Fast Facts

Join Achieving the Dream as a Research and Assessment Intern to gain valuable experience in applied research within an education-focused non-profit organization. This remote internship, available from June to August, offers an opportunity to work on diverse projects and develop your own research initiatives contributing to higher education reform.

Responsibilities: Contribute to survey creation and analysis using Qualtrics and Tableau, assist in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, collaborate with a research team, and write reports for a lay audience.

Skills: Strong understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods, experience with literature reviews and report writing, and proficiency in MS Office Suite and various data analysis software.

Qualifications: Current graduate student or advanced undergraduate in social sciences; proficiency or experience in research methodologies is preferred.

Location: This is a remote position with no specific travel requirements.

Compensation: $18 - $23 / Hourly

Position Details: 

Position Type: 

Internship

Department:

Research & Assessment

Reports To: 

Mandi Koch, Ph.D., Associate Director of Research & Assessment

Internship Duration:

June – August (flexible work schedule, duration and hours - intern must work between ATD’s core hours (9am – 5pm ET).

Work Location: 

Remote 

 Hourly Rate: 

$18.00 (undergraduate rate)

$23.00 (graduate rate) 

Internship Overview: 

The Research and Assessment team is a small team that conducts both quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate ATD’s impact, college progress on student success strategies, and the development and delivery of data education services to our colleges. The internship is a great opportunity to gain experience working in applied research in an education focused non-profit organization. The intern will join the team to work on a variety of projects and will also have the opportunity to develop their own research project related to ATDs mission and higher education reform efforts.  

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Contribute to survey creation and administration in Qualtrics and provide support to related report and dashboard development in Tableau or similar platform. 
• Employ both qualitative and quantitative research methods in a non-profit applied setting.
• Contribute as part of a team to qualitative data collection and analysis of documents related to college-wide student success work.
• Contribute as part of a team to quantitative data collection and basic analyses.
• Work collaboratively with a cross-disciplinary research team.
• Write reports for a lay audience to convey research results.
• Support a variety of projects as assigned.

Skills/Qualifications:

• Current graduate student or advanced undergraduate student in social sciences is preferred (education, human development, sociology, psychology, public policy, or similar field). Students in other majors such as data science will be considered if the applicant can make a strong case that their background and professional interests align with ATD’s work and needs. 
• Successful completion of both quantitative and qualitative research methods and analysis.
• Experience conducting literature reviews and/or writing research reports.
• This is a remote position. In addition to the research skills needed to participate in the work, a strong candidate will be self-motivated with the ability to work independently and successfully meet deadlines.
• The research and assessment team works collaboratively within the team and across teams at ATD. Therefore, good communication skills are an asset to getting the most out of the internship experience. 
• This is a learning internship, and strong candidates will have an interest in the fields of education and higher education, particularly in the context of community colleges.
• Strong candidates will need comfort using and/or learning:
• MS Office Suite, including Excel, Word and PowerPoint 
• Qualitative software such as dedoose or NVIVO 
• Quantitative data analysis software such as SPSS, STATA, SAS, or R
• Tableau or Power BI
• Remote communication platforms such as Zoom and/or MS Teams

What You’ll Gain:

• Basic competency with research in an applied setting, including the ability to make appropriate judgements about research methodology in a non-academic setting.
• Hands-on experience in conducting qualitative analysis with the use of qualitative data analysis software. 
• Hands-on experience analyzing and interpreting quantitative data.
• Foundational skills in creating automated reports and dashboards using Tableau or similar platforms. 
• Increased ability to translate complex data (both quantitative and qualitative) into clear, digestible communications that provide non-technical audiences with tangible takeaways and/or action items.
• Grow understanding of the community college sector and gain understanding of the complex structures and challenges in the field. 
• Develop professional communication and collaboration skills with a specific emphasis on doing so in a remote setting. 

Application Materials:

• Resume
• Unofficial transcript demonstrating successful completion of quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Cover Letterin which you discuss the following:
• How will working at ATD contribute to your professional and/or academic goals?
• What qualities, experiences, or other considerations do you believe make you an ideal candidate for this position.

Core Competencies: 

Collaboration: Demonstrates respect, humility, and willingness to collaborate when seeking to understand others and making decisions. 

Equity Mindset: Demonstrates capacity to recognize and address racialized structures, policies, and practices that produce and sustain racial inequities. 

Learning Orientation: Embraces challenges, new ideas and different perspectives as an opportunity to learn; continually seeks out and applies new learning to activate change or improvements. 

Systems Thinking: Defines the system and one’s role in the system. Sees relationships and the dynamic elements of the holistic system and executes work accordingly. Influences the system and maps connections to ATD’s external landscape. 

Physical Demands:  

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus. 

Equal Opportunity Employer: 

Achieving the Dream is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse work environment.Employment policies and decisions are based upon merit, qualifications, performance, and business needs. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally- protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.