The Education Secretariat is committed to equity and valuing the unique and diverse characteristics and experiences of every member of its workforce. We encourage an authentic workplace where colleagues show up as their full selves, where collaboration, innovation, and connections are key to realizing our mission that all children, youth, and families thrive socially, academically, and economically. We seek teammates who are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive work environment, where everyone is valued and engaged. We encourage you to apply and identify your strengths in these areas.
This is a contract position funded through June 30, 2025, with the potential of extension through June 30, 2027 pending budgets in future fiscal years. The analyst will work a hybrid schedule, with a mix of remote and in-office work at the DESE offices in Everett, with other possible meetings in the Boston area or around the state as needed.
Please note that pursuant to Massachusetts general law, contracted employees are not paid for the eleven scheduled holidays, do not receive any paid, vacation, personal leave benefits, or contribute to the state retirement system or social security. As a state contracted employee, you must participate in direct deposit and contribute towards the Commonwealth of Massachusetts state alternate retirement plan, ("OBRA Plan").
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Education-to-Career Research and Data Hub is seeking a contracted employee to perform the following duties/essential duties.
Description
Massachusetts is building a unified, easy-to-use Education-to-Career (E2C) Research and Data Hub to serve educators, policymakers, and researchers by enhancing the scope and quality of existing data as well as improving the ways in which data and research are shared and utilized. This work builds on a strong foundation of existing integrated data systems across early childhood, K-12, higher education, and labor and workforce.
In July 2024, the E2C Hub project was awarded funding for the first year of a planned three-year capital investment project. As part of this exciting multi-year initiative, the Project Lead will play a key role leading initiatives to expand use of data by policymakers, agency staff, parents and families, and researchers. The Project Lead will work closely with the Executive Director to implement Year 1 deliverables while strategically planning for future years of the project. This is an excellent opportunity for a data-driven professional with leadership experience to contribute on a high-impact, innovative project.
Initiatives include:
• Linking education data to data from other agencies
• Building a platform to manage research proposals and provide data securely to researchers
• Continuing to expand the number of datasets in the E2C Hub
• Expanding outreach to help more users discover and use data in the E2C Hub
• Developing and launching innovative tools for data analysis, including exploration of AI
• Strengthening agency capacity for data analysis through training and improved documentation
Duties and Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
1. Strategic Leadership and Project Management
• Assist the Executive Director in overseeing the successful execution of the E2C capital project plan, ensuring milestones are met on time and budget is used effectively.
• Lead the development of project roadmaps for Years 2 and 3, including vision, project goals, resource planning, and budgeting for future years’ capital proposals.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director to supervise a team of 5 staff and a $1.5m contract with an IT services vendor, guiding prioritization, supporting team members to meet deliverable deadlines, and resolving issues.
• With support from the Executive Director, lead hiring and procurement processes to expand team capacity via staffing and vendors.
• Maintain project plans and task-tracking systems to keep projects on track and escalate issues and delays appropriately.
• Prepare for and lead monthly operational steering committee meetings and quarterly executive update meetings, with support from the Executive Director.
• Communicate effectively with non-technical agency staff and executives about the project in easy-to-understand language to provide a clear understanding of technical information, decisions and future plans.
2. Product Ownership and User Engagement
• Work closely with the Executive Director to understand, prioritize, and define user needs (agency staff, educators, policymakers, families and students) to be addressed via the E2C Hub project.
• Maintain collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, including state agencies, research institutions, and community groups, to ensure the E2C Hub remains responsive to user needs.
• Lead efforts to develop and deliver training and resources for users of the E2C Hub, ensuring stakeholders can effectively access and utilize the platform.
• Collaborate with Outreach and Engagement Specialist on external communications and public relations efforts to raise awareness of the E2C Hub's goals, outcomes, and long-term vision.
• Collaborate with UX Designer to design and conduct user research studies to learn about user needs, desires, and pain points, and synthesize findings to inform future project direction.
3. Data Governance and Operations
• Lead a working group composed of agency data leaders and lawyers to develop a forward-looking data strategy and improved data governance policies to support effective data use.
• Engage with agency staff on data projects and challenges to understand barriers, provide technical support, solve problems, and improve systems to reduce problems in the future.
• Work with IT database team to inform the design and implementation of the E2C Hub’s technical architecture, ensuring it meets scalability, security, and accessibility standards.
• Work closely with IT and data teams to streamline data workflows, prioritize data integration efforts, and ensure that system improvements are aligned with user needs.
• Coordinate efforts to standardize data definitions and documentation, making the Hub’s data assets easily discoverable and usable for research and policy development.
Preferred qualifications:
The successful candidate will demonstrate most of the following qualifications. Candidates not meeting all qualifications are still encouraged to apply.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in data analysis, governance, or a similar role, preferably within government or educational sectors and with team management responsibilities.
• Effective leadership that supports alignment to team goals and decisions. Adapts to changing needs, conditions, and work responsibilities.
• Superior project management skills, including planning and implementation of multi-year, multi-project efforts.
• Strong ability to comprehend, analyze, and communicate complex information quickly, especially related to databases, data analysis, data security and technology systems.
• Superior skills in data analysis and visualization, especially with SQL, Power BI and Tableau, Snowflake, and Excel.
• Excellent written, oral, and presentation communication skills, especially the ability to explain technical topics for general audiences and for educators.
• Knowledge of state education data systems and what types of reports the agency could produce to inform a wide range of policy decisions.
• Familiarity with research related to achievement gaps and common strategies used by schools to address gaps.
• Familiarity with Massachusetts education policy
Travel will be required for this position.
Questions regarding this position or the application process should be directed to Dawn.E.DeRoche@mass.gov.
The Education Secretariat is committed to equity and valuing the unique and diverse characteristics and experiences of every member of its workforce. We encourage an authentic workplace where colleagues show up as their full selves, where collaboration, innovation, and connections are key to realizing our mission that all children, youth, and families thrive socially, academically, and economically. We seek teammates who are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive work environment, where everyone is valued and engaged. We encourage you to apply and identify your strengths in these areas.
This is a contract position funded through June 30, 2025, with the potential of extension through June 30, 2027 pending budgets in future fiscal years. The analyst will work a hybrid schedule, with a mix of remote and in-office work at the DESE offices in Everett, with other possible meetings in the Boston area or around the state as needed.
Please note that pursuant to Massachusetts general law, contracted employees are not paid for the eleven scheduled holidays, do not receive any paid, vacation, personal leave benefits, or contribute to the state retirement system or social security. As a state contracted employee, you must participate in direct deposit and contribute towards the Commonwealth of Massachusetts state alternate retirement plan, ("OBRA Plan").
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Education-to-Career Research and Data Hub is seeking a contracted employee to perform the following duties/essential duties.
Description
Massachusetts is building a unified, easy-to-use Education-to-Career (E2C) Research and Data Hub to serve educators, policymakers, and researchers by enhancing the scope and quality of existing data as well as improving the ways in which data and research are shared and utilized. This work builds on a strong foundation of existing integrated data systems across early childhood, K-12, higher education, and labor and workforce.
In July 2024, the E2C Hub project was awarded funding for the first year of a planned three-year capital investment project. As part of this exciting multi-year initiative, the Project Lead will play a key role leading initiatives to expand use of data by policymakers, agency staff, parents and families, and researchers. The Project Lead will work closely with the Executive Director to implement Year 1 deliverables while strategically planning for future years of the project. This is an excellent opportunity for a data-driven professional with leadership experience to contribute on a high-impact, innovative project.
Initiatives include:
• Linking education data to data from other agencies
• Building a platform to manage research proposals and provide data securely to researchers
• Continuing to expand the number of datasets in the E2C Hub
• Expanding outreach to help more users discover and use data in the E2C Hub
• Developing and launching innovative tools for data analysis, including exploration of AI
• Strengthening agency capacity for data analysis through training and improved documentation
Duties and Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
1. Strategic Leadership and Project Management
• Assist the Executive Director in overseeing the successful execution of the E2C capital project plan, ensuring milestones are met on time and budget is used effectively.
• Lead the development of project roadmaps for Years 2 and 3, including vision, project goals, resource planning, and budgeting for future years’ capital proposals.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director to supervise a team of 5 staff and a $1.5m contract with an IT services vendor, guiding prioritization, supporting team members to meet deliverable deadlines, and resolving issues.
• With support from the Executive Director, lead hiring and procurement processes to expand team capacity via staffing and vendors.
• Maintain project plans and task-tracking systems to keep projects on track and escalate issues and delays appropriately.
• Prepare for and lead monthly operational steering committee meetings and quarterly executive update meetings, with support from the Executive Director.
• Communicate effectively with non-technical agency staff and executives about the project in easy-to-understand language to provide a clear understanding of technical information, decisions and future plans.
2. Product Ownership and User Engagement
• Work closely with the Executive Director to understand, prioritize, and define user needs (agency staff, educators, policymakers, families and students) to be addressed via the E2C Hub project.
• Maintain collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, including state agencies, research institutions, and community groups, to ensure the E2C Hub remains responsive to user needs.
• Lead efforts to develop and deliver training and resources for users of the E2C Hub, ensuring stakeholders can effectively access and utilize the platform.
• Collaborate with Outreach and Engagement Specialist on external communications and public relations efforts to raise awareness of the E2C Hub's goals, outcomes, and long-term vision.
• Collaborate with UX Designer to design and conduct user research studies to learn about user needs, desires, and pain points, and synthesize findings to inform future project direction.
3. Data Governance and Operations
• Lead a working group composed of agency data leaders and lawyers to develop a forward-looking data strategy and improved data governance policies to support effective data use.
• Engage with agency staff on data projects and challenges to understand barriers, provide technical support, solve problems, and improve systems to reduce problems in the future.
• Work with IT database team to inform the design and implementation of the E2C Hub’s technical architecture, ensuring it meets scalability, security, and accessibility standards.
• Work closely with IT and data teams to streamline data workflows, prioritize data integration efforts, and ensure that system improvements are aligned with user needs.
• Coordinate efforts to standardize data definitions and documentation, making the Hub’s data assets easily discoverable and usable for research and policy development.
Preferred qualifications:
The successful candidate will demonstrate most of the following qualifications. Candidates not meeting all qualifications are still encouraged to apply.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in data analysis, governance, or a similar role, preferably within government or educational sectors and with team management responsibilities.
• Effective leadership that supports alignment to team goals and decisions. Adapts to changing needs, conditions, and work responsibilities.
• Superior project management skills, including planning and implementation of multi-year, multi-project efforts.
• Strong ability to comprehend, analyze, and communicate complex information quickly, especially related to databases, data analysis, data security and technology systems.
• Superior skills in data analysis and visualization, especially with SQL, Power BI and Tableau, Snowflake, and Excel.
• Excellent written, oral, and presentation communication skills, especially the ability to explain technical topics for general audiences and for educators.
• Knowledge of state education data systems and what types of reports the agency could produce to inform a wide range of policy decisions.
• Familiarity with research related to achievement gaps and common strategies used by schools to address gaps.
• Familiarity with Massachusetts education policy
Travel will be required for this position.
Questions regarding this position or the application process should be directed to Dawn.E.DeRoche@mass.gov.
Comprehensive Benefits
When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.
Want the specifics?Explore our Employee Benefits and Rewards
An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer.Females, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
The Commonwealth is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. Research suggests that qualified women, Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC)may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role.
Comprehensive Benefits
When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.
Want the specifics?Explore our Employee Benefits and Rewards
An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer.Females, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
The Commonwealth is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. Research suggests that qualified women, Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC)may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role.