Job Description

Education Resource Strategies (ERS) is seeking a collaborative, personable, and highly organized Knowledge Management & Re- search Coordinator. If you are excited about using your skills in a high performing, collaborative, entrepreneurial, fast-paced environment, and you enjoy creating structures and processes to facilitate organizational knowledge and learning, we hope you will apply. This is a newly created role that supports ERS with internal knowledge management and field-wide research curation across functions, reporting to the Strategy & Partnerships lead. The purpose of this role is to co-create and build on the knowledge management and learning processes through which ERS supports our consulting clients and thought partners in the education field. The ideal candidate has a strong interest and 1-3 years experience in knowledge, learning, research and evaluation and/or capacity development; is self-starter, an eager learner, and an enthusiastic collaborator; and will be committed to our mission and core values.

We hope that by identifying, capturing, and sharing critical knowledge coming out of our work with school districts and networks across the country, we will be able to define and test our approach; increase our capacity to sustainably do high quality, high impact work; make this work more accessible; and increase our Diversity, Belonging, Inclusion and Equity (DBIE) competence.

Responsibilities

This is a permanent, full-time position in our Watertown, MA office. (ERS is currently hiring fully remotely and working in the office on a voluntary basis with social distancing until it becomes safe to reconvene the entire staff at once in person.) The main areas of responsibility include:

Knowledge Management/ Codified Knowledge Exchange 75%

▪ Facilitate knowledge capture, knowledge organization, continuous learning, and best practices communication between and among ERS project and working teams to ensure the transfer of lessons learned

▪ Support the Practice Areas and Functional Teams to develop and curate technical, codifiable content to be shared on ERS knowledge platforms

▪ Design and oversee a process for ERS team members to easily share and learn tacit or personalized knowledge — making it possible for every staff member (regardless of seniority or title) to access and leverage institutional knowledge, connections, relationships and common knowledge in support of mission critical work

▪ Facilitate the knowledge sharing and storage process at consulting project start-up and close-out

▪ Provide 1-1 coaching and support to consulting and core services team members as they carry out their work -- point colleagues to resources, build their skills in navigating our knowledge platforms, etc.

▪ Continuous Improvement of our Knowledge Management Processes: applying learnings from the field back to ERS; monitoring existing metrics and developing new metrics on the efficacy of our knowledge strategy.

External Research Curation 25%

▪ Monitor and Curate Research and Best Practices in the Field:

o Develop and carry out a process for monitoring and cataloguing developments in academic research and school district best practices in ERS priority content areas

▪ Ensure that research and best practices are reflected in ERS teamwork by:

o Making content easily accessible org-wide using ERS knowledge platforms

o Teeing up content for Practice Areas to review and incorporate into standard methodology, content and recommendations

Qualifications:

▪ 1-3 or more years of experience in knowledge management, capacity building, or learning management roles. Successful candidates with skill and interest in organizing information might come from library science, learning and evaluation, research, capacity building, human resources, consulting, or other backgrounds with similar skillsets. Specific experience in education and/or consulting organizations is not necessary in order to apply.

▪ Knowledge base systems and knowledge documentation interest required; specific prior experience in this function is not

required, but demonstrated experience organizing and documenting lesson learned for internal operational use and for external communications is strongly preferred.

▪ Passion for United States K-12 education system practices, approaches, policies and issues is desirable.

▪ Experience with managing complex internal and external relationships from an operational perspective to meet organizational and leadership goals.

▪ Experience managing multiple projects and priorities at once, clearly communicating process and trade-offs to ensure tasks are completed and prioritized in alignment with a shared understanding of importance and urgency.

▪ Expertise in the Microsoft Office Suite: especially Outlook, PowerPoint and Word. Knowledge of Google Suite strongly preferred. ERS currently uses Tettra (wiki) and Slack (collaboration).

▪ Must have strong organizational skills, be detail-oriented, flexible, tenacious in finding solutions or asking for help when needed.

▪ Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

▪ Strong interpersonal skills: self-directed and intellectually curious - willing to do research and ask questions to find solutions; positive attitude, and ability to work well in a team environment.

▪ Highly self-motivated and willing to proactively take on additional responsibilities as needed.

▪ Ability and willingness to manage up and anticipate needs. Eagerness to be a thought partner as well as a support to col- leagues at all levels of the organization.

About Education Resource Strategies

Every school. Every child. Ready for tomorrow.

No two children are alike. Parents and teachers understand this intuitively. And they respond by working to provide the right combination of supports at the right time to meet each child’s unique needs so they can achieve their biggest dreams. Yet many schools and school systems don’t follow this example. They are set up as if all students need the same things. Worse yet, students with higher needs and students of color are often less likely than their peers to have access to the high-quality learning experiences that research tells us are necessary to prepare them for college and career.

But schools and school systems can meet students’ differing needs—and many do every day.

Education Resource Strategies is a national nonprofit that partners with district, school, and state leaders to deeply understand students’ most pressing needs and mobilize the right amount and combination of resources (people, time and money) in response, so that every student can receive a high-quality education that unlocks their power to live a life of their choosing.

We believe that schools must look very different from the rigid class sizes, fixed time blocks, and standardized teacher roles that define school today. Most schools will only get there if school systems leverage data to understand resource use and redesign their central office to provide schools with the combination of accountability, support, and flexibility they need.

Since 2004, ERS has worked hand-in-hand with the leaders of over 100 school systems and several states through data (analysis & benchmarking), design (strategy, resource trade-offs & consensus building) and implementation (planning & monitoring).

And our work continues to grow and evolve: Right now, schools are facing unprecedented challenges as they work hard to support their students during the COVID-19 pandemic – especially those students with the highest needs. And as an organization, we still have so much to learn about the continuing impact of systemic racism and oppression throughout our country and institutions, and we are working every day to become a more equitable organization that works to create a more just society. In all our work, we focus on the larger picture—how resources work together to create high-performing systems. Our non-profit status enables a different kind of partnership with districts and states: one where we participate in the transformation struggle, create insights together, and share lessons with others.

Please visit our website to learn more about Our Work, Our Impact, Our Team, and Our Core Values.

▪ Opportunity for impact: ERS works with some of the largest, most influential and innovative districts in the country to truly transform their practices. Your work will change the lives of thousands of students.

▪ Entrepreneurial spirit: As a small organization, we are continuously improving, and we encourage innovative ideas, honest feedback, and constant learning.

▪ Collaborative work environment: We do most of our work in teams. We bring our collective wisdom and expertise to everything we do, often tapping the expertise and leadership of colleagues across the organization.

▪ Healthy work/life balance: We support every member of the ERS team in integrating meaningful work and professional growth with a healthy personal life throughout their career.

Contact Us

Interested in joining the ERS team? Please submit your resume and thoughtful cover letter to our Careers Page.

ERS is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, ancestry, pregnancy, or military service.

We value diverse teams and the unique talents each member brings. In that light, we encourage candidates that have life experiences similar to those of the children, teachers, and leaders in the districts we serve to apply. The value we place on diverse teams is mirrored by our commitments to foster and sustain an inclusive culture. We regularly evaluate our organization's processes and policies through the lens of equity and inclusion, and we provide opportunities for individual and organizational learning about equity, inclusion, and diversity.

We view these commitments as essential to our work with each other and our district partners, as we seek to drive equity and excellence for all students through school system transformation.