Senior Educational Technology Research Associate

About WestEd

As a community of over 1,000 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 diversity, equity, and inclusion on our Careers page at wested.org. Come and join us!

SPECIAL NOTICE REGARDING THE WORK LOCATION OF THIS POSITION—Although WestEd provides the option of working at one of its facilities for employees, many roles allow employees to choose to work remotely for their own convenience. The decision to allow remote work at the employee's convenience is based on the requirements of the position or project in question.

Content Area or Department Brief Description

Our team of approximately 40 people is 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 work 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.

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

The Opportunity

EdTech has the potential to transform schooling and reduce educational disparities, but questions remain about how to maximize its potential. This unrealized potential is an opportunity. The Educational Technology (EdTech) Senior Research Associate will chart the direction of WestEd’s EdTech portfolio serving as a leader within WestEd and the broader EdTech field to improve EdTech use and development. You will guide our approach towards partnering with EdTech developers, districts, and practitioners to enhance the use of EdTech for all students, collaborating with researchers, product developers, and practitioners to improve our understanding of how EdTech can best support teachers and learners.

As a senior member of the Learning and Technology area, the EdTech Research Associate will be responsible for four key areas: Providing EdTech leadership, proposal and resource development, dissemination and outreach, and leading formative and summative studies. You will also have the opportunity to use your content expertise to develop proposals for new work that improve the efficacy of EdTech across the country.

Core Focus Areas

Providing EdTech Leadership (40%)

• Chart the direction of WestEd’s EdTech portfolio by collaborating with senior leadership, other staff, and stakeholders.
• Provide leadership to our EdTech staff to support existing EdTech efforts.

Proposal and Resource Development (30%)

• Lead and contribute to grant proposals to expand WestEd’s EdTech portfolio.
• Determine which grants and funding opportunities to pursue to expand our EdTech work.

Dissemination and Outreach (15%)

• Write articles and prepare presentations of research and evaluation results for a variety of audiences, including peer-reviewed journals and academic conferences, practitioners, product developers, parents, and the general public.

Leading Formative and Summative Research Studies (15%)

• Overseeing research teams to design, implement, analyze, and report on studies of EdTech programs.
• Coordinate teams of research assistants collecting data, follow policies and procedures to maintain data security, and manage the data lifecycle for research projects.
• Ensure projects and outputs are aligned with WestEd’s equity mission https://www.wested.org/equity/

What We’re Looking For

To help us make a positive impact in EdTech, we’ll need someone who has the following:

• M.S. or Ph.D. in education, psychology, learning sciences, statistics, data science, or any field that provides the experience to perform the responsibilities outlined above
• Expert knowledge of the field of EdTech. A vision and ideas about how to move it forward.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and persuasion skills to push forward new ideas.
• Ability to collaborate with colleagues, clients, practitioners, and external partners from a wide variety of professional, educational, and cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to write and present to a wide variety of audiences (e.g., Researchers, Practitioners)

Other degrees, skills, abilities, and experiences of interest

• Contributions to successful federal grant proposals.
• Familiarity with the complexities of K-12 or postsecondary school systems as well as state and federal education policies.
• 5+ years of experience with evaluating educational technology products and/or user experience research methods.
• Expertise in developing EdTech products.
• Extensive experience working with districts and schools to effectively implement EdTech in practice.
• Experience with various educational programs designed to increase equity and broaden access to high-quality educational experiences for underrepresented groups.
• Expertise in applied cognitive science and the science of learning.

This position would ideally report to an office location in or near San Francisco, CA. Travel to other WestEd offices, research sites, and conferences is required on an as-needed basis.

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

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

The full salary range for this position, WestEd level I, is $133,360 to $200,000, but WestEd does not typically hire at or near the top of the salary range. The typical hiring range for this role is $133,360 to $166,700. The actual offer takes into account multiple factors, including but not limited to education; experience; internal equity, and other organizational needs.

In addition to the base salary, benefits include:

• 15% contribution toward retirement effective day 1 of employment (Example: Total Cash Compensation based on $100K annual salary + 15% ($15,000) = $115,000/yr with WestEd retirement contribution)

• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts

• All health/welfare benefits are effective first of the month following hire date

• PTO: 3 weeks vacation (increases to 4 weeks beginning the 4th year of employment), paid holidays, and 12 days paid sick leave per year

• Life Insurance: value of 3x gross salary (Example: Based on annual salary of $100K x 3 = $300,000 Life Insurance value)

• Opportunities for annual merit-based performance increases + annual incentives

• Professional development opportunities & mentorship program

For more detail about our benefits, go to: https://www.wested.org/work-at-wested/benefits/

Committed to the diversity of race, ethnicities, perspectives, and opportunities, WestEd offers a variety of social and professional learning communities, such as Employee Resource 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! #LI-Remote #LI-Hybrid

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)