POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS IN QUANTITATIVE METHODS AND EVALUATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UC BERKELEY
The Graduate School of Education (GSE) at the University of California, Berkeley, is seeking two fulltime postdoctoral fellows to work with Sophia Rabe-Hesketh and Mark Wilson in the Quantitative Methods and Evaluation (QME) Program. The fellowships are funded by the Institute of Education Studies (US Dept. of Education). Fellows will advance their methodological expertise and conduct research in critical areas of educational practice. They can participate in a range of existing projects associated with the QME Program and the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research (BEAR) Center, and they may also initiate their own projects. We currently have ongoing projects on the development and evaluation of assessment systems, including assessments of the reading comprehension skills of middle-school students, statistical reasoning by middle school students, science knowledge among upper elementary school students, and entry-level elementary school teachers' pedagogic content knowledge. We also have current projects investigating the effects of educational interventions on student outcomes, including an evaluation of different professional development designs for science teachers, a comparison of different instructional practices in math education, and estimation of the benefits of attending preschool. In all these projects, the research conducted by the postdoctoral fellows can either have a relatively stronger substantive focus or be more methodological in nature. Postdoctoral fellows will be able to take courses on measurement, evaluation, and statistics within the GSE and across the campus. During the fellowship period, we will invite experts in research methodology to hold workshops and interact directly with the postdoctoral fellows.
Applicants should have a Ph.D. in Education or a related area with a strong background in quantitative methods, or a Ph.D. in a quantitative discipline with a strong interest in education. Some knowledge of Item Response Theory (IRT) and/or multilevel modeling would be an advantage. The expected duration of the fellowships is 2 years with an approximate start date of September 1, 2009. The annual stipend of the fellowship is $50,000, with family health insurance, and an allowance for travel and research support.
Please submit a statement of interest, not exceeding 5 pages, and a your CV to: Professor Sophia Rabe-Hesketh, Graduate School of Education, 3659 Tolman Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1670 by a postdate of April 6, 2009 (sophiarh@berkeley.edu).
