Director of Data Quality and Evaluation

About Communities in Schools:

At Communities In Schools we are all-in for kids. It is our passion-- it is our mission. As the State Office for North Carolina we deliver CIS programs across the state and we collaborate with local affiliate organizations to provide resources and create communities of caring adults who work hand-in-hand with educators to make sure young people have the tools they need to stay in school and achieve in life. Communities In Schools is the nations largest dropout prevention organization serving 1.5 million students in 2400 sites across the country. We achieve this mission by hiring bright creative and innovative team members who have a passion for what we do. At CISNC we value relationships collaboration learning integrity and commitment.

Position Overview:

Leads data strategy quality and evaluation for the organization driving a culture of evidence-based decision making across CISNC and the CIS network in North Carolina. Serves as the organizations subject matter expert on data systems and data quality. Oversees the full data lifecycle from collection and cleaning to merging analysis and visualization ensuring stakeholders at all levels have access to timely accurate and actionable information. Leads evaluation initiatives and applied research efforts partnering with the National team affiliate network and third-party evaluators to measure impact and drive continuous improvement.

The Director of Data Quality and Evaluation is a member of the Network Support Team who drives quality student supports and promotes sustainable and strong affiliate operations. This team deepens the impact of CIS across North Carolina by training coaching and providing technical assistance to staff across our network of affiliated organizations. This position focuses on supporting the entry and use of data.

Essential Functions:

• Build data collection quality assurance and reporting capacity of local affiliates and the state office by providing ongoing training and technical assistance for the CIS Data Management system (CISDM) and all CISNC program data management platforms. Establish and maintain data quality standards to ensure accuracy and completeness across all data sources.
• Build and maintain partnerships with school districts and external data providers to facilitate secure data access sharing and analysis. Negotiate data sharing agreements and ensure compliance with applicable data privacy regulations (e.g. FERPA) where applicable.
• Design and deliver custom and standardized reports and interactive dashboards on student attendance enrollment service delivery outcomes demographics and other key indicators for program areas departments and network members. Translate complex data into clear accessible visualizations that support data-driven decision making at all organizational levels.
• Cultivate a strong data culture across the network by developing affiliate capacity and championing best practices in data literacy quality and ethical use of data at all levels of the organization.
• Analyze data and synthesize current research and trends related to chronic absenteeism student behavior graduation college and career readiness and recidivism to identify patterns opportunities for system change and strategies for advancing student outcomes.
• In partnership with CIS network national offices and internal teams develop innovative data storytelling approaches including dashboards infographics and narrative reports to communicate CIS impact to diverse audiences and amplify student and family stories in a compelling data-informed way.
• Serve as an internal data consultant: collect manage analyze and interpret data to support research evaluation assessment and data sharing activities across state office and network teams. Lead the affiliate end-of-year reporting and external validation process and ensure data submissions meet quality and completeness standards.
• Identify obtain clean and integrate data from existing and new sources including public datasets district systems and program databases to enrich analysis strengthen the CIS narrative and support grant reporting and stakeholder communications.
• Act as a liaison for CISNC involving research evaluation and data with staff at the affiliate and national levels.
• Must be willing to travel.
• Must be able to see hear speak and move about the office as well as various school-based sites
• All other duties as assigned.
• Must be able to lift 20lbs.
• Must possess a valid drivers license.

Core Competencies

• Student-Centered
• Integrity & Accountability
• Collaboration
• Impact-Driven Excellence
• Respect

Job Specific Competencies

• Adaptability & Flexibility
• Analysis / Reasoning
• Communication
• Planning & Organizing
• Self-Management
• Technology Skills
• Relationship Building
• Creative & Innovative Thinking
• Development & Continual Learning

Required Education/Experience:

Minimum of a Masters Degree in Social Sciences; two years experience in applied research setting.

Necessary Skills:

• Technologically proficient in all office technology systems including spread sheeting work processing email and skype
• Excellent computer skills w/ Microsoft Office products
• Ability to express ideas concisely and clearly both verbally and in writing
• Effectively present complex information during training sessions workshops and presentations for a wide range of audiences
• Strong interpersonal skills and the capacity to work well with various individuals at all levels inside and outside the organization
• Experience with non-profit entity strongly preferred

The above information is intended to describe the most important aspects of the job. It is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities duties and skills required in order to perform the work.

We are an equal employment opportunity employer and do not discriminate against any person because of race color creed religion sex national origin gender gender identity sexual orientation disability age genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law (referred to as protected status). This nondiscrimination policy extends to all terms conditions and privileges of employment as well as the use of all company facilities participation in all company-sponsored activities and all employment actions such as promotions compensation benefits and termination of employment.