Post Doctoral Fellow - Skills

About ETS ETS is a global education and talent solutions organization enabling lifelong learners worldwide to be future-ready. For more than 75 years, we've been advancing the science of measurement to build benchmarks for fair and valid skill assessment across cultures and borders. Our worldwide impact extends through our renowned assessments including TOEFL®, TOEIC®, GRE® and Praxis® tests, serving millions of learners in more than 200 countries and territories.

Through strategic acquisitions, we've expanded our global capabilities: PSI strengthens our workforce assessment solutions, while Edusoft, Kira Talent, Pipplet, Vericant, and Wheebox enhance our educational technology and assessment platforms across critical markets worldwide.

Through ETS Research Institute and ETS Solutions, we're partnering with educational institutions, governments, and organizations globally to promote skill proficiency, empower upward mobility, and unlock opportunities for everyone, everywhere. With offices and partners across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas, we deliver nearly 50 million tests annually. Join us in our journey of measuring progress to power human progress worldwide.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will contribute to research initiatives within the Center for Advancing Human Competencies at the ETS Research Institute. Research work will focus on how K-12 education can better prepare students for future STEM pathways by conducting innovative, high-quality research on how future-ready human capabilities are developed, demonstrated, supported and measured within authentic disciplinary learning contexts, with an emphasis on STEM education, especially mathematics, and preparation for future STEM pathways.

This role is designed for an early-career scholar who have recently completed their doctoral degrees and aim to advance research at the intersection of STEM learning, assessment, and skills development. The role will study how students demonstrate skills, such as collaboration, critical thinking, communication, through disciplinary learning. The role will also examine how educators recognize, interpret, and use evidence of these skills within existing standards, curricula, assessments, and instruction.

The postdoctoral fellowship will be a one-year appointment with the possibility of renewal contingent on funding.

• Design and execute research projects on competency-based STEM learning, skills development, and STEM pathways.
• Study how K-12 learning and teaching can integrate skills-based or competency-based approaches to better prepare students for future STEM pathways and AI-era STEM workforce opportunities.
• Support innovation by contributing to skills assessment tools and practical resources.
• Apply quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, or computational methods to analyze student competencies, disciplinary practices, human-AI interaction, and assessment evidence.
• Contribute to the development of skills indicators, competency maps, validity arguments for measuring future-ready skills in STEM contexts.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams across ETS and external partners.
• Disseminate findings through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and internal reports.
• Contribute to proposals for externally funded research projects.
• Strong background in one or more areas: STEM education, mathematics education, learning sciences, educational measurement, human-AI collaboration, or a related field.
• Experience in analyzing assessment data, process data, or human-AI interactions.
• Experience with STEM pathways, career-connected STEM education, K-12 system reform.
• Strong quantitative, mixed-methods, computational research skills, or programming skills (e.g., R, Python) preferred.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively in diverse, interdisciplinary teams.
• Commitment to ethical and responsible research practices.

• Ph.D. in mathematics education, science education, STEM education, learning sciences, educational psychology, educational measurement, or related field completed within the past three…