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Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 320,000 students in 600+ schools and employing approximately 40,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life.  In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity.  Six core values are embedded within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

Located within the Office of College Career Success (OCCS), the Office of School Counseling and Postsecondary Advising (OSCPA) ensures that school counseling teams have the support and resources necessary to implement comprehensive school counseling programs that advance the academic, personal/social, and career development of all students. OSCPA is comprised of the following teams: school counseling, college and career specialists, scholarships, and postsecondary initiatives. All provide professional development and support to school counselors, college and career coaches, and school administrators at the school level.

Job Summary: 

The Senior Data Strategist will facilitate the data acquisition, analysis, and distribution for all postsecondary partnerships with OSCPA. Postsecondary data is defined as all metrics identified by OSCPA and CPS as essential to drive students awareness, readiness, access and ultimate success in postsecondary pathways. Partnerships served by this role will be determined by the Executive Director of OSCPA and will be inclusive of Chi-Rise, Hope Chicago, Success Bound and key College and Career Readiness Services vendor pool college access partners (e.g. Bottom Line, College Possible, One Goal, Chicago Scholars). The Senior Data Strategist will report to the Executive Director of OSCPA. 

The Senior Data Strategist will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Meet with all postsecondary partners for program planning, envisioning, and progress monitoring at a regular cadence (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) based on need and E.D. of OSCPA approval
• Develop processes to strategically and systematically collect, archive, and report data for postsecondary partners in an accurate and timely manner, using automated processes where possible.
• Provide required data to approved Postsecondary Partners point person(s) at a 5 week (progress report aligned) minimum cadence throughout the school year 
• Produce required semi-annual and annualized report on required data points specified in the Data Sharing Agreements of each postsecondary partnership
• Collaborate with OSCPA Business Operations to ensure all partners have active data sharing agreements
• Disaggregate all postsecondary data analysis for partnerships (by school or student based on program model) and disseminate in accordance with partnership agreements and CPS policy
• Work formatively with internal management around development of appropriate analysis questions and meaningful performance indicators based on postsecondary partners contracts
• Analyze CPS and 3rd party student-level data, handle data requests and special analyses, support grant proposals and funder reporting, and provide data and reports to external research partners 
• Prepare and disseminate analysis reports, briefs, and presentations; communicate results meaningfully to various audiences both internal and external in accordance with CPS data management protocols
• Collaborate with internal program staff around all analysis activities 
• Work formatively with internal management around development of appropriate analysis questions and meaningful performance indicators 
• Work with approved enterprise analytic tool sets (SAS, SQL)
• Ensure data quality and integrity 
• Adhere to a set of guiding principles for analytic practice as established by the Data Governance Council
• Participate in District’s Data Analyst User Group
• Perform other duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Senior Data Strategist must possess the following qualifications:

Type of Education Required: 

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university is required; Focus in education, measurement, psychology, social science, public policy, economics, statistics, or a related field requiring quantitative coursework, or specific continuing-education training in data analysis/data science, preferred.
• Master’s degree preferred

Type of Experience and Number of Years: 

• Minimum of five (5) years of professional experience in a relevant field and a role primarily responsible for performing data analytics and/or strategy (E.g., data analyst, data strategist, business analyst, systems analyst, etc.), including the following, is required:
• • Experience writing code with data analytic tools (SAS, R, SPSS, STATA, etc) 
  • Experience drafting ad hoc surveys, programming content into online survey platforms (Alchemer, Survey Monkey, Qualtrics, etc.)
  • Experience presenting findings to stakeholders especially via presentation decks that include summaries and data visualizations

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• Ability to use SAS and SQL required
• Advanced experience with Excel and Google Sheets including pivot tables, complex formulas, named ranges, vLookup
• Demonstrated experience working across and combining multiple, large datasets
• Google Data Studio/Looker or other experience building data dashboards with a GUI, preferred
• Exceptional organizational, communication (oral and written), and problem-solving skills
• Strong attention to detail and data quality assurance
• Ability to deliver high quality results in a fast-paced environment, respond promptly to multiple constituencies and meet established deadlines
• Able to lead independently under general guidance and as part of a team
• Capable of coordinating efforts and collaborating with a variety of individuals having conflicting agendas
• Ability to establish priorities and manage multiple activities while meeting established deadlines
• Ability to work in a cross-functional team with technical and non-technical personnel from a variety of departments
• Flexibility to meet changing departmental needs and priorities
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously
• Adheres to a high level of professionalism at all times across professional interactions (ie- meets deadlines, is responsive to communications and requests, etc.)

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency -Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.
• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 -Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. “Up-to-date” on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.