Job Description:

Description

About WestEd

As a community of over 800 researchers, practitioners, consultants, and administrative professionals from all backgrounds and life experiences, we are committed to making a qualitative difference in the lives of youth, children, and adults. We conduct and apply research, develop evidence-based solutions, and provide consulting services across the country in both rural and urban communities to improve equitable outcomes for individuals from infancy through adulthood. Serving as trusted partners in the areas of education, health, and justice, our teams enhance capacity within communities and school districts to prioritize impact - asking the right questions, customizing methodologies, developing relevant tools, and implementing best practices specific to a diverse range of stakeholder needs.

Furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion is core to who we are and how we work. We are committed to working with our clients to illuminate and address disparities, value and elevate diverse voices, and ensure equitable access to our resources and services. Please review our Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Come and join us!

The Opportunity

In a period when technology is becoming more and more common in students' educational experiences, it is important to research effective strategies, programs, and products that enhance learning experiences. As a Research Assistant in the Learning and Technology area, you will contribute to research and development projects that aim to improve student learning and engagement. To steer this research, you will serve as a core member of multiple teams of other dedicated education researchers to develop, evaluate, and strengthen our understanding of which strategies, programs, and products work for K-12 and college students. This position helps create knowledge that guides the design and use of educational technology, resulting in more engaging and effective learning. You will advance these goals by being responsible for four core areas: study planning and preparation, research activities, dissemination and outreach, and administrative support. You will also get to utilize your content expertise and project management skills to develop proposals to expand this important work across the country.

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.

Core Focus Areas

Study Planning and Preparation

• Recruit study participants


• Secure district agreements


• Manage study participants


• Create and sustain relationships with teachers, district administrators, and other partners

Research Activities

• Perform classroom observations


• Lead think-aloud/usability studies and focus groups


• Conduct teacher and student interviews


• Develop and administer surveys


• Perform literature searches and literature reviews


• Work with spreadsheets and data for qualitative and/or quantitative analyses

Dissemination and Outreach

• Contribute to research and evaluation reports and proposals


• Create short papers, infographics, other materials to convey findings to clients, researchers, practitioners and policymakers


• Prepare presentations for clients and conferences

Administrative Support

• Coordinate and contribute to proposal development


• Create and modify templates for proposals and reports


• Manage timelines and communicate deadlines


• Process payments and invoices

What We're Looking For

To help us make a positive impact on learners from numerous racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, we'll need someone who has:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills


• Excited to use new educational technologies


• Basic research experience (general understanding of the research/evaluation process)


• Ability to think critically about complex problems, break down those problems into manageable parts, and engage in creative problem solving to achieve practical and efficient solutions


• Proficient with developing organizational structures (e.g., developing Box data structures, Smartsheet timelines)


• Strong organizational skills/attention to detail and time management


• Comfortable with fast-paced, quick turnaround projects and timelines


• Ability to manage multiple priorities efficiently

Other degrees, skills, abilities, and experiences of interest

• Ability to understand and navigate the complexities of school systems and academic and curricular policy to students


• Background in STEM, psychology, education or related fields


• Quantitative and Qualitative data analysis expertise


• Data visualization


• Spanish or additional language skills


• Ability to travel to schools and sites in the SF Bay Area

This position is based in the SF Bay Area and requires travel to other WestEd offices or school or district sites on an as-needed basis.

Culture of the Learning and Technology Team

We are a group of 40 people who are committed to improving equity and accessibility for learning in the digital age. We develop and research promising technological innovations across content domains, including digital-era disciplines like computer science, computational thinking, and data science.

We believe in the importance of being nimble and competitive to provide the highest quality insights for clients and stakeholders, and collaborate with colleagues across our division, which includes the Mathematics as well as the Science and Engineering Content Area teams. In fact, our project teams are often dynamic, which means that we can be working on a number of different project teams at any given time. This organizational structure creates more coherence across our work, consistency in the quality of our work, and clarity for staff on opportunities for career advancement across multiple pathways and job families that are all critical to the long-term impact and success of our work.

Perks and Benefits

In addition to WestEd's comprehensive benefits, which include paid parental leave, multiple health care options, flexible spending health care accounts (FSAs), and commuter support, our team values flexibility and offers flexible work hours as well as the ability to work remotely. Whether you work on site, from home, or a variation, WestEd aims to provide you with a safe and comfortable work environment and even offers ergonomic evaluations to make your work environment the best for you!

Committed to the diversity of race, ethnicities, perspectives, and opportunities, WestEd offers a variety of ways to build community, including Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), affinity groups (e.g., WestEd Parents), and professional learning communities (PLCs) for Data Intelligence, Insights, Innovation, and Women in Tech, just to name a few. We hope you'll consider joining us to build better schools, communities, learning pathways, and more!

WestEd's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In our internal efforts to ensure that all staff feel supported and are able to succeed in their professional lives, we have specifically committed to:

• Assuming individual and collective responsibility for building an organizational culture characterized by acceptance, respect, support, and safety for all groups and individuals.


• Creating diverse teams (e.g., by race, ethnicity, gender identity) in all aspects of our work, from responding to RFPs to delivering services.


• Ensuring that staff have equitable access to resources, technology, and opportunities (e.g., to participate in leadership, to engage in professional learning).


• Engaging in equity-focused self-reflection and learning to overcome our own biases in order to build an inclusive workplace.

In our external work, we have specifically committed to:

• Illuminating and addressing disparities by identifying and working to resolve inequities within the systems in which we work.


• Valuing and elevating the diverse voices - including the knowledge, expertise, capacity, and experiences - of those with whom we work, particularly people of color and other historically marginalized groups.


• Ensuring equitable access to WestEd-developed resources and services for diverse communities, including those that are underserved.

Note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Successful candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

SALARY:Salary for this role is competitive, set at WestEd Level E and commensurate with experience.