Sr Research Director

Boston College Introduction Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,484 full-time undergraduates and 5,250 graduate and professional students. Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 888 full-time and 1,281 FTE faculty, 2,711 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.5 billion. Job Description The TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center is home to two major international research programs that monitor student achievement in mathematics, science, and reading. TIMSS (the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) is conducted on a four-year cycle and measures mathematics and science achievement at fourth and eighth grades. Currently involving more than 70 countries from all parts of the globe, TIMSS has successfully completed international assessments of student achievement every four years since 1995, and currently 2023 is underway. TIMSS Advanced assessed the mathematics and physics achievement of students with advanced preparation in these subjects in 1995, 2008, and 2015. Currently involving more than 60 countries, PIRLS (the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) and prePIRLS assess fourth-grade student achievement in reading literacy on a five-year cycle. With the latest assessment completed in 2021, PIRLS 2026 will be the sixth cycle, marking its 25th year. The most current cycles of both TIMSS and PIRLS have completed the transition to fully digital assessments. TIMSS and PIRLS are sponsored by the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), an independent international cooperative of national research institutes and governmental research agencies headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. To date, the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center has attracted more than $70 million in research funds to Boston College. The Senior Research Director, Statistics, Psychometrics, and Assessment Innovations oversees all data-related technical aspects of the TIMSS and PIRLS international assessments. The position manages and supervises areas concerned with operational data analyses and the continuous development and improvement of processes using modern assessment technologies. The Senior Research Director is expected have extensive experience, evidenced by high quality publications and presentations, with advanced quantitative methods such as generalized latent variable modeling, machine and deep learning, and as well as with applications of these methods to assessment development and data analytics issues such as automated item generation, automated scoring, sequence data mining, and automated test assembly. The position reports to the executive director of the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center. The position requires travel to approximately six international meetings per year and supervises up to six professional staff and acts as liaison and manages international contractors and statistical and psychometric quality control partners. Support implementation of long-term strategy and serve as part of the senior leadership team of the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center. Managing the technical assistant/associate director(s), psychometrician(s) and research specialist(s), as well as statistical programming at the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center. Manage work of area leads and supervise all activities relating to assessment design and implementation, operational data analysis and computing, including assisting in planning workload, staffing, and training needs, including all phases of the psychometric analyses of the cognitive assessment and context questionnaires scales. Manage work of area leads and supervise the implementation of long-term methodological developments and innovations in testing to ensure the adoption of state-of-the-art machine learning and data science tools to support assessment automation, processing, and visualization activities. Plan agenda and actively participate in managing technical meetings, such as project management meetings and technical expert group meetings. Supervise and act as the liaison for the international sampling contractor. Coordinate and resolve issues around sampling planning and decisions made between local partners, international sampling contractor, and IEA sampling unit. Develop staff to ensure all analytic and sampling decisions follow best practice, and data analysis and psychometric procedures are conducted to the highest standards. Manage and direct documenting and publishing technical documentation and databases related to the TIMSS and PIRLS programs, including working with and advising on the work of the IEA Data Processing Center in creating the TIMSS and PIRLS international databases. Requirements Experience in project management, including scheduling and reporting Experience in supervising professional staff PhD and 12 or more years of experience in research and management of research staff with a background in data science in education, applied statistics, psychometrics, educational measurement, or a related field Experience in advanced psychometric methodologies, machine learning and assessment technologies for development, scoring and assembly. Experience in statistical computing and data analysis with large scale assessment data, including advanced IRT scaling methods for large-scale assessment data Experience working in an international and multicultural environment Experience in writing research proposals and publications Experience in working with sampling partners and reviewing designs for population sampling plans Strong communication skills, both oral and written Ability to persevere, maintain focus in reviewing technical material, pay close attention to detail Skill in using word processing, excel, database, and presentation software The ability to work with others under pressure to adhere to tight deadlines Exercise maturity of judgment Competitive salary commensurate with relevant experience. This is a grant funded position. Closing Statement Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility: Tuition remission for Employees Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance Low-Cost Life Insurance Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans Paid Holidays Annually Generous Sick and Vacation Pay Additional benefits can be found on Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process. Boston College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at