(6/12/08) Jop Opportunity - Community Center Assistant Exec Director

> Job Posting
> Hattie B. Cooper Community Center
> Assistant Executive Director
>
>
> The Hattie B. Cooper Community Center has been providing high quality
> education to children in Roxbury and the surrounding neighborhoods for
> over 90 years. Cooper provides services for children one month to twelve
> years thorough our Infant and Toddler, Preschool, Afterschool and Summer
> Camp programs.
>
> We are currently seeking an Assistant Executive Director who will
> collaborate with and support the Executive Director with overall center
> leadership including operations management, development of quality
> programs in accordance with guidelines established by Cooper Community
> Center, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC),
> NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) and NAA
> (National Afterschool Association), and development of positive
> relationships with parents, children, families and clients. Primary duties
> include ensuring the provision of high-quality services to our client base
> including children and parents, human resources and infrastructure/systems
> management, and developing/maintaining on-going relationships with parents
> and others. Successful candidates will be able to promote sound
> decision-making within the agency, coordinate and promote activities that
> will achieve organizational objectives, and represent the agenc!
> y in the local and professional communities.
>
> Candidates should have the following qualifications:
> Complete understanding of EEC Regulations
> Director II Qualified.
> Extensive Knowledge of childcare and youth programs
> Strong organizational skills
> Strong verbal and written skills
> 8-10 years direct supervision experience
> Minimum BA degree In Early Education or relevant field
>
> If intersected please send resume to:
>
> Deb Ansourlian
> Executive Director
> Hattie B. Cooper Community Center
> 1891 Washington Street
> Roxbury, MA 02118
>
> Dansourlian@cooperctr.org
>

(6/11/08) position Announcement-juvenile justice research

PROGRAM OFFICER - JUVENILE JUSTICE
Program on Human and Community Development
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Chicago, IL

BACKGROUND:
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent
grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster
lasting improvement in the human condition. Through the support it provides,
the Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual
creativity, helps strengthen institutions, helps improve public policy, and
provides information to the public, primarily through support for public
interest media. The Foundation makes grants through four programs and by
making program-related investments.
The Program on Global Security and Sustainability focuses on international
issues, including peace and security, conservation and sustainable
development, population and reproductive health, and human rights. The
program also supports initiatives in Russia and Nigeria, particularly
concerning the improvement of higher education. International offices are
located in Mexico, India, Nigeria, and Russia.
The Program on Human and Community Development operates primarily within the
United States. Issues of interest to the program include community and
economic development; affordable housing, with a particular emphasis on the
preservation of rental housing; education, with a focus on digital media and
learning; and system reform in juvenile justice, and mental health. In
addition to grants, the program makes program-related investments, primarily
for affordable housing and U.S.-based community development financial
institutions.
The General Program supports public interest media, including public radio
and the production of independent documentary film. Grants are made to arts
and cultural institutions in the Chicago area and for special initiatives,
currently including intellectual property rights in a digital environment.
The MacArthur Fellows Program awards five-year, unrestricted fellowships to
individuals across all ages and fields who show exceptional merit and
promise of continued creative work. It is limited to U.S. citizens and other
residents of the United States.
GENERAL SUMMARY AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
This Program Officer will be responsible for managing grantmaking activities
with a focus on juvenile justice and related issues including neuroscience
in the law. The Program Officer will craft and implement grantmaking
strategies; identify prospective grant recipients; review and evaluate
proposals; prepare grant descriptions for administrative and board
consideration; maintain relationships with individuals and organizations
relevant to the fields of interest; monitor the performance of grantees and
the implementation of grant strategies; organize meetings with prospective
grantees, grantees and program advisors; represent the Foundation at
program-related meetings and conferences; and participate in planning future
program strategies.

PROGRAM OFFICER - JUVENILE JUSTICE
Program on Human and Community Development
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Chicago, IL

ABOUT THE POSITION:
Specific responsibilities will involve all facets of the Foundation's
juvenile justice reform initiative, Models for Change
(www.modelsforchange.net). This national initiative is an effort to create
successful and replicable models of juvenile justice reform through targeted
investments in four key states-Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and
Washington-where comprehensive systems change efforts are underway. In
addition, 12 states receive support to participate in action networks
focusing on mental health, disproportionate minority contact, and juvenile
indigent defense. Reporting to the Program Director, the program officer
will build, maintain, and strengthen relationships with state and local
leaders involved in Models for Change, and coordinate and provide oversight
of national grantees who serve as a resource network for all the states.
Significant exposure to and experience in juvenile justice systems change
and improvement is highly desired. Ability to travel regularly is required.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE:
Ideal applicants will have seven to ten years experience in juvenile justice
policy or related areas. Advanced graduate training is required and
experience as a practitioner or policy professional is desirable. Attorneys
are encouraged to apply. Candidates must have deep knowledge and
appreciation - based on practical "on the ground" experience - of the
substance and dynamics of public policy relevant to juvenile justice reform,
including other child and family serving institutions and systems. The
ability to make effective connections among state and local officials, the
courts, and practitioners is essential. Other qualifications include strong
interpersonal skills and proven ability to function as part of a team and
excellent oral and written communications, including the ability to write
for publication, and make speeches and other public presentations.
Candidates should have demonstrated ability to be well-organized and
efficient at managing multiple tasks, self-confidant, diplomatic and
collegial, with high professional standards and good judgment.

APPLICATION:

To apply, candidates should visit www.macfound.org and click on "About the
Foundation" and then "Career Opportunities". (Electronic Submissions are
preferred.) Application deadline: June 30, 2008.

Contact Information:
Search Director
Human Resources Department
The MacArthur Foundation
140 S. Dearborn Street, Suite 1200
Chicago, IL 60603-5285
No Phone Inquiries

The Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer and benefits from the
various perspectives and talents of a racially and culturally diverse staff.

(6/1/08) Senior Research Coordinator Position at UPenn

Senior Research Coordinator Position at the University of Pennsylvania
(dependent on funding; this position has not been finalized)

Duties:
The University of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine invites individuals with
experience in the education and treatment of children with psychiatric and
developmental disabilities to apply for a position in the Center for Mental
Health Policy and Services Research (CMHPSR), located in the Department of
Psychiatry. The CMHPSR consists of a group of multidisciplinary faculty and
staff who research the organization, financing and delivery of mental health
care to individuals in a variety of settings. The position requires the
ability to function as a member of a multidisciplinary research team and to
provide support to various levels of leadership.

The overall responsibility of this senior staff position will be to
coordinate and provide detailed logistical support for a community-based
randomized trial for children with autism. The person in this position will
report directly to the principal investigator and will work with him on a
daily basis to ensure successful completion of the study. Specific
responsibilities include:
. Assisting in the development of research and training protocols
. Developing and implementing quality assurance mechanisms for
adherence to research protocols
. Overseeing the development of procedures for recruitment and
tracking research participants during the course of the study, and for
ensuring valid data collection and entry
. Recruiting, interviewing and hiring research assistants
. Training research assistants on standards of community-based
research and specific research protocols
. Acting as a senior representative of the research team in meetings
with school district personnel, classroom staff, program trainers and
families
. Coordinating meetings and developing other mechanisms for sharing
information among the research team, district personnel, classroom staff and
families of enrolled children
. Assisting in recruitment and retention activities for teachers and
families

Qualifications:
A master's degree in psychology, sociology, social work, education or other
social science field is required; a doctoral degree is preferred. At least
three years experience in an applied research setting or large school
district is required. At least 3 years of supervisory experience is
required.

The successful Candidate will have excellent communication and
organizational skills. The candidate will have strong leadership skills and
abilities and have experience and comfort in delivering formal and informal
presentations. The successful candidate will have the ability to encourage
and motivate members of different components of the project to stay on task
throughout the course of the study. This individual must possess the
ability to work independently and as part of a large team, and the ability
to prioritize assignments and bring multiple tasks to completion
concurrently. The successful candidate also will have some background in
research methods, strong academic writing skills and be able to contribute
to the scholarly activities of the project.

Interested applicants should contact David Mandell, ScD, at
mandelld@mail.med.upenn.edu

(5/27/08) Research Assistant Needed for DevTech Research Lab

Prof. Marina Bers is looking for a MA or PhD student with interest and
expertise in research in early childhood education (with a special focus on
research methodologies and evaluation) to work as a Research Assistant (RA)
for an upcoming NSF grant that looks at the role of tangible computer
programming in helping young children learn. This is an interdisciplinary
project with the Computer Science department at Tufts.

The student will commit to a two year RA that will result in either a
Masters 's thesis or a qualifying paper (in the case of a doctoral student)
and will receive a stipend based on the current departmental rate and
his/her experience. He or she will collaborate closely with students in the
Computer Science department and will attend the weekly DevTech research
seminar. No previous knowledge of computer programming or robotics is
needed. However, the student needs to be willing to learn. Experience
conducting literature reviews and working with Kindergarten-aged children is
a plus.

Please send a CV and a couple of paragraphs about your interest in working
as an RA in the DevTech group (http://ase.tufts.edu/devtech/), and more
specifically about your interest in this particular project to
marina.bers@tufts.edu. Project summary is bellow.
Project Summary
This is a challenging time for early childhood education (K-2). On the one
hand, there are steeped up federally-mandated academic demands and a growing
concern to respect children's developmental stages. On the other hand, there
has not been yet a profound re-examination of the content, in particular in
the area of technology, that young children are able to learn, nor do we
have research-based evidence to evaluate children's developmental
possibilities with innovative technologies. However, in order to advance the
technological fluency of our nation's youth, we need to start in the early
years. This project proposes that when given age-appropriate technologies,
young children can actively engage in computer programming and robotics
activities in a way that is consistent with developmentally appropriate
practice. In particular, it proposes the creation of novel human-computer
interaction techniques to support learning with technology in early
elementary school, with a focus on kindergarten. This technology will allow
us to gather research-based evidence regarding the intellectually powerful
ideas that young children are able to understand, and build-upon, before
reaching what Piaget called the operational stage. In turn, this will allow
us to revisit our developmental assumptions. At the heart of this proposal
is the claim that, for a variety of reasons, modern graphical user
interfaces (GUI) are ill-suited for use in early elementary school
classrooms, especially for computer programming activities. Thus, this
project will focus on two aspects: 1) It will build on emerging tangible
user interface (TUI) technology to create a tangible programming language
for young children to control a robotic artifact. In short, rather than
using a mouse or keyboard to write programs to control robots, children will
instead construct programs by connecting "smart" wooden blocks shaped like
jigsaw puzzle pieces; 2) It will integrate inexpensive building materials
such as recyclables, with the use of select robotic parts, such as wheel and
motors that give functionality and movement. Current robotic construction
kits utilize materials such as LEGO, which can be very expensive and
challenging to use for young children with small hands. Our approach creates
a unique opportunity to separate the intellectual act of computer
programming and building in the physical world, from the confounding factor
of modern GUIs and complex mechanical constructions. And, in turn, provides
a means to build a better understanding of developmental capabilities of
young children with respect to computer programming.
The project team includes experts from the fields of child development,
learning technologies, computer science, and human-computer interaction from
Tufts Unversity. It has an extensive trajectory in engineering-base
educational research through robotics. Over the course of three years, the
project will build on existing research to develop novel technology and a
complementary kindergarten robotics-based curriculum , as well as a research
protocol and robotic-based experimental tasks that will enable us to
carefully study children's learning. The project will evaluate the
effectiveness of both the technology and the curriculum in kindergarten
classrooms by using the experimental tasks as well as ethnographic methods.
Intellectual Merit
The intellectual merit of this project resides in its potential
contributions to the fields of child development, early childhood education,
and human-computer interaction. From the point of view of human-computer
interaction, the merit of this project lies in the novelty of the proposed
interaction technique as well as the proposed formal design process and
evaluation. From the point of view of child development and early childhood
education, this project proposes to take an unprecedented look at what young
children can accomplish with technology when given tools that are truly
age-appropriate. The project also proposes a novel methodology for studying
young children's thinking when engaging in programming and robotics.

(5/20/08) Summer policy internship -- paid at child support enforcement

Summer Research Internship: The Massachusetts Department of Revenue's Child
Support Enforcement Division (CSE) seeks an energetic, self-directed,
graduate-level research intern for summer 2008. CSE's core mission is to
make a difference in the lives of children by enforcing the financial
responsibilities of parenthood. The intern will perform a variety of social
science, economic, demographic, and other types of research that will assist
CSE in developing policies that benefit the children of the Commonwealth.
Applicants should have strong writing skills. The intern will work in the
policy unit of CSE's central office in Boston. The position is paid and
full-time for the summer. To apply, email a resume and cover letter to
Peter Coulombe at coulombep@dor.state.ma.us

(5/20/08) Research Opportunity as Research Fellows, DC or NC

RESIDENT RESEARCH FELLOW
POSITION DESCRIPTION
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Harvard University's Project for
Policy Innovation in Education (PPIE) seek candidates to serve as Resident
Research Fellows. New Resident Fellows will serve in one of two districts:
the District of Columbia Public Schools or the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School
District in North Carolina. Resident Fellows will serve for two years and
play a critical role in improving the use of data in school districts.
First, Resident Fellows will provide senior district leadership with
critical new capacity to analyze data and translate findings into action.
They will perform analyses to inform district leadership's policy decisions
and, through this, make concrete the transformative potential of data.
Second, Resident Fellows will play an important role in a new PPIE-led
project to create a set of district performance diagnostics. Resident
Fellows will ensure data and communication flow appropriately between the
district and PPIE.
Third, Resident Fellows will keep track of district data strategies and data
gaps - identifying potential concerns from both research and district
leadership perspectives. During their fellowship Resident Fellows will help
the research team at Harvard stay grounded in the critical issues the
districts are facing as well as the local political and cultural context.
Finally, Resident Fellows will become part of a new network of
sophisticated, data-driven policy analysts shaping the next wave of school
improvement.
Major responsibilities:
.
Policy Analysis (50%). Resident Fellows will serve as policy analysts for
senior district staff, providing districts with additional capacity for
data-driven decision making at the district's highest levels. In this role
Fellows will:
-
Work with senior district staff to identify critical policy issues that
data, appropriately analyzed, could answer;
-
Assemble appropriate data from multiple data sources;
-
Perform "quick turnaround" analyses of the assembled data on the issues
identified above;
-
Leverage the PPIE Cambridge research team for methodological advice and
(potentially) analytic support in these analyses;
-
Report results and implications of the analyses - to the foundation, PPIE,
and the district;
-
Identify critical gaps in existing data and work to create possible
solutions;
-
Help ensure alignment across the district's various data and accountability
initiatives.
.
District Diagnostic (40%). Resident fellows will contribute to the creation
of district performance diagnostics. In this role Fellows will:
-
Identify data sources and owners within the district and collect the data
needed for the diagnostics;
-
Provide quality control on the data collected;
-
Understand nuances of the data that may not be obvious to the PPIE research
team (e.g., many high schools neglect to enter appropriate leave codes,
etc.), and ensure that the PPIE team is aware of any data or data
interpretation issues;
-
Understand senior district leadership concerns, priorities, and constraints
and ensure that the diagnostic work is aligned to these priorities;
-
Explain and represent the diagnostic process to stakeholders in the
district;
-
Perform some of the diagnostic analyses (generally the more methodologically
simple analyses);
-
Communicate intermediate findings back to district staff and ensure that
staff understands the implications of the findings for policy.
.
Community of Fellows (10%). Resident Fellows will be expected to participate
actively in building a community of Resident Fellows across the districts
and contribute to a new national-level, data-driven policy sector in
education. In this role Fellows will:
-
Travel to Cambridge and Seattle to participate in periodic meetings and
workshops sharing progress, analyses, and issues that have arisen with one
another;
-
Serve as support for Fellows in the other districts;
-
Identify critical policy areas in need of longer-term research projects.
Required skills and experience. Resident Research Fellows should be strong
in analytic problem solving, comfortable working with databases, and have at
least some experience with quantitative analysis. Equally important is
presence, the ability to quickly build credibility with senior district
staff, and the ability communicate complex research findings to a lay
audience.
Leadership, project management, and communication abilities are more
important in this job than knowledge of particular analytic techniques
(e.g., Bayesian shrinkage estimators). Thus EdDs and PhDs, but also MPPs,
MBAs, or EdMs, with strong analytic skills and proven leadership skills
should consider themselves appropriate candidates for this fellowship.
Specific skills/experience include:
-
Master's level exposure to quantitative analysis;
-
Prior experience in a school setting highly desirable;
-
Project management experience in commercial or nonprofit settings helpful;
-
Prior business consulting experience helpful;
-
Ability to thrive in a fluid environment with little explicit guidance and
multiple superiors (i.e., the superintendent, PPIE).
Resident Research Fellows will earn salaries of $80,000 - $90,000 per year.
Application process and deadlines. If you are interested in applying, please
submit a resume and cover letter describing your interest and what you would
bring to the fellowship. In your cover letter, please explicitly address
whether you would be available to serve the fellowship in Washington, DC,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, or both.
Applications are due by Friday, May 30th. Please send applications to:
Isis Randolph-McCree
c/o Alberta Garvin
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
P.O. Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102
Cover letters and resumes may also be emailed to
alberta.garvin@gatesfoundation.org. To ensure appropriate processing, please
use "Resident Research Fellow" as the subject line of the email.
First round interviews will occur on a rolling basis. Final interviews with
the districts will occur in the second half of June. Fellows are expected to
begin at the districts in July or August.

(5/09/08) Special Education Service Opportunity

Special-Education Service Opportunity

Who: Warm, kind, and passionate graduate student or advanced
undergraduate student (enrolled in child development, education,
psychology, human and therapeutic services programs) with enthusiasm
about special education and commitment to inclusion. Willingness to
receive additional training and work as part of a team.

What: Provide one-to-one in-classroom service for an 8 years-old boy
during school hours. The child, who is very affectionate and smart,
communicates using a combination of means, including basic ASL and a
hand-held communicative device.

Where: In the school he now attends (in Somerville) and the one he will
be going to next year. Options currently being considered include
schools in Cambridge, Watertown, and Lexington.

When: Starting as soon as possible for an initial two-month period.
After that, and conditioned on a number of factors to be explained to
those interested in the job, the service provider would be expected to
extend provision of services for the rest of the summer and the entirety
of the 2008-2009 school year. Depending again on a number of factors,
service could be extended indefinitely after the first year.

Compensation: Competitive compensation commensurate with background.
Part-time available.

Contact: Please send resume and contact information for references to
Paulo Barrozo at pbarrozo@law.harvard.edu.