Policy Analyst, Philadelphia School Partnership

Posted by Philadelphia Schools Partnership on November 17, 2014

The Philadelphia School Partnership is a mission-driven, high-impact education nonprofit working to ensure there are enough great schools in Philadelphia to serve every student. At the organization’s center is the Great Schools Fund, a $100 million philanthropic growth fund formed to accelerate the pace of education reform in Philadelphia by providing the capital to support the creation and expansion of great schools, as well as the transformation of under-performing schools. We raise philanthropic funds and invest those funds in school operators and people that have the ability to create and maintain great schools across Philadelphia. In addition to the Fund, PSP invests in and catalyzes projects to ensure the conditions are present to enable great schools to grow and thrive. Chief among these conditions is the availability of great people—highly qualified and well prepared teachers and leaders—to work in schools of all types. PSP manages a number of education talent development initiatives with the aim of helping the city’s 400+ K-12 schools recruit, train and retain outstanding teachers and leaders. We also invest in and support information, tools and efforts to better engage and activate parents to demand great schools in their communities. Finally, PSP engages in education policy through analysis and reporting of policy and school-performance data, and through advocacy. Local and state policies play a significant role in nurturing or impeding the conditions that great schools require to thrive. Accordingly, PSP endeavors to have a voice in local and state policy debates. PSP understands that upgrading the quality of urban schools is a challenge that all city stakeholders must take on together. That’s why we work with government officials, business leaders, education leaders and practitioners, and community groups to pursue our goals.

Position Summary

The Policy Analyst will lead PSP’s policy work, primarily by:

• Developing a deep understanding of PSP’s school investments and programmatic work, and working in collaboration with the communications team to share that understanding with external partners

• Staying well informed about policy trends and resulting outcomes in other cities and states in order to inform the present and future work of PSP

• Gathering, sifting and analyzing data—generated by PSP or made available by schools or school regulatory agencies—to assess progress of PSP and the city overall, and to support PSP’s policy advocacy

• Writing and editing policy papers, reports and presentations to support the building and strengthening of external partnerships and PSP’s policy advocacy

The Policy Analyst will report to the Director of the Great Schools Fund, who manages the organization’s existing data analytics team, which currently is focused on assessing and understanding school performance. However, the Analyst will work closely on a day-to-day basis with the Executive Director of Philadelphia School Advocacy Partners, a sister organization, and with the Communications Manager who oversees most advocacy communications. The ideal candidate has outstanding analytical skills as well as relevant policy, financial and/or data analytical experience, is confident and competent in organizing data and working with data partners to better identify and obtain the most relevant data, has strong oral and written communications skills, is driven by the mission of removing achievement gaps from urban education, and works productively as part of a team.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Analyzing and summarizing school-performance and school-finance data, or other data such as teacher compensation and evaluation data, and more
• Collaborating with fellow staff to identify policy priorities, generate research or report ideas, and connect and align the organization’s policy work to its programmatic work
• Getting to know and communicating and collaborating regularly with other policy experts and researchers focused on urban education, in Philadelphia and around the country
• Managing and writing research and presentation projects, helping to plan public or policy-expert events, including recruiting speakers, and assisting with additional special projects
• Any additional duties as assigned

Qualifications

• Ability to analyze data and draw out key findings, whether with clear guidance about desired information or in a more exploratory context
• Skilled at working with data in Excel and other database formats
• Experience with financial analytics; adept at reading and working with financial statements
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills
• Strong oral communication skills—able to represent PSP through participation on panels or in other public venues
• Strong sense of personal responsibility; self-motivated and goal-driven
• Research skills and experience, including experience with research design and methodology, and empirical analysis
• Ability to create compelling written communications for a variety of audiences
• Expansive curiosity

http://www.idealist.org/view/job/J5mcmxZH3SCp