[on behalf of Neil Heffernan & Megan Silander]
Hi Fellow EDMers!
I have a friend who is funding this cool EDM position for a person to work
at EDC with the massive NWEA data set (if you don't know NWEA they are a
cool adaptive testing company used by schools at least twice a week per kid
per year, so they can can compute a value added score per teachers and see
who is learning). It's a wicked cool opportunity to see what can be
learned from this data set. Apply directly to them please. Good luck!
Neil Heffernan
Middle School Math Data Collaborative – Postdoc Position
The Education Development Center (EDC), in partnership with Northwest
Evaluation Association (NWEA), is looking for a post-doctoral research data
scientist to join a new research effort, the Middle Grades Math Data
Collaborative. The Collaborative will engage a postdoctoral researcher and
research staff at EDC and NWEA in mining ‘big data’ that consists of
national student interim assessment data from over 10 million students
across the US. The purpose is to better illuminate the growth patterns of
specific mathematics skills for struggling middle-grades students and to
identify promising interventions and practices to improve student learning.
The ultimate goal is to bring new, actionable insights into how educational
systems can more effectively meet the needs of struggling mathematics
learners. The postdoc will have the opportunity to collaborate with EDC and
NWEA researchers with expertise in mathematics learning and instruction as
well as measurement and psychometrics.
The post-doctoral researcher must have quantitative methods expertise and
research experience using large-scale student achievement data to identify
patterns and relationships, including predictive modeling. The position
likely will be based in New York City where EDC offices are located
(Waltham, MA is also a possibility) and will include travel to Portland,
OR, where NWEA is located.
The work will begin in Spring 2019; this may be a part- or full-time
position, depending on the candidate.
Background:
Despite overall increases in mathematics scores in recent years,
achievement gaps related to social class and race persist and are largely
unchanged over the past 15-20 years. These gaps have been particularly
persistent in the middle grade years: while math achievement gaps among the
nation’s fourth graders have narrowed somewhat over this time, achievement
gaps evident in 8th grade have not narrowed. A central hypothesis,
supported by empirical evidence, is that students who struggle in the
middle grades need help specifically with the transition from arithmetic to
abstract mathematics. The past decade has seen tremendous investments in
curricula and pedagogies aimed at helping middle grades students develop
the necessary skills and closing the achievement gap, with little evidence
of widespread impact. There is a clear need for interventions that can
support middle school students who struggle with mathematics.
The link to apply is here:
https://www.candidatemanager.net/cm/p/pJobDetails.aspx?mid=YEVYF&sid=UEVD&jid=GTDDBFAZ&a=YdsMfmmX1iQ%253d
For more information, contact: Megan Silander, msilander@xxxxxxx