CEI is at the forefront of improvement, innovation, and change in Colorado’s public education system. CEI is a statewide nonprofit organization that invests time, expertise, and dollars in K-12 public education. For 15 years, CEI has worked with educators as an inspired and supportive partner on the ground in over 150 urban, suburban, and rural school districts. CEI works as an implementation expert, innovation thought leader, and statewide convener in public education. Our mission is to accelerate improvement and innovation in Colorado schools. Our vision is a future in which every student in Colorado is prepared and unafraid to succeed in school, work, and life, and ready to take on the challenges of today, tomorrow, and beyond. We currently partner deeply in over 60 Colorado school districts and have limited work in other states in the region. In addition to our field implementation work, we engage in important policy and innovation agendas in Colorado. Our success is driven by a passionate team of diverse individuals who truly enjoy working together. 

Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) is seeking a Manager of Data and Learning to join CEI’s data team in our efforts to operate as a data-driven learning organization, and to support our school and district partners to do the same. Specifically, this position will primarily support CEI’s multi-year network projects – comprised of cohorts of school and district partners learning and sharing about their work in social-emotional development and career-connected learning – through executing program evaluation and advising both CEI colleagues and district and school partners on meaningful data use. CEI’s data team promotes continuous improvement both internally at CEI through project and organization-wide evaluation and externally with CEI district and school partners through data sensemaking, coaching, and facilitation. Our data work at CEI is anchored by a few key tenets: 

• Action orientation: We value data processes that inform action and avoid thought exercises. 
• Disaggregation matters: Often aggregate data mask disparities. Examining differences across groups of students is critical to confronting persistent barriers to student success. 
• Holistic view of data: We believe in the value of looking beyond traditional measures to include the lived experiences of students, educators, families, and other stakeholders. 
• Data do not equal simple answers: Data often help surface questions more than provide answers. We seek enough of an understanding to make different decisions. 

 The ideal candidate for this role has experience designing and executing mixed-methods program evaluations, especially facilitating, analyzing, and reporting qualitative data collection efforts, including through interviews, focus groups, and open-ended survey responses. This candidate is also skilled at quantitative data analysis, data cleaning and management, data visualization and reporting (including simple dashboards), project management, facilitation, survey design, and relationship-building with external partners. This person is passionate about working in K-12 education to evaluate and improve innovative systems, programs, and processes that drive equitable outcomes for all students.  

 The candidate is excited to join a team grounded in the CEI mindsets: dream big, act small, and pivot quickly; constant learning and adaptation; flexible, nimble, and purposeful; and partnership and service orientation. In addition to the qualifications included throughout this description, the candidate will exhibit belief in and comfort with the CEI Design Commitments, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; youth activation; relevant learning; social emotional development; family and community partnership; and leadership and change management. This position will report to the Director of Data and Strategy.  

 About Colorado Education Initiative 

CEI is at the forefront of improvement, innovation, and change in Colorado’s public education system. CEI is a statewide nonprofit organization that invests time, expertise, and dollars in K-12 public education. For 15 years, CEI has worked with educators as an inspired and supportive partner on the ground in over 150 urban, suburban, and rural school districts. CEI works as an implementation expert, innovation thought leader, and statewide convener in public education. Our mission is to accelerate improvement and innovation in Colorado schools. Our vision is a future in which every student in Colorado is prepared and unafraid to succeed in school, work, and life, and ready to take on the challenges of today, tomorrow, and beyond. We currently partner deeply in over 60 Colorado school districts and have limited work in other states in the region. In addition to our field implementation work, we engage in important policy and innovation agendas in Colorado. Our success is driven by a passionate team of diverse individuals who truly enjoy working together. 

 Of note, we are committed to prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the work we support across Colorado. We seek to identify and embed equity-seeking practices in our culture and talent systems and have made a focused set of investments in the related professional development of our team. We believe our work demands this because of the historic and current experiences in the school systems in which we operate and because we believe the outcomes we seek for students require the prioritization of equity. In all roles, we welcome candidates who are eager to participate in and contribute to this work and whose lived experiences deepen our perspectives on the education system.   

 Responsibilities 

Project Evaluation and Progress Monitoring 

• Serve as data team’s primary liaison to CEI’s network team, overseeing all data-related components in their projects. 
• Co-develop and implement data collection and analysis plans aligned to project evaluations, leveraging CEI-collected data (e.g., feedback forms, focus groups) and relevant existing data (e.g., local climate survey results, academic assessment data). 
• Analyze project and partner data to identify key learnings and assess effectiveness in real-time to inform project implementation and partner supports. 
• Help liaise with external evaluators, funders, and contractors, in partnership with the Director of Data and Strategy and project team directors. 
• Document and share project learnings throughout project lifecycles and collaborate with Director of Data and Strategy to produce annual evaluation reports for projects as needed. 

Data Coaching, Advising, and Facilitation 

• Partner with directors in project design and management of school and district initiatives related to measurement and continuous improvement. 
• Package and present data to CEI teammates and district and school partners in a digestible and engaging manner, including through easy-to-use dashboards. 
• Effectively communicate technical data to both internal teams and external stakeholders. 
• Synthesize findings across disparate data sources to triangulate and enhance learnings. 
• Collaborate with CEI teammates to design and facilitate data reflection sessions with district and school partners. 
• Support partner and project success through advising and coaching partners on effective data collection, analysis, and reporting processes that reflect their unique context. 
• Build and deepen relationships with CEI partners to better meet their current needs and to identify opportunities for future support and partnership. 

Internal and External Collaboration and Thought Partnership 

• Contribute to and occasionally lead data work outside of CEI’s network projects, including for other projects and for organization-wide efforts (e.g., administration and analysis of CEI’s annual partner survey). 
• Regularly solicit and offer feedback on work led by the data team, including through intentional planning and preparation for one-on-one meetings with the Director of Data and Strategy and for data team meetings. 
• Support a culture of positivity and customer service internally and externally. 
• Learn new content, approaches, and processes and apply and share them within and outside of personal areas of expertise to advance the work of CEI and our partners. 

 Qualifications and Competencies 

In addition to the competencies noted above, a successful candidate will have at least three years of experience in nonprofit program evaluation and/or education with a proven track record of designing and implementing data-driven projects. Understanding of or experience in Colorado public K-12 education, especially related to data (e.g., state assessments, climate surveys), is an additional value add. This person will anticipate and take initiative to solve problems and know how to work across teams to build relationships, develop collaborative work products, and take responsibility for outcomes. They will have a record of working with humility and persistence to serve partners and teams to whom they are accountable. They will be data savvy, organized, detail-oriented, an outstanding verbal and written communicator, and able to manage multiple projects simultaneously. The successful candidate will love working in Excel, and ideally have experience working in survey platforms (e.g., Qualtrics) and statistical software (e.g., R). The person in this role must be available and willing to travel as needed, approximately 5-10% of working days. 

 Compensation  

• Full-time position 
• Annual salary commensurate with experience in a range of $60,000 – $70,000  
• Competitive benefits package 
• Hybrid work environment including some flexible scheduling and work-from-home options (with regular need to attend in-person meetings in Denver and across the state) 

 To Apply 

Please send a resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Applicants should indicate the position in the subject line of the email. Note: applications submitted directly through a job listing site will not be considered. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting August 31 and the position will remain open until filled. No phone calls, please. 

 CEI is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity in the workplace. CEI strives to be an inclusive organization, and as such takes affirmative action to ensure that discrimination does not occur against an employee or applicant on the basis of race, creed, color, age, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual identity, sexual orientation, religious or political affiliation, disability or any other classification considered discriminatory under applicable law.