Strategy, Monitoring, and Compliance; SMC) Business Analyst

please note that pursuant to massachusetts general law, contracted employees are not paid for the twelve 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 massachusetts department of elementary and secondary education (dese) seeks an experienced contractor to support the design and initial implementation of a restructured organizational office focused on research, evidence, effective practices, monitoring, strategic planning, and continuous improvement. The final design and initial implementation processes will be handed off to existing dese staff for sustained implementation.

the central purpose of the new office will be to strengthen dese’s ability to identify, understand, and support the use of effective practices in massachusetts schools and districts. Building on dese’s established research and evaluation capacity within the office of planning and research and the office of effective practices, the restructured office will create stronger connections between rigorous research and evidence about effective policies and practices and qualitative learning about how those practices are implemented in real educational settings.

the contractor will help dese design an integrated evidence-to-practice learning system in which the agency:

• identifies high-priority problems of practice and questions;
• draws on existing research, evaluation, data, monitoring, and practitioner knowledge to understand what is known;
• uses qualitative and mixed-method inquiry to investigate how promising and effective practices are implemented in massachusetts;
• translates findings into actionable guidance, tools, supports, and policy decisions; and
• learns from subsequent implementation and outcomes to continuously strengthen the evidence base and dese’s support to the field.

this work will include developing a purposeful approach to qualitative studies, case studies, and bright-spot analyses. Such work should go beyond highlighting examples of success. Potential bright spots should be investigated in relation to research-informed questions and practices, with attention to implementation, context, mechanisms, and outcomes. Findings should clearly distinguish among illustrative examples, promising practices, research-based practices, and practices supported by stronger evidence of effectiveness.

the contractor will also help apply this approach to several high-priority dese initiatives, including the accelerating achievement partnership (aap), the development of a new aap monitoring system, and efforts to create a more coherent and consolidated approach to district and school planning.

• develop a proposed framework and operating model for how dese will systematically identify, study, validate, translate, and disseminate effective practices.
• establish processes for integrating research, evaluation, quantitative data, qualitative inquiry, monitoring evidence, and practitioner knowledge in agency decision-making and learning.
• develop approaches for synthesizing existing research and evidence to identify priority practices, implementation conditions, and problems of practice that merit deeper investigation.
• develop transparent criteria and methods for identifying potential bright spots using quantitative and qualitative evidence, recognizing that strong outcomes alone do not establish the effectiveness of a particular practice.
• design approaches for qualitative and…