Director, Assessments (Career Kickstart)
College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success—including the SAT®, the Advanced Placement® Program, and BigFuture®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools.
Career Kickstart expands the successful AP model to the career and technical education space, by offering schools a new set of career-oriented high school courses that provide students with relevant, high-quality instruction and experiences that lead to industry-recognized credentials and college credit, and ultimately, power students' progress to in-demand jobs in high-growth sectors and choice-filled lives. We are in the nascent stages of building this program and have a start-up culture.
As the Director for Assessments, Career Kickstart, you are responsible for developing and executing Career Kickstart’s assessment strategy with the end goal of our assessment being valid with both post-secondary institutions and industry. The Director will work with internal and external stakeholders to ensure it meets this goal. In addition to the assessment equating to college credit like all AP assessments, the assessment ultimately will be industry recognized. The Director will work with industry partners to ensure this meets the needs of industry.
Once the strategy is solidified, the Director of Assessment will direct the content for the first two CK assessments in collaboration with the two course leads: Career Kickstart IT Pathways, Networking and Career Kickstart IT Pathways, Cybersecurity, who lead curriculum development, guide instructional support, and review assessment content. The Director of Assessment is responsible for all item development and management from authoring to administration; training and collaborating with subject-matter experts (SMEs), typically college professors and secondary school teachers. The Assessment Director trains SMEs on assessment development protocols, translates between academics and technical experts (psychometricians), and collaborates to develop formative assessment materials and resources to support Career Kickstart teachers across the nation. The first two Career Kickstart courses will pilot in Fall 2024, and be assessed in Spring of 2025.
In this role, you will work on the following projects:
Assessment Planning (25%)
Assessment Development and Scoring (
60
%)
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Serve as the assessment leader for Career Kickstart, the primary person responsible for assessment development of the first two Career Kickstart assessments
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Be responsible for authoring/revising assessment content and training educator constituents to author assessment content, including selection of appropriate stimulus material, and applying best assessment practices
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Lead the development and management of all assessment content through iterative review stages with multiple internal and external stakeholders, including the Director of IT Pathways, Assessment Production team, Test Development Committee
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Be responsible for development of all assessment forms, ensuring the CK Exam development aligns with approved curricula and test specifications
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Conduct multiple face-to-face, weekend meetings, and virtual meetings (during work week, evenings, or weekends) annually with each of the committees within your stewardship as well as other committee meetings in the discipline as needed
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Lead the successful scoring of student CK Exams at the annual scoring event in person and online—the “CK Reading”—and produce CK Reading publications materials for teacher and student use
Assessment Quality and Process (15%)
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Contribute to current research and best practices related to assessment; participate in regular discussions with other AP Curriculum & Assessment members on the current assessment standards and practices to build a set of common, shared beliefs about AP’s assessment directions within the larger educational and assessment community
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Contribute to processes for efficient, high-quality assessment development
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Refine and improve question task models as well as exam design in collaboration with and aligned to other College Board initiatives
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Monitor and improve exam validity, reliability, fairness, and quality, as well as reader reliability in accordance with established Program thresholds
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Serve as a recognized and trusted resource within the community by collaboration with the CK Course Lead in engagement with the community to drive teacher satisfaction with the Career Kickstart Exam
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(Required) A Master’s degree or PhD in education, or a related field, and knowledge of current trends in the discipline
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(Required) Experience in standardized assessment development , preferrably in the CTE space
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Experience with digital assessment (preferred)
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Experience with industry credentials (preferred)
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Superior oral and written communications skills
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Excellent organizational and planning skills, including the ability to effectively handle multiple tasks simultaneously
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Meticulous attention to detail, including the ability to closely proofread
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Excellent skills in process and procedure implementation, including adhering to project plans and schedules, and maintaining project management documentation for tracking
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Technical acumen and aptitude; proficiency with Microsoft Office and use of browser-based applications and tools
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Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills, including the ability to deal with staff at all levels
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Willingness to give, accept, and address constructive feedback with positivity
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Willingness to travel up to 6 times a year (domestic), with 2 potential weeks in May/June for the Annual “CK Reading”
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We are motivated to positively impact the educational and career trajectories of millions of students a year
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We prioritize building a diverse and inclusive team where every team member can thrive, and systems and meeting structures where every voice is heard
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We value learning and growth; we offer formal and informal ways to lead through your superpowers, sharpen your strengths, and meet your development goals
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This is a remote role, but residence in New York (where our central office is located) or one of our focus states – CO, TN, KY, TX or NC – is preferred.
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If you live in NYC, staff are asked to come into the office Tuesdays and Wednesdays
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We are asking for all applications by May 21st. Candidate can start no later than July 15, with a preference for earlier.
Benefits and Compensation
We offer our employees an outstanding benefits package that includes four weeks of paid time off, an organization-wide week-long winter break, a generous retirement savings plan, tuition reimbursement, paid parental leave for everyone, fertility benefits, remote work from anywhere in the country, medical/dental/vision/pet insurance, generous rewards compensation plan, and ongoing professional development and training. Any ultimate salary offer is commensurate with years of relevant experience and work location. In New York City, the salary range for this role is $100,000 to $140,000 annually. Depending on location, the range for this role may decrease by 20%.
College Board is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We’re committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.