacher workforce development in an educational context


• Experience elevating the perspectives of people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds in the consideration of impacts and outcomes of a decision-making process


• Excellent ability to write and communicate clearly


• Ability to pursue work and goals with tenacity, flexibility, and persistence in the face of complex, uncertain, or shifting circumstances


• Experience developing and managing timelines, deadlines, and deliverables for projects


• Demonstrated ability to learn on-the-job, give and receive constructive feedback, and grow into new roles and responsibilities as the work demands


• Ability to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment


• Commitment to advancing equity in education


• Understanding the concepts of institutional and structural racism and bias and their impact on underserved and underrepresented communities in education


• Ability to work on a flexible schedule and travel, as needed

SPECIAL NOTICE REGARDING THE WORK LOCATION OF THIS POSITION - Currently, all staff at WestEd are working from home until further notice. Once we return to offices, this position will be based in one of WestEd's offices. Candidates can submit a request to work from home.

SALARY AND BENEFITS: Salary for this role is competitive, set at a WestEd level H, and commensurate with experience. WestEd offers a very generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage, as well as Life, AD&D and Disability insurance. We also offer various retirement plan options and Flexible Spending Accounts for medical, childcare, and commuter expenses. WestEd offers generous paid holidays and paid time off (PTO), among other benefits.

Committed to the diversity of race, ethnicities, perspectives, and opportunities, WestEd offers a variety of social and professional learning communities, such as Employee Resources groups, the Data Intelligence, Insights, and Innovation PLC, and the WestEd Parent Community, just to name a few. We hope you'll consider joining us to build better schools, communities, learning pathways, and more!