The College Board: Policy Research Analyst

Working with the Executive Director of Policy Research and College Board staff, the Policy Research Analyst synthesizes existing scientific literature, designs rigorous methods for evaluating programs and policies, conducts statistical and econometric analyses, drafts papers and reports, and presents findings to internal and external policy and professional audiences. These tasks are carried out both independently and in collaboration with senior staff, other College Board research scientists, and external researchers.
 
The Policy Research group’s efforts focus on three broad areas of research: college preparation and access; college affordability and financial aid; and college admissions and completion. Working with policymakers and the education community, the successful candidate will work with this team to make critical connections between policy and real-world practice to improve college outcomes for all students. Through a strong program of research, scholarship, and balanced policy analysis, Policy Research will develop innovative approaches and solutions to the most pressing challenges facing education today.
 
An important dimension of the work of the Policy Research Analyst will be to maintain up-to-date knowledge about the state-of-the-art in education science across a broad range of policy-relevant disciplines and research knowledge bases. The successful candidate will be expected to evaluate the quality of external research, adjudicate potentially contradictory findings, and assist the Executive Director and senior leadership with ensuring that written material and public statements by the College Board are scientifically accurate and are based on the best research available—internal or external.
 
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS/RESPONSIBILITIES
• Develop and contribute to the Research department’s education policy research agenda.
• Maintain a body of research to support and further the Policy Research group’s focus on three broad areas of education policy research: college preparation and access; college affordability and financial aid; and college admissions and completion.
• Design and conduct rigorous education policy research using large-scale datasets.
• Collaborate with College Board staff and external agencies on the creation of new datasets for rigorous econometric analyses.
• Collaborate on research projects with external researchers and consultants.
• Provide support to Executive Director of Policy Research and College Board staff through advanced knowledge of the education policy literature and technical analyses of a wide variety of large-scale datasets.
• Candidates will have a Master’s degree in social science, education or a related field, or a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field with three or more years of relevant research experience.
• All candidates must be familiar with experimental and quasi-experimental research studies and able to rapidly and accurately analyze large datasets using advanced statistical methods and appropriate statistical software.
• Demonstrated proficiency in statistical software such as Stata, SAS, and/or SPSS and experience working with large-scale datasets is required.
• Familiarity and experience working with at least some existing sources of external education data (e.g. NCES, state or postsecondary unit record systems, National Student Clearinghouse). Experience undertaking policy-relevant research and a deep understanding of education policy issues and the research literature are highly desirable.
• Strong interest in working in a collaborative environment that emphasizes quality, rigor, and critical thinking
• Capability to translate research results into practical application
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively is essential
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking skills, listening and information processing and synthesizing skills
• Strong analytic and quantitative skills
• Experience with large-scale datasets
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to travel 5% of time
 
BENEFITS

We offer our employees an outstanding benefits package which includes 4 weeks of paid time off, a generous retirement savings plan, tuition reimbursement and ongoing professional development and training.

APPLY

If you are interested in joining the College Board in this position and you meet our qualifications, we encourage you to apply by visiting our Careers page at www.collegeboard.org/careers. Please search for the job title and submit your resume with a brief, introductory cover letter.

CBO Positions

The Congressional Budget Office has posted several new economist and analyst positions to the CBO website. We seek individuals with PhDs in economics or similar or Master's degrees with related experience for these openings. Specialty areas include labor economics, microsimulation, revenue estimation and tax policy, macroeconomics. We anticipate posting a new health economics position as well. We encourage you to inform student and alum of these openings.

People interested can view each announcement, register to receive job alerts, and apply online at www.cbo.gov/careers. Questions can be directed to me at careers@cbo.gov. Thank you for disseminating this information.

IAD Research Assistant Positions

The Research Department RES) of the Inter-American Development Bank seeks applications from recent university graduates for its highly selective Research Fellowship Program at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C.

RAs work side by side with RES economists on their research, providing valuable support while gaining incomparable experience. Individuals chosen for the program should be well qualified to perform a wide range of research activities for RES staff, including preparing papers, reports, and presentations, compiling and using databases, and performing econometric and statistical analyses.

RAs at RES typically have prospects of engaging in doctoral-level studies. In the recent past, former RAs have continued their studies in the economics departments of top universities including, but not limited to, MIT, the University of Chicago, UC-Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Brown University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Maryland, UCLA, Penn State University, Boston University, and Duke University.

Those interested in the Research Fellowship Program should apply by March 31, 2014. Candidates must be available to start work between June 1, 2014 and September 1, 2014. A complete job description and detailed application procedures are available here.



Qualifications:

Education:
Undergraduate degree in economics. Master’s degree in economics, public policy, or related field preferred

Experience:
Experience in applied research at a recognized university or research center. Strong background in econometrics, mathematics, and statistics. Experience with econometric packages such as Stata, MATLAB, or R advanced programming level, including setting up and maintaining Web pages, preferred. Demonstrated experience in at least one of the following areas: microeconomic, macroeconomic, political economy, and environmental and energy economics

Languages:
Fluency required in at least two of the Bank’s official languages: English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese

Apply online.

Deadline: March 31, 2014

New Entry Level Positions at the GAO

The General Accounting Office will be announcing several new entry level jobs openning in the beginning of March, including positions in  (1) the Professional Development Program  (rotating among teams), (2) the Health Care team, (3) the Financial Management and Assurance team, and (4) the Information Technology team. Check out USAJobs or GAO.gov for current job vacancies.