Research

Job Description

Research

Full Job Description

General Description

The National Center for Child Welfare Excellence, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College through a partnership with the New York City Administration for Children Services (ACS) supports continuous quality improvements efforts and implements, evaluates, and continuously improves transfer of learning strategies for the Office of Training and Workforce Development. The Office of Training and Workforce Development provides foundational and continuous learning for child welfare and juvenile justice direct service staff and supervisors through the ACS James Satterwhite Academy and Workforce Institute. Through the use of simulation, coaching and other best practices in adult learning, staff develop strengths-based skills to protect and support the children, youth and families of New York City. The ACS James Satterwhite Academy (JSA) focuses on establishing the foundations of fundamental practice for newly hired staff and supervisors. The ACS Workforce Institute (WI) provides ongoing professional skills development for staff and supervisors at ACS and its many partner agencies across the child welfare and juvenile justice sectors. https://www.nycacstraining.org

Through the Silberman School of Social Work and ACS partnership, the Senior Research Manager will join a dynamic team responsible for supporting continuous quality improvements efforts and implementing, evaluating transfer of learning strategies for the Office of Training and Workforce Development.

Project Description

The Senior Research Manager will work closely with an ACS WI/CUNY Hunter/CUNY SPS Evaluation Team and other leaders in the ACS Division of Policy, Planning, and Measurement to manage and analyze data generated from 10,000 participants annually through multiple surveys powered by Qualtrics. Personnel, learning management, and survey data are merged to understand the relative impact of individual characteristics, organizational characteristics, and reinforcement strategies on the transfer of learning of coaching skills by Supervisors and Managers and strengths-based engagement, assessment, and interpersonal helping skills by caseworkers and case planners. Participants are followed over time to assess the degree to which competent and consistent skills are applied to improve the overall quality of services provided by the public and private child welfare system in New York City.

The ACS WI/CUNY Hunter/CUNY SPS Evaluation team uses the Kirkpatrick model of evaluating training efficacy to measure four levels:
(1) reactions
(2) learning
(3) transfer
(4) organizational outcomes

The evaluation team produces real time reports and dashboards so that results will inform ongoing program development and quality improvement.

Other Duties

The Senior Research Manager will join a team of CUNY colleagues working collaboratively with key stakeholders in the ACS Division of Child Protection, Division of Youth and Family Justice, the Division of Policy, Planning, and Measurement, and Private Providers that implement foster care and preventive services to manage, analyze, and report on data from complex data systems. The primary office location is 110 William Street, NY, NY 10038.

Responsibilities of this position include:

  • In collaboration with the Senior Research Associate, developing evaluation instruments to measure transfer of learning reinforcement strategies.
  • In collaboration with the Senior Director of Learning & Evaluation, supporting the implementation of an evaluation strategy of ACS Workforce Institute outcomes at the employee and child and family level.
  • Supervising and managing a team of Research Associates.
  • Collaborating with colleagues to support the use of data for decision making and continuous quality improvement.
  • Managing projects to ensure timely completion of deliverables.
  • Developing data collection instruments and protocols using survey development and research design best practices
  • Cleaning and preparing case level administrative and survey data for analysis (i.e., importing, reshaping, recoding) in a streamlined and efficient manner.
  • Writing programming and syntax
  • Creating a system for organizing and managing data files
  • Following strict data security protocols
  • Translating “conceptual/practical” needs from SKIP staff into technical programming language
  • Maintaining detailed documentation on all data management decisions and technical work
  • Developing codebooks, file specifications, and other resource documents
  • Conducting research reviews of training evaluation designs, measures, and analytic procedures.
  • Preparing and collaborating on reports, manuscripts, and presentations for diverse stakeholders
  • Overseeing data collection and analysis efforts to support data driven decision making.
  • Liaising with internal and external leadership to proactively trouble shoot barriers to evaluation.
  • Public speaking, as needed, regarding the evaluation activities and results.
  • Attending meetings with CUNY and ACS leadership, as required and necessary to fulfill the functions of this position

Qualifications

  • Master’s degree or doctorate in social science, public health, statistics, social work, or related field.
  • At least five years of experience doing data management and data analysis in an applied setting.
  • A minimum of two years of supervisory experience in an evaluation/research role.
  • Excellent data management and analysis skills, including extensive experience cleaning, coding, merging, and analyzing large and complex quantitative and qualitative data files using statistical programs (e.g., SPSS, R, SAS, STATA) including fluency in programming/syntax.
  • Competent and/or certified in Qualtrics Research Core, Employee Engagement, or Customer Engagement platforms is highly desired.
  • A basic understanding of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems is a plus.
  • Sensitivity and experience working with diverse cultural and linguistic populations
  • A commitment to equity as an essential and central part of the work, including how work is done and with who. This includes working to address the challenges faced by individuals from groups or populations that are vulnerable or marginalized in our society.
  • Experience in project management including assuring project milestones are met on time and collaborating with multiple stakeholders.
  • High emotional intelligence with the ability to provide nuanced support to team members on evaluation issues that builds trust and confidence across diverse team cultures and priorities.
  • A curious disposition motivated by an internal drive to understand and untangle complex issues.
  • Excellent time management, organizational skills, and a commitment to accuracy and attention to detail.
  • High degree of flexibility and maturity to work in an innovative, fast-paced environment and to readily embrace change
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills to effectively convey complex and data-related concepts to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to complete high quality work independently as well as be a contributing member of a team.
  • Experience with data visualization using dashboards and developing infographics is a plus.
  • Expertise in evaluating unique learning experiences such as live simulations with actors or virtual reality experiences is a plus, but not required.
  • Ability to travel between program locations in NYC to observe, collect data, and support team members

Hours: 35 hours/week (daily schedule 9am-5pm) with occasional evening hours. Currently working hybrid schedule.

All staff working on this project in partnership with the ACS WI will be employees of the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. Employment is contingent on satisfactory clearances.

*This position is funded by a city grant program which mandates that all employees are vaccinated against COVID-19*

RFCUNY Benefits

RFCUNY Employee Benefits and Accruals

About the Research Foundation

The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) was established as a not-for-profit educational corporation chartered by the State of New York in 1963. RFCUNY supports CUNY faculty and staff in identifying and obtaining external support (pre-award) from government and private sponsors and is responsible for the administration of all such funded programs (post-award).

RFCUNY stands between CUNY’s principal investigators (PIs) and the sponsors who support them and strives to fulfill its essential responsibilities to both groups. Working closely with individual PIs and Grants Officers on the campuses, RFCUNY oversees employment, accounting, audit, reporting, purchasing, and special responsibilities that include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Research Foundation of the City University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Americans with Disabilities Act/E-Verify Employer. It is the policy of the Research Foundation of CUNY to provide equal employment opportunities free of discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic violence victim status, arrest record, criminal conviction history, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

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