Data Analysis & Visualization Assistant Director of Data and Learning
Job Description
Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) is seeking two Assistant Directors of Data and Learning to join CEI’s data team in our efforts to operate as a data-driven learning organization and to support our school and district partners to do the same. These positions will primarily serve as data coaches and lead within CEI’s career-connected learning, strategic planning, and school improvement portfolios, advising district and school partners on meaningful data use and facilitating action- oriented data inquiry and reflection with school and district leaders. Candidates should share particular areas of interest and aligned experience specific to these portfolio areas as part of their application materials.
CEI’s data team promotes continuous improvement both internally at CEI through project and organization-wide evaluation and externally with CEI district and school partners through data sensemaking, coaching, and facilitation. Our data work is anchored by the following key principles:
• Action orientation: We value data processes that inform action and avoid thought exercises.
• Disaggregation matters: Often aggregate data masks disparities. Examining differences across groups of students is critical to confronting persistent barriers to student success.
• Holistic view of data: We believe in the value of looking beyond traditional measures to include the lived experiences of students, educators, families, and other stakeholders.
• Data does not equal simple answers: Data often helps surface questions more than provides answers. We seek enough understanding to make different decisions.
The ideal candidates for these roles bring experience from a K-12 or higher education setting and are skilled at facilitating and designing continuous improvement processes. Candidates are passionate about meaningful data use and competent in data collection, cleaning and management, analysis, visualization, and reporting (including accessible and easy-to-use dashboards). Additionally, candidates can effectively build relationships and navigate data sharing processes across multiple partners, including district and school leaders, educators, higher education staff, and other nonprofit or technical assistance providers. Importantly, applicants should be passionate about working in K-12 education to evaluate and improve innovative systems, programs, and processes that drive equitable outcomes for all students.
The candidates are excited to join a team grounded in the CEI mindsets: dream big, act small, and pivot quickly; constant learning and adaptation; flexible, nimble, and purposeful; and partnership and service orientation. In addition to the qualifications included throughout this description, the candidates will exhibit belief in and comfort with the CEI Design Commitments, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; youth activation; family and community partnership; social emotional development; relevant learning; and leadership and change management.
About Colorado Education Initiative
CEI’s mission is to champion, empower, and ignite Colorado leaders to deliver on the promise of public education to develop thriving young people and flourishing communities. CEI is a nonprofit organization that works across the state as an implementation expert, strategic partner, and statewide convener. Over the past 15 years, we have partnered directly with educators and community members in over 150 urban, suburban, and rural school districts across Colorado, and we currently partner with 100 school districts. In addition to our field implementation work, we engage in important policy and innovation agendas in Colorado. Our success is driven by a passionate team of diverse individuals who truly enjoy working together.
We are committed to prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the work that we support across Colorado. We seek to identify and embed equity-seeking practices in our culture and talent systems and have made a focused set of investments in the related professional development of our team. We believe our work demands this because of the historic and current experiences in the school systems in which we operate and because we believe the outcomes that we seek for students require the prioritization of equity. In all roles, we welcome candidates who are eager to participate in and contribute to this work and whose lived experiences deepen our perspectives on the education system.
Responsibilities
Data Coaching, Advising, and Facilitation
- Collaborate with school and district partners to assess their data needs, challenges, and goals to develop meaningful and sustainable continuous improvement strategies tailored to their local context, while also ensuring alignment to CEI project and organizational goals.
- Partner with CEI teammates to design and facilitate data reflection sessions with district and school partners.
- Build the data capacity of district and school staff through coaching calls and in-person or virtual work sessions.
- Provide project leadership to partner teams, including acting as lead data contact within projects, managing project quality with multiple moving parts, and partnering with teams to anticipate opportunities and challenges in project progress and success. Initial data project leadership focus areas for this role could include:
1. District and school-level strategic and improvement planning efforts; and
2. Career-connected learning/work-based learning projects, which support students’ equitable access to and engagement in relevant career pathways and learning opportunities (such as internships, apprenticeships, and concurrent enrollment). - Package and present data to district and school partners in a concise and engaging manner, including across disparate data sources – both publicly available and local district or school data – and through easy-to-use dashboards and polished slide decks.
Progress Monitoring and Evaluation
- Collect or compile, analyze, and report on project and partner data to identify key learnings and inform project implementation, leveraging CEI-collected data (e.g., educator feedback forms, student surveys, focus groups with multiple stakeholders) and relevant existing data (e.g., chronic absenteeism, internship participation and completion, district or school-level student perception surveys, data from school or district performance frameworks).
- Oversee regular grant reporting to funders (e.g., state agencies, private foundations) on behalf of and in collaboration with school and district partners.
- Document and share project learnings throughout project lifecycles internally and externally.
Internal and External Collaboration and Thought Partnership
- Regularly contribute to and occasionally lead data work outside of each role’s primary portfolio, including for other projects or organization-wide efforts (e.g., administration and analysis of CEI’s annual partner survey).
- Regularly solicit and offer feedback on work led by the data team, including through intentional planning and preparation for one-on-one meetings with the Director of Data and Strategy and for data team meetings.
- Embody CEI’s culture of positivity and customer service internally and externally.
- Build new and maintain existing relationships with districts, schools, evaluators, and funders across Colorado.
- Learn new content, approaches, and processes and apply and share them within and outside of personal areas of expertise to advance the work of CEI and our partners.
Qualifications and Competencies
In addition to the competencies noted above, successful candidates will have at least seven years of professional experience in education or related sectors, with a proven track record of designing and implementing continuous improvement processes and fluency with some of the data types named above. Experience in K-12 education, higher education, or youth-serving organizations is a requirement, with strong preference given to candidates familiar with the Colorado K-12 ecosystem. Additionally, applicants should have experience with or a demonstrated interest in district or school-level strategic or improvement planning, career-connected learning, and/or work-based learning.
Candidates will anticipate and take the initiative to solve problems and know how to work across teams to build relationships and develop collaborative work products. They will have a record of working with humility and persistence to serve partners and teams to whom they are accountable, with outstanding interpersonal skills. They will be data savvy, organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously. The successful candidates will love working in Excel and ideally have experience working in survey platforms (e.g., Qualtrics). The individuals in these roles must be available and willing to travel as needed, approximately 5-10 percent of working days, mostly within Colorado.
Compensation
- Full-time position
- Annual salary commensurate with experience in a range of $80,000 – $90,000
- Competitive benefits package
- Hybrid work environment that includes some flexible scheduling and work-from-home options (with regular need to attend in-person meetings in Denver and across the state).
- CEI’s headquarters are in Denver, but if you live elsewhere in Colorado, we would love to talk with you.
