JOE - February 2012

Two-year post-doctoral Research Associate position with the Michigan Consortium for Education Research.

The College of Education's Office of the Hannah Chair at Michigan State University is seeking a postdoctoral researcher for a two year position. Preferred start date is between May 1st and September 1st, 2012. This post-doctoral research position is designed to foster the researcher as an independent scholar. Emphasis is on developing and/or refining the candidate's methods, design, fieldwork and/or substantive area expertise in education impact research, providing opportunities for scholarly publication and the development of the research associate's independent research agenda. While all are invited to apply, we have targeted the program to two types of candidates.

One is an applicant strong in methods and analysis, who wants to hone those skills and acquire more sophisticated design, measurement, and statistical skills in an applied setting, while developing insight and understanding of education issues and gaining experience with education research. This might be a candidate from a field such as economics, sociology, psychology, or political science.

Another type of applicant may have a solid foundation in education, but wants to develop more sophisticated and rigorous design and statistical analysis skills, while gaining deeper insight and experience with specific education policy issues and conducting fieldwork in schools. This might be an applicant from an education school.

The program, broadly focused on the effects of policy on teaching and learning, targets three main areas: 1) theory, 2) research design and methods--with a special emphasis on econometrics, and 3) fieldwork conducting original surveys and interviews in schools.

The research project that the candidate will participate in is designed to allow the researcher to perform at the highest levels of methodological and substantive rigor.

These projects offer opportunities for developing expertise in: 1) qualitative analysis and fieldwork, including development and analysis of surveys, and interviews 2) the measurement of instruction and learning, 3) multi-level longitudinal modeling, 4) psychometrics, 5) design and analysis of randomized quasi-experiments, 6) designing customized student assessments, and 7) studying education policy implementation and effects.

The candidate selected will be encouraged to take leadership roles on the research tasks in which they participate. Projects are at various stages, so there are opportunities for designing instruments, conducting fieldwork, and analysis of existing data.

The candidate will work on collaborative interdisciplinary project teams which include public policy analysts, psychometricians, sociologists, economists, and others.

For breadth of experience, the research associate will have both a primary and secondary mentor. The primary mentor will be Barbara Schneider, John A. Hannah Chair and University Distinguished Professor in the college of education and department of sociology, or Ken Frank, Professor of Measurement and Quantitative Methods in the department of counseling, educational psychology and special education. Collaborators who might serve as secondary mentors include Brian Jacob, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy, Professor of Economics, and Director of the Center on Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, at the University of Michigan or Susan Dynarski, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; Associate Professor of Education, School of Education at the University of Michigan.

Applicants must have received their doctoral degree by the start date. Names and email contact information for three references, a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and two publications or papers should be uploaded at http://www.jobs.msu.edu, posting # 5612. For an application, visit our website at http://www.jobs.msu.edu or you may visit our office at 1407 S Harrison, Room 110, East Lansing, MI. In your letter of interest, please specify how your interest, expertise and targeted areas for development fit with the Michigan Consortium for Education Research (http://michiganconsortium.org/), and what you hope to gain from a postdoctoral position. Review of applications will begin February 2, 2012 and continue until the position is filled. Questions may be addressed to the search assistant at cmazuca@msu.edu.

The position includes the opportunities to:
*Actively engage with the research agenda of MCER, including analyzing the impact of the Michigan Merit Curriculum and Michigan Promise Scholarship using quasi-experimental methods; analyzing postsecondary transitions; and using the full complement of state administrative data to provide policy-relevant researchers to multiple stakeholders (research community, state, interested public).
*Work collaboratively with Michigan Department of Education to identify necessary data for MCER's work; extract research files; identify other sources of data and work with the state to make those data connections; and provide adequate and accurate documentation to MCER and the research community more broadly.
*Serve as a liaison between MCER and the MDE/CEPI, including forming working relationships with the state-based principal investigators, building collaborative partnerships with all key players at the state, translating the needs of MCER to the state and vice versa, providing regular feedback to both MCER and the state on the project progress, and ensuring that a true partnership is formed that supports the goals and needs of both MDE/CEPI and MCER.
*Provide technical support to the state when appropriate; provide technical support to the MCER team on each of the relevant data projects.

MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Apply Here: http://www.Click2Apply.net/4tz8s9x