Research Analyst

BASIC FUNCTION

Under the direction of the Chief Technology Officer or designee, organizes, designs, conducts, monitors, and reports on in-house and contracted District research and evaluation projects; designs and conducts advanced data analysis from various data sources; collaborates with teachers, site and District administrators, university personnel government agencies, and grant partners; interprets data to provide information and assistance for institutional planning, decision-making, program planning and other measures of institutional effectiveness; and performs other related work as required.

Employment Standards

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Any combination of experience, education and training that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical combination would be the following:

EDUCATION:

• Required: A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a major in education, behavioral or social science, psychology, psychometrics, or a related field with a minimum of 12 semester units of course work in advanced statistics, research methodology or psychological testing is required.
• Preferred: A Master’s degree in one of the designated fields.

EXPERIENCE:

• Required: Three years of experience in the development, administration and advanced analysis of data.
• Preferred: Experience performing research analysis for a school district.
• Substitution Option: A Master’s degree in one of the designated fields may substitute for two years of required experience.

LICENSES AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

• License/Insurance Certification:
• Possession of a valid, appropriate California driver's license at time of appointment, and throughout employment in a position in this classification.Proof of current California auto liability insurance at time of appointment, and throughout employment in a position in this classification.

Personal transportation for job-related travel throughout the District.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

KNOWLEDGE OF (Typically learned through formal training or education):

• Theories, principles, and practices associated with educational research design and program evaluation.
• Ethical guidelines in statistics, psychometrics and research; theory guided practices of research design
• Descriptive and inferential statistics including regression and HLM, Bayesian estimations, multilevel modeling and multivariate analysis.
• Principles and strategies for test equating.
• Sampling theory and variations of random sampling.
• Data structures and relationships to support data entry, retrieval, and conversion techniques.
• Computer systems including hardware, programming, software, and database management.
• Statistical computer applications and programming thereof.
• Federal and State laws, rules and regulations concerning educational programs.

SKILL TO (Typically attained through formal training or practice):

• Analyze, interpret, evaluate and summarize complex data to produce reports.
• Design and conduct educational research studies and surveys.
• Keep abreast of changes in research design and statistical methodologies in education, psychology and social sciences.
• Develop operational definitions for research questions and resources.
• Prepare reports using tabular, graphical, visual and narrative forms.
• Apply specific statistical techniques appropriately and accurately.
• Use computer online retrieval systems.
• Use office productivity applications such as spreadsheets, statistical and simulation applications, and presentation graphics.
• Perform intricate, multiple computer database programming functions, including data manipulation and conversion.
• Conduct training on assessment, report interpretation, and program evaluation.
• Interpret and apply local, State and Federal laws, rules and regulations concerning educational programs.
• Communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in written format; in a manner that is sufficiently understandable by other district personnel.
• Use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of particular data analysis methods in order to identify the optimal route.

ABILITY TO (Typically a personal quality attained without formal training, education, or practice):

• Learn and appropriately apply District rules, policies, procedures, and regulations related to the position.
• Exercise sound judgment.
• Multi-task while maintaining patience and flexibility.
• Learn and acquire new skills to keep up with advances in the application of emerging advancements in the field of data analysis.
• Understand and carry out both oral and written instructions.
• Establish and maintain cooperative and effective working relationships with others.
• Work independently with little direction.
• Organize time and complete all assigned work efficiently and within scheduled timelines.
• Adapt to changing priorities and work assignments.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Employees in this classification sit and stand for extended periods of time.
• May occasionally lift, push, pull and/or move up to 25 pounds, unassisted.
• Must bend at the waist, as well as kneel, stoop, or crouch repeatedly to assist students.
• Employees may reach overhead, as well as, above the shoulders and horizontally.
• Must have dexterity of hands and fingers to demonstrate activities or run instructional equipment.
• Must be able to hear normal voice conversation and speak clearly to exchange information, make presentations, hear in a noisy environment and locate the source of a sound.
• Must be able to read a variety of materials and monitor student activities as required.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Employees in this classification work inside.
• Work in direct contact with other District staff.
• Exposure to minor contagious illnesses (colds, flu, etc.).
• Work independently with little supervision.
• High volume of work and tight deadlines, and continuously changing priorities and interruptions.

Examples of Duties

Note: The duties below are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees in this classification, and are not to be interpreted as an exhaustive list of responsibilities.

SPECIALIZED ESSENTIAL DUTIES (Typically only performed in this classification):

• Performs a variety of professional activities involved in the research, collection, analysis, interpretation and reporting of data and statistics to provide information and assistance to educational partners.
• Prepares a variety of narrative and statistical records, reports and files related to institutional planning, research projects, data analysis, analytical methods, findings, and conclusions with analysis and interpretations of data in tabular, graphical, visual and narrative forms for a variety of educational partners.
• Receives and evaluates requests for data, statistical analysis, research projects and studies.
• Designs data collection instruments appropriate to the program or subject matter under study and selects appropriate scaling techniques,
• Inputs and codes a variety of data; creates queries, extracts and manipulates information, develops tables, spreadsheets, graphs, infographics and data visualizations, and generates links to data; records and reports data for use in projects studies and analysis.
• Coordinates research design and data collection activities; develops and participates in the selection of District, site and community assessments, instruments, and surveys for planning and evaluation purposes; performs data collection and analysis.
• Performs quality assurance review of collected data via random sampling and other appropriate techniques.
• Utilizes a broad range of advanced research and statistical methodologies such as descriptive statistics, exploratory data analysis, Bayesian estimations, psychometric indices for item quality, reliability and validity, factor analysis, scaling, regression, multilevel modeling, multivariate analysis, focus groups, interviews, and other assessments for qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
• Uses appropriate statistical techniques and related analyses to provide assistance to staff, faculty, administrators and others concerning institutional effectiveness for District and school-level achievement assessments; responds to inquiries and provides technical information concerning related projects, reports, research, practices, policies and procedures.
• Estimates the time, schedule, and necessary resource requirements for the conducting of studies, surveys and production of reports; initiates and coordinates survey rollout; monitors survey completion rates; develops survey summaries.
• Provides support to the District’s strategic and operational planning processes by assisting departments with the development of strategies and goals; conducts training on the uses and purposes of research studies and program evaluation.
• Evaluates the outcomes of state and federal educational programs.
• Reviews program designs to assess accountability.
• Maintains accurate and confidential data files; conducts literature research; reviews and maintains current research literature.

GENERAL ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Provides data for compliance reporting to local, state, and federal agencies
• Presents data-based output to appropriate educational partners in a format understandable to the community.
• Attends a variety of meetings; represents the department and participates in various committees and meetings.
• Communicates with administrators, staff, vendors, consultants, personnel and outside organizations to coordinate activities and programs.
• Develops and maintains collaborative working relationships.
• Maintains a variety of records, reports and files.
• Operates a computer and assigned software for completion of duties
• Performs related duties as assigned.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $6,479.00 - $8,846.00 per month

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person