Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager - Connecticut RISE Network

RISE Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager

Reports to:      Chief of Data Strategy and Product Innovation

Salary:            Competitive and commensurate with experience

Location:         New Haven, CT (Hybrid)

Overview:

The RISE Network’s mission is to ensure all RISE high school students graduate with a plan and the skills and confidence to achieve college and career success. Founded in 2015, RISE partners with public high schools to lead networks where school communities work together to use data to learn and improve. Through its core and most comprehensive network, RISE partners with nine high schools and eight public school districts, serving over 13,000 students; the majority of RISE students identify as Black, Latine, and/or low-income. Through scale partnerships, RISE collaborated with 55 total schools during the 2023-24 school year, spanning six states.  RISE high schools work together to ensure all students experience success as they transition to, through, and beyond high school by using data to pinpoint needs, form hypotheses, and pursue ideas to advance student achievement. 

Over the past eight years, RISE Core Network high schools have achieved double-digit gains improving Grade 9 on-track achievement, four-year-high school graduation rates, and student identification of postsecondary plans, while also decreasing subgroup gaps across all indicators. In 2021, the RISE Network was honored to receive the Carnegie Foundation’s annual Spotlight on Quality in Continuous Improvement recognition. Increasingly, RISE is pursuing opportunities to scale its impact through the expansion of the RISE Data Hub and consulting partnerships with public school districts, state agencies, and non-profit organizations. RISE is eager to partner with mission-aligned organizations to improve student outcomes and close opportunity gaps.

Position Summary and Essential Job Functions:

The RISE Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager will lead the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Team to help RISE measure, continuously strengthen, and consolidate evidence in support of our organization’s mission and theory of action. 

The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager will manage a team of two: the Senior Program Evaluation Specialist leads evaluation efforts, gathering diverse data to consolidate evidence about RISE practices, and the Data Analytics Specialist systematically collects and processes data for learning, including through surveys and various analytical data tools. Together, the team advances RISE’s internal learning and development while also shaping broadly shared compelling impact stories.

The MEL Manager works on a robust Data Team of software, product, and data engineering professionals to advance RISE’s broader goals of using data to drive learning and improvement. This is an extraordinary opportunity for an individual who thrives in an entrepreneurial environment, and is passionate about closing opportunity gaps and developing the potential of all students regardless of life circumstances.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

1. Provide team leadership and strategy oversight

• Oversee the implementation and continuous improvement of RISE’s evaluation and learning activities.

• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for the team, ensuring members have a shared understanding of success metrics and how their roles support those results.

• Organize staff and resources to advance team KPIs, priorities, and ongoing work streams.

• Promote team coordination and communication, including by facilitating purposeful team meetings and overseeing team work plans. 

• Support the ongoing professional development of all team members through weekly one-on-one check-ins as well as ongoing coaching, modeling, mentorship, and feedback.

• Maintain an excellent team climate rooted in high expectations, an appreciation for team diversity, and a commitment to create an inclusive and collaborative team environment.

• Maintain strong partnerships with other functional teams, proactively supporting cross-team transparency and synergies.

• Serve on the management team, help to advance organization growth, strategies, and goals.

2. Curate data and analytics systems for organizational learning

• Collaborate with Network leaders and Leadership Team to identify priority data needs, focused on the RISE theory of action and prioritized network outcomes and drivers.

• Oversee team efforts to design, maintain, and operate systems of data collection, including survey data, focus groups, implementation measures, and student outcome data.

• Ensure data and analytics systems scale sustainably as the organization grows.

• Collaborate with the Data Engineering Team to consistently apply standards of quality, security, and efficiency to all data infrastructure.

• Oversee team efforts to enable or build sustainable data infrastructure to support research, evaluation, and monitoring.

• Regularly monitor organizational and network performance.

• Strategically and collaboratively communicate data trends and insights to inform organizational decisions and management.

3. Oversee the production of deliverables to tell RISE’s impact story

• Collaborate with Network leaders and Leadership Team to identify priority strategies and questions around which to focus evaluation and storytelling efforts.

• Collaborate with the External Relations Team to identify compelling organizational impact data and stories to inform RISE key messages, and tailor impact stories to those needs.

• Manage the execution of evaluation projects.

• Support team members to design and deliver compelling communications and presentations of analysis, interpretations, and insights.

4. Conduct data analyses and manage special projects

• Maintain awareness of the fields of research and continuous improvement in education.

• Support grant writing, reporting, and broader external communications as needed with systems for data analysis inclusive of but not limited to student impact metrics, programmatic reach, participant and student demographics, and educator satisfaction

• Advise and collaborate on opportunities to pursue additional funding for RISE’s work, particularly those that could resource the Evaluation and Learning’s priorities and goals.

• Consider, cultivate, and manage partnerships with research institutions and entities.

• Strategically address ad hoc and previously unidentified needs for data insights.

Required Knowledge and Skills:

• Ability to be a strong, strategic, and collaborative team leader, including:

  • Ability to manage and balance multiple ongoing projects and priorities

  • Ability to set and communicate a clear vision for the team

  • Ability to develop, maintain, and improve team systems aligned to that vision

• Strong proficiency in qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation methods

• Ability to collect, clean, organize, and manage large amounts of complex data, including:

  • Experience working with large datasets or data warehouses

  • Proficient in Python or similar programming language

  • Proficient in SQL, R, or some other statistical programming language.

• Ability to work with large and complex datasets and derive actionable insights, including:

  • Proficient with data visualization or business intelligence software such as Tableau

  • Strong analytical skills and experience with data-driven decision-making

  • Commitment to looking at data through an equity lens

• Ability to clearly convey complex data stories to broad audiences, including:

  • Excellent communication skills with strong ability to write, edit, and present

  • Proficient with Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and GSuite (Docs, Sheets, Slides)

• Outstanding interpersonal skills and teamwork

• Commitment to systems-driven solutions for scalable and sustained impact

• Strong organizational and project management skills

• Strong belief that all students can learn and achieve at high levels

• Ability to ramp up on new content and work in an independent and self-motivated manner

• Desire to work in a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and results-driven environment

• Sense of humor, positive attitude, and willingness to work in a collaborative environment

Required Education and Experience:

• Minimum of 6 years of experience in analytics, evaluation, and/or research, with increasing responsibility and demonstrated track record of success

• Minimum of 2 years of direct people management experience

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field required

• Advanced degree in a relevant field preferred

Preferred Experience: 

• Familiarity with school data systems and prior experience working in a school, district, or similar K-12 educational context.

Salary Range

$95,000-$134,000

Most new hires' salaries fall within the first half of the range, allowing team members to grow in their roles.  For those who already have significant and aligned experiences at the same level as the role, placement may be at the higher end of the range.

RISE is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.