Psychometrician/Research Scientist

Education is ever-evolving. And so are we.

We seek passionate people from diverse backgrounds who are committed to helping improve the work of schools as a trusted partner in advancing learning. By joining the Cognia team, you will be immersed in a community of energetic and resourceful people dedicated to a common vision to impact and inspire education providers to advance and enable pathways of success for all learners. At Cognia we have developed a holistic approach to education that empowers schools to create real outcomes and optimize learning for students of all backgrounds, servicing more than 36,000 institutions, 5 million teachers, and 25 million students in 85 countries. When you join Cognia, you join a team of experts passionate about our mission and embracing our core values in everything we do.

NATURE AND SCOPE:

The Psychometrician/Research Scientist is an intermediate level psychometrician functioning as an individual contributor to large-scale summative assessment work. This role involves conducting operational psychometric activities, such as CTT and IRT analyses, scaling and equating, and standard setting. Additionally, the position provides psychometric support to clients as needed throughout the annual assessment cycle.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES:

• Performs the following analyses of large-scale summative assessment data: IRT calibration, equating, and scaling of operational test data; field test IRT calibrations, reliability, and validity analyses, etc.
• Presents IRT calibration, equating, and scaling results to the client.
• Documents large-scale summative assessment results, as well as technical and operational procedures in annual technical reports.
• Provides psychometric support to other functional groups as needed (e.g., provide psychometric review and feedback to the content team during test construction).
• Contributes to the measurement aspect of additional activities as needed (e.g., standard setting or validations, writing proposals, conducting ad hoc analyses or special research studies based on client needs).
• Under the guidance of more senior staff, attend and present on technical issues to external stakeholders (e.g., technical advisory committee and planning meetings).
• Acts as psychometric advisor to stakeholders both internal and external to the organization.
• Represents organization's position on technical issues to clients, external boards and panels, professional associations, and other agencies.
• Applies sufficient knowledge of statistical procedures, psychometric methods, and programming (e.g., R, Python, PARSCALE, IRTPRO, and flexMIRT) to work independently on most aspects of analysis work, while receiving instruction and guidance in other aspects.
• Delivers presentations at national and international conferences and, with guidance from senior researchers, presents technical information to diverse audiences, including client groups and technical advisory committees.
• Provides leadership to psychometric interns and associate psychometricians.
• Perform duties and fulfill responsibilities that may, from time to time, include related or unrelated tasks.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

Education & Experience:

• Ph.D. in educational, statistics, measurement, psychometrics, or an Ed.D. in educational measurement required
• 3+ years of operational psychometric experience required

Competencies:

• Technical expertise - job related specialized knowledge and the proficient use of technology-based tools
• Accountability - takes personal responsibility for the quality and timeliness of work, and achieves results with little oversight
• Communication - strong verbal and written communication; listening
• Leadership - influencing or control in which a person enlists the participation of others and the resources to accomplish a goal
• Influencing others - influences others to be excited and committed to furthering objectives
• Problem Solving - resolves difficult or complicated challenges
• Creative & Innovative thinking - develops fresh ideas that provide solutions to all types of workplace challenges

Anticipated Travel (may include local, national, and/or international travel):

• Occasional travel (10%-20%)
• Travel to All Staff Company Meeting required
  
  

At Cognia, we recognize the critical role played by our teams in carrying out the organization's important educational mission. As a reflection of that recognition our exceptional benefits offerings include generous paid time off and holiday breaks, comprehensive insurance plans, and a 12.5% retirement savings contribution which is immediately vested, all effective on your date of hire. This represents an affirmative commitment by the organization to attract and retain the highest quality workforce - to ensure our continued ability to effectively serve our mission for years to come.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, protected veteran status, genetic information or any other characteristics protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations. Cognia is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.