Data Scientist
- Job Title
- Data Scientist
- Job ID
- 27407835
- Description
-
About Mass Insight
Mass Insight Education & Research is a Boston-based nonprofit serving schools and districts nationwide. Our mission is to provide leadership in closing achievement and opportunity gaps for underserved students by focusing on system transformation and student academic success. Mass Insight is a leader in education reform, providing academic programs, research, and strategic consulting services across the United States. We take a design-based approach to implementing our theory of action by building networks, coherence, and capacity in order to make learning rigorous for all students.
We seek to dramatically improve student achievement at scale by transforming state and local education systems, structures, and policies. We also work directly with schools and districts to develop, implement and assess plans to improve school and district performance. Mi organizes its work around our theory of action for improving schools:
.png)
Data Scientist Position Summary
Mass Insight is growing! We are seeking to fill a critical new position on the Research & Impact team. The Data Scientist, reporting to the Director of Research & impact is a senior level position for the organization. With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mass Insight aims to launch a Network for School Improvement focused on College Readiness. The Data Scientist will be responsible for all data collection and reporting related to Mass Insight’s College Readiness Network (the CRN).
Primary Responsibilities:
- Collaborating with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation data support partners to ensure timely and accurate data collection related to all aspects of the Foundation’s formative and summative evaluation of the Networks for School Improvement initiative,
- Collaborating with the Director of Research & Impact to develop and operationalize a measurement system to test the CRN’s evolving theory of improvement,
- Analyzing and reporting the CRN’s progress towards its outputs and outcomes,
- Creating clear, concise, and visually appealing data dashboards and visualizations to support the work of school teams and the network as a whole,
- Collaborating with site-based coaches to help school teams collect and make meaning from local data collected as part of ongoing Plan Do Study Act cycles,
- Supporting the implementation of the Networked Improvement Learning and Support (NILS) platform to facilitate social learning and improvement testing within the CRN,
- Supporting the use of improvement science tools and techniques to build Mass Insight’s capacity to lead the CRN and refine the CRN’s model and approach.
The table below describes the competencies Mi expects all staff at the Data Scientist level to model. Given the nature of the work described above, Mi will place special emphasis on:
- Quantitative and qualitative research skills, including measure identification/instrument design, psychometric testing, and inferential statistics,
- Experience managing and performing analyses with large, complex student-level data sets,
- Experience creating clear, concise, and visually appealing data dashboards and visualizations, and
- Experience using and helping others make sense of quantitative and qualitative data.
This is a Boston-based position, at least initially, and the Data Scientist should expect to travel, on average, once to twice monthly to schools in MA, CT, or RI.
Qualifications
Mass Insight has identified a set of Core Competencies that it expects to see in all staff members. Candidates for the Data Scientist position should demonstrate competence in each of the following areas at the level described:
Core Competencies
Data Scientist Expectations
Champions our Theory of Action
Understands, commits to and furthers our theory of action.
- Understands and helps others to understand how the CRN can advance each element of Mi’s theory of action
- Contributes to efforts to develop and operationalize the CRN’s theory of improvement
Communicates effectively
Listens, writes, speaks and presents in a manner that both conveys accurate information and motivates others to take relevant action.
- Actively listens and efficiently gathers and organizes relevant information
- Adjusts communication style depending on the audience and purpose
- Clearly expresses technical concepts to a non-technical audience
- Creates clear, concise, and visually appealing data dashboards and visualizations
- Contributes to Mi’s knowledge and outreach through publications and speaking
- Capably represents Mi with partners and other stakeholders
Continuously builds both education & specific subject-matter expertise.
Brings and continuously grows both education and specific subject matter expertise within and outside the education field.
- Has a solid and growing understanding of education reform (history, current research, emerging topics) and draws connections to Mi’s work
- Has a working understanding of improvement science
- Identifies or develops instruments (surveys, interview protocols, etc.) to capture changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.
- Examines the psychometric properties (e.g., reliability and validity) of quantitative and qualitative measures.
- Creates, cleans, and ensures the accuracy of large and/or complex student-level data sets
- Performs a range bivariate and multivariate analyses independently
- Codes and identifies themes qualitative data independently
- Expertise in STATA and at least one data visualization application
- Proficient in NVIVO or a similar qualitative platform
Effectively works as a team player
Operates with self-awareness, maintains a sense of humor and rolls up sleeves to support the team.
- Effectively manages both team process and products to meet MI and partner goals
- Energizes others through a sense of optimism and commitment to the work.
- Provides recognition to teammates for behaviors that support and advance the work
- Establishes positive and productive team norms, models those norms and holds team accountable for adhering to them.
Establishes partner trust
Builds trust through reliability, credibility and empathy.
- Develops trusted advisor relationships with partners that extend beyond individual projects
- Understands partner challenges and anticipates partner needs
- Consistently balances candor and transparency without antagonizing the partner
Facilitates effectively
Leverages a variety of protocols, tools and adult learning techniques in order to engage groups in learning, problem-solving, decision-making and action-planning.
- Meaningfully contributes to the planning and facilitation of data exploration and meaning-making meetings
Believes in and grows people
Believes in and grows people and resilient in the face of challenge.
- Energizes others through a sense of optimism and commitment to the work
- Intentionally builds the skills and knowledge of both Mi staff and partners
- Provides feedback to other staff in a positive and constructive manner
Manages projects to impact despite ambiguity
Gets it done, even where there’s grey area and obstacles.
- Makes effective decisions and prioritizes the work of self and/or team members based on partner and contract needs
- Comfortable adapting to change and helps teammates manage their response
- Helps internal and external teams maintain focus on key objectives while being responsive to on the ground complexities.
Promotes Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness
Works effectively in culturally diverse environments and enacts a commitment to equity and to the full inclusion of all stakeholders.
- Interacts in both internal and external relationships with a high level of self-awareness, recognizing how identity can impact perception and action
- Uses facilitation techniques to promote honest dialogue and expression of diverse, at times dissenting, perspectives to advance the work
- Supports an inclusive team culture that encourages diverse perspectives and innovative thinking
- Cultivates, develops, and helps retain diverse and skilled staff
- Identifies and challenges cultural assumptions at the individual, team, and organizational levels
Solves complex problems systematically
Breaks problems into their component parts, analyzes a variety of data, takes broader conditions into consideration, and systematically devises solutions that match problems.
- Organizes projects to meet objectives in a timely manner
- Provides strong solutions to all problems related to data management and analysis for Mass Insight’s CRN
In addition to demonstrating the core competencies described above, a Data Scientist must have a bachelor’s degree. A master’s degree or comparable past experience is preferred but not required.