Research Specialist

Position Summary

South Bend Community School Corporation in South Bend, Indiana is looking for a Research Specialist who will play a pivotal role in transforming our district data into actionable knowledge. This position is responsible for conducting high‑level research and data analysis to assess district and school performance on key indicators and evaluate the effectiveness of district’s improvement initiatives and strategies. The Specialist acts as a bridge between data and practice – managing external research partnerships, ensuring that all data‑sharing activities are conducted under the highest standards of legal and ethical compliance, and providing assistance to staff on data analysis and interpretation to help move the district into a data‑driven decision‑making institution.

• Conduct descriptive and inferential statistical analysis on administrative and outcome data to generate insights for instructional and operational decisions
• Track and evaluate the ROI of district‑wide programs and initiatives and impact on student learning
• Develop and maintain enrollment projection models to assist district leadership in annual staffing allocations as well as long‑term strategic facility planning and enrollment policy
• Monitor, investigate, and report the district’s disproportionality data to help close the academic achievement and equity gaps
• Author research reports and white papers that distill complex findings into actionable insights for internal and external stakeholders and audiences
• Create compelling visualizations and present findings to non‑technical audiences
• Lead the development, administration, analysis, and reporting of district‑wide surveys
• Support central office departments and schools with survey design, administration, data analysis and interpretation
• Act as the primary custodian of student and staff data, ensuring strict adherence to FERPA, HIPAA, and Indiana‑specific data privacy laws
• Manage internal and external research requests and related data sharing agreements

• Master’s degree in Educational Research, Statistics, Psychology, Sociology, or a related field (Ph.D. preferred)
• Deep theoretical and practical knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, including survey design, sampling techniques, hypothesis testing, and internal/external validity threats
• Solid training in advanced statistical analysis (e.g., GLM, HLM, propensity score matching, and factor analysis)
• Demonstrated mastery of FERPA and HIPAA regulations with a proven track record of maintaining data privacy and institutional compliance in the K-12 setting
• Advanced proficiency in R (preferred) or other statistical software to perform data wrangling and statistical analysis
• Working knowledge of using SQL to extract data from Power School or other relational databases