The University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development's Center to Promote Effective Youth Development (Youth-Nex) is seeking highly qualified applicants for Education & Outreach Manager position for a project working in-person in public schools in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The person in this position will be expected to arrange a work schedule in which they are visiting Anne Arundel County schools 3-4 days per week; the remaining work hours in the week can be completed in a work-from-home arrangement. This position is part of the Preventive Interventions Team: Collaborative Research on Engagement and Wellbeing (PIT-CREW), which conducts research related to promoting effective youth development, intervention, and programming, including preventing behavioral and mental health problems in schools.

This position will contribute to the successful implementation of the CARES360 project, a project funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. The purpose of this project is to extend, refine, and validate a research and professional development tool to assess culturally sustaining, anti-racist, and equity supportive (CARES) practices in the classroom, leveraging a model that highlights its five relevant domains: Connections to curriculum, Authentic relationships, Reflective thinking, Effective communication, and Sensitivity to student cultures and identities. The CARES classroom assessment system includes teacher-report, student-report, and observer-report measures (through video data collection) and is designed to support teachers in elementary and middle schools to improve their CARES instruction and discipline. This project addresses important and timely issues related to culturally-responsive practices and equity in education; it aims to develop a valid, reliable, and ultimately useful research-informed professional development tool to help teachers prevent students’ experiences of marginalization and bias in school and increase their use of CARES practices.  

The position’s role in this project will be to strategically and independently support implementation of the project, which may include:

Collaborate on and lead the development of new materials and associated implementation supports for preventive interventions.

Strategically plan and recruit schools and teachers to participate in various school mental health research projects, including intervention evaluation studies (pilot and large-scale randomized controlled trials).

Provide high-quality professional development, coaching and technical assistance to implementing teachers.

Independently support successful delivery of projects and programs through excellent project management, relationship building and management, and facilitation/presentation/coaching responsibilities.

Collaborate and support the larger team’s research and evaluation efforts, including through data collection and management.

Manage existing initiatives as well as build high-quality new ones by independently executing on program design, content creation, research and analysis, quality improvement, and inclusion of best practices/knowledge.

Plan and execute effective communications and cultivate successful relationships across a range of internal and external partners and stakeholders, including practitioners, researchers, and youth.

Lead strategic planning and development of high impact events and meetings for a range of audiences.

Collaborate with various writing and content creation such as communications, content and tool development, and research reports.

In addition to the above job responsibilities, other duties may be assigned.

This role is an excellent opportunity for a person with a background as an experienced educator or school counselor, coupled with strong experience in education or development research and/or high-level project management skills who lives or is willing to relocate to the Anne Arundel County area of MD. The anticipated start date is July 1st, 2024.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Master's degree or a demonstrated mastery in their specialty area normally signified by significant equivalent experience.

Experience: At least five years of experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience: Prior experience supporting implementation of evidence-based programs in schools, coaching schools to implement programs with high fidelity.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

Cultural humility.

Enthusiasm for Youth-Nex’s mission and values.

Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Strong project management skills with demonstrated ability to manage self, team members, and stakeholders to desired outcomes and deadlines while identifying obstacles and ways to address.

Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with a wide range of individuals and partners, including school teams, researchers, youth, and families.

Skilled communicator (written and oral) able to create content for and engage multiple audiences.

Self-motivated, flexible, and entrepreneurial.

Administrative expertise: Proficient with Box, Google Suite, Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams), Zoom, Qualtrics or similar survey data collection tools, and ability to learn new software quickly and introduce new useful applications and platforms to the team.​

Physical Demands

This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job occasionally requires local and regional travel to schools for recruitment and coaching, and walking some distance to attend meetings, and programs.

Anticipated Hiring Range: $70,000 to $80,000 (commensurate with qualifications).

Application Instructions: Apply Now. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile, search Find Jobs and then R0060629. Complete an application online and include the following documents:

Cover letter (addressed to Jessika Bottiani)

CV/resume

Submit all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field, alternatively you can merge your materials together and submit as one. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile. Applications that are missing materials will not receive full consideration.

For questions about the position, please contact Youth-Nex, and for questions about the application process, please contact Margaret Weeks.

References will be completed via UVA’s standardized process Skill Survey. A total of five references will be requested via SkillSurvey during the final phase of the interview process.

Research staff are appointed annually, and continuation is dependent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funding. Review of applications will begin 10 days after posting and will remain open until filled.

The University of Virginia, including the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.  We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences.  We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.