Research Associate - Part-Time

This position is with the Institute for Learning at the Learning Research and Development Center.
Research Associate Leadership Development and ELA, with deep experience in Coaching school and district administrators and teachers

This is a part-time position, with about 10% effort.

Reports to: Executive Director Institute for Learning

The Institute for Learning (IFL), housed at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center seeks a highly qualified educator to join the Leadership and ELA teams.  The position involves work to improve the quality of teaching and learning for all students in large urban middle and high schools.  The Fellow will work with both administrators and teachers.

The Research Associate joins a small team of fellows. The team plans and implements professional development for school and district leaders in school districts.  This job requires an advanced degree (M.A., M.S., Ph.D., Ed.D.); experience designing and implementing, and/or coaching professional development for principals, central leaders, and teachers; possess excellent communication skills, a demonstrated commitment to collaboration and flexibility, excellent knowledge of improvement science, and a deep understanding of the IFL curriculum and ways of working.

The position entails the following:
•    collaborating with the Leadership and ELA teams on the design of professional development sessions and materials for principals and central office leaders, and teachers in IFL’s partner school districts;
•    writing professional learning sessions (face to face and online) with the potential to engage adult learners in addressing content and instructional issues for leadership and coaching
•    traveling to school districts to provide on-site support for planning and implementing the districts’ leadership plan;
•    facilitating and co-facilitating professional development sessions in IFL partner districts on site and online;
•    supporting district teams to review, develop and/or revise their leadership culture to support instructional improvement;
•    collecting artifacts (e.g., video, student work samples, teacher work samples) for the development of tools for use in districts.
•    collaborating with disciplinary leaders within the IFL, LRDC, and School of Education.

The candidate will be expected to travel to various locations where the IFL has contractual obligations.  The level of travel may vary from 30% to 40% of the Research Associate’s contracted days.  

The following are specific responsibilities of the position:
1.    Design, Enact and Reflect on Professional Learning Experiences for Principals and Central Leaders
•    Create a realistic, multi-year plan with measurable outcomes that are connected to data that identify district needs. The plan will target one or several district role groups (e.g., teachers, coaches, and school and district administrators) and will meet the IFL contractual obligations for each district to which he or she is assigned.
•    Become knowledgeable about each district context including the district’s programs, student achievement data, district and state mathematics standards, and assessments, prior history with coaching, etc. to inform each plan.
•    Implement each plan by designing research-based learning opportunities to develop school and district instructional leadership content and pedagogical knowledge. Facilitate the learning experiences for each role group.
•    Reflect with other team members, using the facilitation experience and written feedback from participants, on evidence of participant learning and implications for next learning.
•    Document the work in each district through the history of the work record, written notes of meetings and phone calls, written feedback from session participants, and an annual summary report of the work.
2.    Develop Tools to Advance the Work of the Team
•    Contribute to the ongoing development of Leadership curriculum modules.
•    Organize, direct and edit leadership video examples of the content and pedagogical practices.
•    Produce content for administrative tools.
3.    Work Collaboratively to Advance the Work of the Team
•    Actively participate in all IFL Week and other meetings and IFL mixed disciplinary meetings.
•    Collaborate effectively when representing the team on committees in districts.
•    Contribute to developing grant proposals.
•    Develop and participate in conference presentations.
•    Participate in writing journal articles and other publications about team/district work.
•    Adhere to workflow timelines in preparing materials for production.
4.    Contribute to the Organizational Advancement of the IFL
•    Work with colleagues on the Leadership team, ELA, and other content teams to develop a coherent program of Leadership support for IFL districts