Literacy Research Associate

Overview

Are you passionate about supporting and partnering with educators to improve educational opportunities and outcomes, with a focus on English language arts/literacy instruction? Are you looking for opportunities to use your experience, knowledge, and research skills to support educators to improve teaching, learning, and the systems that support them? Are you an enthusiastic collaborator, eager to work closely with colleagues and grow your skill set? Do you value working directly with practitioners through applied research and examining questions of critical interest to educators?

SRI Education is committed to designing and implementing high-quality research, evaluation, and technical assistance (i.e., providing research-grounded support to educators). We investigate and influence critical questions and issues in K–12 and postsecondary education, improving systems, enhancing instruction, addressing student wellbeing, and supporting diverse learners. We seek to hire an Literacy Research Associate with experience conducting research who can contribute to projects focused on English language arts (ELA)/literacy as well as support projects across other education content areas.

This position is fully remote within the U.S., however if you prefer onsite and are located near an SRI office, we may accommodate a hybrid work schedule.

Responsibilities

• Work on an interdisciplinary team to evaluate and/or provide technical assistance for large-scale improvement efforts. These are likely to include professional learning programs or the development of new resources designed to support foundational skills, reading comprehension, multilingual learners, writing from source material, and disciplinary literacy at scale.
• Lend ELA/literacy expertise to projects on an ad hoc basis (provide occasional consultation or targeted contributions around topics such as:  literacy assessment, measuring literacy-focused instructional practice, review of ELA curricular materials, and reviewing and synthesizing current literacy research.
• Conduct literature, website, document, and policy scans and reviews.
• Support data collection and analysis (e.g., survey administration and data visualizations; scheduling and conducting classroom observations; conducting interviews and analyzing qualitative data).
• Provide project management and coordination support (e.g., tracking progress toward project milestones; making recommendations for project procedures; creating, organizing, and managing project documents and databases, such as schedules and status reports for clients).
• Prepare district research applications and Institutional Review Board (IRB) packages.
• Contribute to meeting facilitation via activities such as taking notes, summarizing and synthesizing themes, coordinating collection of feedback, and analyzing data and summarizing results.
• Prepare reports, briefs, and presentations of research findings appropriate for non-academic, academic, and policy audiences.
• Consider diverse perspectives and experiences in our work.
• Engage in professional learning through ongoing project-embedded mentorship and professional development opportunities.

Qualifications

• Cover letter is required: In your cover letter, in addition to describing what interests you about this position, please include information about your training and experience in ELA/literacy
• A master’s degree in the social sciences, education, policy, or related fields
• 2 years ELA/literacy teaching experience (K–12) in the US public education system, especially in historically underserved communities;
• Due to contract requirements, U.S. citizenship is required.
• Experience with multiple research and/or technical assistance methods, such as:
  • Research methods may include large-scale surveys, experimental research, or case study methods, with strong preference for experience in K-12 school settings
  • Technical assistance methods may include activities such as contributing to needs sensing, conceptualizing technical assistance plans, designing educator professional learning activities, or developing tools to support data use and/or use of evidence-based practices in K-12 school system
• Experience writing well-structured, clear, and concise research summaries and sections of reports or briefs, or translating existing research into presentations, tools, and resources for educators and/or policymakers
• Ability to discuss research tasks or technical assistance activities with individuals and organizations in the field, study sites, or study participants;
• Capacity to support multiple projects simultaneously and change focus as priorities shift through use of strong organizational skills
• Knowledge of software applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Willingness to travel 5-6 times per year for school site visits, with many visits lasting for 3-4 days each

*Candidates who proceed to the interview process will be asked to provide writing samples.

The salary range is: $56,776-$94,040/yr. Salary ranges will vary and are based on several factors, including geographic location, market competitiveness and equity amongst internal employees in similar roles. Positions may also qualify for SRI's Pay for Outstanding Performance program or the annual Performance Based Compensation program. SRI also has a competitive benefits package, to view details please go to https://www.sri.com/resources/benefits/. SRI will accept applications until the position is filled.

SRI is an independent nonprofit research institute headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., with a rich history of supporting government and industry. We create and deliver world-changing solutions for a safer, healthier, and more sustainable future. For almost 80 years, we have collaborated across technical and scientific disciplines to discover and develop groundbreaking products and technologies and bring innovations and ideas to the marketplace.