In this role at Curriculum Associates, you’ll support products that are designed to improve student outcomes in reading and mathematics, especially for students who are historically underserved. We believe a diverse team leads to diversity in thinking, making our products better for teachers and students.

About Curriculum Associates:

Curriculum Associates is a rapidly growing educational technology and publishing company committed to making classrooms better places for teachers and students. Our assessments provide valuable feedback to teachers and students and are used to place students into individualized instructional paths.

Position Description:

The Curriculum Associates Psychometric and Research Summer Interns will work on both operational psychometric and research projects and will also gain exposure to many aspects of the assessment design and development process including observing a Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Specifically, interns will:

• Analyze the large datasets at Curriculum Associates, which include some of the most extensive assessment and instructional data in the nation
• Collaborate with other members of the assessment development, psychometrics, and research teams
• Learn about how an operational computerized adaptive assessment is managed

The impact you'll have:

Interns will focus on at least one major project with the goal of presenting findings at a national conference. Some general topics include the following:

• Diagnostic and Instruction Research
• Develop a dashboard to visualize the classical test theory properties of i-Ready Instruction items
• Investigate how lesson passage characteristics relate to student engagement
• Determine if it is appropriate to apply frameworks for detecting student disengagement in assessments to digital learning lessons
• Use machine learning to predict student disengagement on the diagnostic or to predict items with low Response Time Fidelity
• Research related to the COVID-19 pandemic and/or inequities in our educational systems
• Efficacy and Implementation Research
• Explore the relationship between self-reported teacher behaviors/attitudes and student performance on the i-Ready Diagnostic
• Examine differences in student performance across different student demographic groups
• Research paths to proficiency using longitudinal data for at-risk students
• Support the construction of a “schools like mine” analysis/dashboard
• Psychometrics
• Conduct IRT and CTT item analyses to aid in decision making for the lifecycle of an item
• Investigate and define requirements for a representative equating sample to implement through a continuous field test design
• Conduct an operational pool item analysis that informs future item development process
• Generate reliability and validity evidence in support of our product for technical manual revisions

Note that the lists above are not exhaustive and additional projects may arise for any group. Interns may find interest in a project not listed here or may develop a research question of their own.

What we're looking for:

• Currently pursuing a doctorate in educational measurement or a related field. A preference will be given to students with at least three years of doctoral-level coursework completed by the start of the internship
• Must have intermediate proficiency in data manipulation and analysis in R and/or SAS
• Must have a strong interest in applied psychometrics and research that impacts student learning

Location: Interns will work remotely for eight weeks during the summer, ideally from June 13, 2022 to August 5, 2022. Flexibility can be offered in the internship dates if needed.

Compensation & Benefits: Interns work 40 hours/week and will be paid $25 per hour (equivalent to $8,000 for 8 weeks)

Next Steps: Please provide the following information in your application:

• A cover letter indicating your preference between the psychometric, diagnostic and instruction, and efficacy and implementation project tracks and outlining your current research interests, and the reason for your interest in the internship
• A current resume / CV
• A brief coding sample in the language of your preference (This could be from a past research project or school assignment)

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, with a final deadline of January 31, 2022 at 5pm ET. Potential interns will be interviewed by phone and final selections will be made in mid-February.