Post Doctoral Fellow, UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows; UMSL-CSTF

Position: Post Doctoral Fellow, UMSL Charter School Translational Fellows (UMSL-CSTF)
Hiring Department

The College of Education, University of Missouri , St. Louis

Job Description

The College of Education is looking for a promising Ph.D. or Ed.D. graduate in Learning Sciences, Psychology, or Education to help advance its mission to engage in research, education, and advocacy which inform and promote more effective and productive student learning experiences in St. Louis area schools for a twenty-four-month period. The ideal candidate will be an outstanding strategic thinker with the confidence and leadership skills necessary to serve as an expert on learning sciences research while working in a team-based school environment with education professionals providing effective instructional coaching practices.

The candidate will have a good grasp of data acquisition, management, and visualization skills to inform educational practice and policy decision-making and support research-practice partnerships. The ideal candidate will also understand the multi-level structure of school systems and appreciate the opportunities and challenges of working for change within the public school educational and administrative structure.

Working closely with UMSL-CSTF program leadership, this position will help serve the K-12 education system in St. Louis to address K-12 instructional needs using an inquiry model, embedding learning science principles and data analytics to promote more effective and productive student learning experiences. During the two years of service, the fellow will be engaged in four core activities in partnership with the UMSL Charter Schools and UMSL Studio Schools.

Activities include completing collaborative cycles of inquiry addressing site-based problems of practice by learning practical ways to implement research into practice and studying a problem using mixed-methods, participating and co-leading interactive seminars (i.e., the science of learning; research design, program evaluation, data analytics, and data visualization; cognitive coaching and adaptive schools coaching reflections; and multi-level structures of school systems), enhancing instructional coaching skills, and collaborating with UMSL and school-site mentors to produce and use translational research related products to gain an understanding of how research is applied and practiced in school settings to benefit schools and students and inform academia.

Primary Responsibilities:

* Collaborate with UMSL-CSTF program leadership to address K-12 problems of practice by learning practical ways to implement research into practice and gain an understanding of how research is applied and practiced in school settings to benefit schools and students and inform academia.

* Provide K-12 trainings and instructional coaching on-site during the academic year and summer within the UMSL Charter Schools and Studio Schools related to the science of learning.

* Supplement, implement, and monitor the implementation of contextualized high-quality instructional materials that embed core science of learning principles that promote more equitable and inclusive K-12 classroom experiences.

* Collaborate with UMSL-CSTF program leadership and K-12 school partners in conceptualizing study designs and investigating new methods to answer problem of practice questions.

* Develop mixed-method measures; collect and manage mixed-method data; ensure consistent coding of variables; maintain records; perform data cleaning; data validation; data analytics; and reporting tasks.

* Prepare datasets and dashboards for use by others, and facilitate communication among collaborators, when necessary.

* Assist with producing presentations and manuscripts for peer-reviewed publications related to translational research and the science of learning.

* Attend face-to-face weekly 60-minute peer mentoring sessions and three-hour mentoring meetings.

* Attend professional learning sessions related to coaching and complete related implementation and reflection tasks to assist with developing and enhancing the facilitation skills and the cognitive processes of K-12 teaching staff.

* Lead and attend bi-monthly face-to-face and virtual interactive seminars related to the science of learning, research design, program evaluation, data analytics, data visualization, cognitive coaching and adaptive schools coaching reflections, and multi-level structures of school systems.

* Take ownership of grant deliverables by establishing intermediate and short-term goals to achieve priorities.

Qualifications

Ph.D. or Ed.D. in Learning Sciences, Psychology, or Education with no more than four years of post-doctoral experience.

The ideal candidate will:

* have a good grasp of K-12 educational systems and be highly motivated to develop the professional network necessary for adding to the knowledge base of the science of learning.

* possess exceptional attention to detail and a desire to deepen their understanding of translational research related to the science of learning.

* demonstrate strong leadership and…