Director Policyaligned Research AGENDA Wheelock College of Education and Human

Position: DIRECTOR POLICY ALIGNED RESEARCH AGENDA Wheelock College of Education and Human
The Wheelock Educational Policy Center at Boston University seeks an entrepreneurial, research-minded, experienced policymaker to serve as the founding director of the Policy‑Aligned Research Agenda Building Lab (PARABL). Working closely with WEPC’s Executive Director, the director of PARABL will play a crucial role in launching this new initiative and building the systems, protocols and structures to ensure success, scale and sustainability of the vision.

The director will have organizational-level impact, shaping WEPC's strategic direction and institutional reputation as PARABL becomes a signature initiative. This role is critical to establishing BU Wheelock as a national leader in bridging the research‑policy divide in education. This senior leadership position reports to the Executive Director and will serve as a key member of WEPC's leadership team, contributing to center‑wide strategic planning and decision‑making.

The Initiative: PARABL

PARABL works directly with education systems leaders (e.g., state chiefs, governors’ offices, CEOs of non‑profits) to build a roadmap of research questions that are strategically aligned with the pursuit of large‑scale systems change in a particular area. This is not program‑specific continuous improvement or implementation evaluation research; a policy‑aligned research agenda is a strategic tool intended to help policymaker

• Make the case for change

• Know when and how to pivot

• Solve the right problem

• Advocate for and/or protect resources

• Build a solutions‑focused narrative

Through the model at PARABL, the BU Wheelock Educational Policy Center team works closely with organization leaders to

• set a clear purpose for a policy‑aligned research agenda,

• facilitate strategic conversations with and between research scholars and policy experts,

• assess the feasibility, data viability and costs associated with various approaches and then

• works to facilitate matches between the client organization and individuals/entities best positioned to carry out the envisioned research.

A research agenda produced through PARABL is a roadmap designed to support policymakers in key decision‑making over the long‑term of a change effort. It does not guarantee specific results and will require leaders to look hard at data and wrestle with findings. It also holds the most promise for ensuring the necessary backing needed to build momentum for change, focus the conversation, and advocate effectively for scale and sustainability.

The Role:

Founding Director

Through our existing partnerships and projects at the Wheelock Educational Policy Center, we have developed various protocols, tools, and examples that serve as proof points of PARABL’s potential. We seek a director who will build on this foundation and will:

• create the routines, processes and systems needed to efficiently, effectively and sustainably operationalize the PARABL model;

• oversee and serve as lead facilitator of PARABL with client organizations; and

• lead efforts nationally to generate interest and demand for PARABL.

To be successful in this role, we anticipate the ideal candidate:

• Has experience in a policy‑making role where they were responsible for consequential systems‑level decisions. We want someone who understands first‑hand the tensions, trade‑offs and timelines of choices and strategy in a policy context.

• Is an expert facilitator, integrator and entrepreneurial innovator. Each research agenda produced through PARABL will likely look different from the next, we want someone who can plan for and facilitate discussions across policy and research and then produce something (likely that there is no model for) that resonates with both.

• Has a strong research‑orientation and be able to point to examples of how they have used data and/or research in their own decision‑making. With PARABL, we leverage the expertise of researchers in our network and need someone who values that knowledge and skill even if they themselves may not have research training.

• Is a strategic thinker who gets things done. We want someone that can see the forest for the trees and simultaneously build a project plan and deliver on dates and…