Senior Director, Research & Evaluation

The Senior Director, Research & Evaluation leads the Forum’s research, evaluation, and measurement work across the organization. This includes advancing youth program quality measures and evaluation frameworks, and leading efforts to develop success metrics with internal and external stakeholders, aligned to the Forum’s strategic plan. The Director leads an applied research, evaluation, and measurement team to design, conduct, and manage collaborative research and evaluation projects that support internal and external clients, stakeholders, and the youth development field in leveraging positive youth development and continuous quality improvement approaches to strengthen policy and practice. The ideal candidate has experience building and leading successful teams, conducting applied research and evaluation projects, and advancing strategic alignment through data and metrics – all with a lens that centers racial equity and continuous improvement. 

Data Collection, Analysis & Reporting

• Lead the Forum’s research and evaluation team to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, draft reports that integrate insights from research, and practice, and disseminate findings in ways that are useful to a range of audiences, including youth development practitioners, system leaders, and policy makers.
• Lead data collection, analysis, and reporting for a range of internal organizational metrics in the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan, which cascades from the strategy, working in partnership with the PMO (Project Management Office).
• Ensure appropriate processes, protections, and legal agreements are in place for data collection, management, security, and sharing, including management and oversight of research and evaluation consulting contracts.
• Leverage statistical software (e.g. SPSS), data collection platforms (e.g. Qualtrics, the Forum’s Scores Reporter system), and Microsoft Products (e.g. Excel, PowerPoint, Planner, etc) to advance research and evaluation projects, and support staff to do the same. 

Measure Development & Validation

• Lead the Forum’s efforts to develop and validate assessments and surveys that support continuous quality improvement in youth serving systems. These include the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA), Social and Emotional Learning Program Quality Assessment (SEL PQA) and other program quality assessments; the Organizational Quality Assessment (OQA); and suite of surveys that support continuous improvement in youth serving systems.
• Design and lead research and evaluation projects that refine observational assessments and surveys that support strengthening youth programs and practices, and the relationship between quality practices and programs to youth outcomes.  Applied Research & Evaluation Projects & Research Synthesis
• Serve as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on major initiatives and lead the development and delivery of high-quality research and evaluation services that meet the needs of system leaders and community-based practitioners in youth serving fields.
• Manage customer relations, leading statewide evaluations of 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs, in partnership with state departments of education, and custom research and evaluation projects for OST intermediary organizations or crosssector clients.
• Serve as the organizational subject matter expert for all Forum data assets.
• Develop partnerships with other leading researchers and research organizations to strengthen the Forum’s capacity to engage in research that informs our services and advances the youth development field.
• Strengthen existing business offerings and cultivate new opportunities that leverage data about program quality and youth development focused system reform, with a focus on translating research to practice and elevating practitioner and system leader insights through research and evaluation methods.

This is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts, or requirements or working conditions associated with the job. While intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require different tasks. This description does not constitute a contract of employment and The Forum may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.

Qualifications

A bachelor’s degree and 8 or more years of experience conducting and leading applied research and evaluation projects, in partnership with youth serving agencies and/or community-based organizations is required. A Ph.D. degree in youth development, evaluation, social work, education, or related fields is preferred. At least 5 years of management experience is required; senior leadership experience preferred. In addition, the successful candidate will have:

• Experience leveraging publicly available data for learning and insights for youth serving agencies and community-based organizations.
• Experience developing organizational metrics to support evaluation, learning, and strategic alignment.
• A demonstrated track record of using equitable research and evaluation practices, including experience with participatory research approaches and youth engagement in research processes.
• Knowledge of the Weikart Center’s Youth Program Quality Assessment, Youth Program Quality Intervention, social and emotional learning resources, and/or low-stakes quality improvement policies and systems.

Working Location

The Senior Director, Research & Evaluation is a remote position that can be based from anywhere in the U.S. and leads a fully remote team. Occasional travel is expected for in person team meetings and client/partner meetings (estimated 10-20% time).