Associate Policy Scientist

Major Responsibilities

• Serve as a project lead for major components of the Literacy for We the People grant initiative, including the design, development, implementation, and refinement of literacy-integrated civics curricular resources and professional learning.
• Lead the grant’s cross-partner collaboration with the Delaware Department of Education, Center for Civic Education, and Civics Education Research Lab at Georgetown University to translate research findings into practical tools, including educator toolkits, model lessons, instructional crosswalks, and teacher support materials.
• Collect and use feedback from teachers, mentors, and evaluators to revise curriculum and professional development practices.
• Co-develop and refine the LWTP educator toolkit, including lesson materials, literacy scaffolds, writing supports, vocabulary resources, and assessment tools.
• Update DCCE’s existing model civics and history lessons to embed additional science-of-reading-aligned practices, aligning them to state civics and literacy standards.
• Produce grant-related reports and publications such as briefs, infographics, curriculum materials, and online resources for use by Delaware teachers and national partners.
• Manage LWTP project teams, including support staff, graduate students, mentor teachers, and teacher participants, working collaboratively with LWTP’s partner organizations.
• Coordinate statewide teacher recruitment, communications, scheduling, and logistics for institutes, regional showcase events, and simulated congressional hearings.
• Maintain strong relationships with partner organizations, districts, and schools to ensure high-quality implementation across sites.
• Present grant-funded content and research at state, regional, and national conferences, public events, and professional associations.
• Support organization of statewide simulated congressional hearings and state/regional showcase events.
• Coordinate, plan, develop and facilitate LWTP related training, workshops, professional meetings for audiences at various levels (e.g., school, district, state, regional, national).
• Contribute to planning and running the LWTP national dissemination conference and help coordinate nationwide access to project resources.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with at least six years of experience, Master’s Degree with at least four years of experience, or Doctoral Degree with at least one year of experience.
• Experience must consist of job-related work in public policy, social studies education, civics/history education, literacy, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of six years of experience, including at least three years of K-12 classroom teaching of civics/social studies, that includes successfully planning and delivering civics/social studies professional learning to K-12 audiences; working collaboratively with schools, districts, and departments of education to develop teaching and learning resources, including lessons, curriculum, and assessments.
• An understanding of Delaware’s civics and history standards is preferred.
• Experience with managing job or grant-related budgets.
• Experience with the Center for Civics Education’s We the People program is preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership in the field of social studies and familiarity with the literature around civics/social studies education.
• Strong skills in project management, policy analysis, applied research, and proposal/grant implementation.
• Able to work and manage independently, but also effectively in a team setting within a diverse university community.
• Experience, familiarity, comfort, and willingness to develop new skills with technology that advances teaching and learning as well as the goals of DCCE.
• Must possess strong problem-solving, interpersonal and written/oral communication skills; the ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining attention to detail; and respect among peers within the field.