Example Job Description
Research and Evaluation Coordinator
A research and evaluation coordinator who advances a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
Interview Planning Resource
Possible Interview Q&A: Research and Evaluation Coordinator
How to use this resource: Select questions that measure competencies established through the district’s current job analysis. Ask candidates the same predetermined questions under comparable conditions and evaluate responses against the same job-related criteria.
The indicators below describe evidence a strong response may contain; they are not required scripts or the only acceptable answers.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how would you turn a broad leadership question into a defensible evaluation plan?
Strong response indicators: Defines the purpose, scope, governing requirement, timeline, responsible owners, dependencies, controls, communication, contingencies, and evidence of completion. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how would you decide whether a proposed study can support a causal conclusion?
Strong response indicators: Verifies authoritative information, protects the affected person and data, follows approved procedures, involves responsible owners, documents facts, and confirms resolution. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, describe how you would validate administrative data before using it in research.
Strong response indicators: Uses systematic diagnosis, representative evidence, root-cause analysis, controlled correction, reconciliation, documentation, and monitoring for recurrence. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how would you design a survey that produces useful and equitable evidence?
Strong response indicators: Applies least privilege, minimum necessary access, secure channels, appropriate approval, auditability, retention, and prompt escalation of uncertainty or risk. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, a program leader disagrees with an unfavorable finding. How would you respond?
Strong response indicators: Communicates the evidence, affected population, operational consequence, uncertainty, available choices, recommended action, accountable owners, and follow-up without unnecessary jargon. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how would you protect confidentiality in a small-group analysis?
Strong response indicators: Builds sustainable ownership through clear definitions, role-specific training, useful quality reports, feedback loops, documentation, support, and verification that improvement persists. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, what makes a mixed-method evaluation stronger than a single-source study?
Strong response indicators: Defines the purpose, scope, governing requirement, timeline, responsible owners, dependencies, controls, communication, contingencies, and evidence of completion. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how would you manage an external researcher’s request for student data?
Strong response indicators: Verifies authoritative information, protects the affected person and data, follows approved procedures, involves responsible owners, documents facts, and confirms resolution. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how do you keep analytical work reproducible and reviewable?
Strong response indicators: Uses systematic diagnosis, representative evidence, root-cause analysis, controlled correction, reconciliation, documentation, and monitoring for recurrence. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how would you communicate uncertainty to a governing board or community audience?
Strong response indicators: Applies least privilege, minimum necessary access, secure channels, appropriate approval, auditability, retention, and prompt escalation of uncertainty or risk. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, how would you prioritize an evaluation agenda when requests exceed capacity?
Strong response indicators: Communicates the evidence, affected population, operational consequence, uncertainty, available choices, recommended action, accountable owners, and follow-up without unnecessary jargon. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- In the Research and Evaluation Coordinator role, what would you prioritize during your first 90 days?
Strong response indicators: Builds sustainable ownership through clear definitions, role-specific training, useful quality reports, feedback loops, documentation, support, and verification that improvement persists. Connects the response to the position’s specific responsibility for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
Position Description
Under the direction of the appropriate district administrator, the Research and Evaluation Coordinator coordinate and lead work supporting a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
The position applies educational research, program evaluation, survey design, statistical analysis, and evidence-centered decision support across student information, assessment, accountability, survey, data warehouse, statistical, qualitative-analysis, and visualization systems. It establishes or follows clear ownership, validation, security, documentation, review, and escalation practices appropriate to the role’s assigned authority.
The Research and Evaluation Coordinator collaborates with program leaders, educators, students, families, community partners, analysts, technology staff, executive leadership, and external researchers. The role is accountable for cross-functional planning, ownership, calendars, training, quality control, escalation, and continuous improvement while protecting confidential information and keeping local decisions traceable.
Reports To
Insert your school district’s specific reporting relationship here.
Required Education and Credentials
Required
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in education, information systems, data management, public administration, business administration, statistics, computer science, or a closely related field. Additional qualifying experience may be substituted where permitted by district policy.
- Successful completion of all district-required employment clearances.
- Completion of role-required privacy, information-security, records, system, and program training within established timelines.
Preferred
- Graduate degree or advanced coursework in a field related to the position.
- Current professional learning or certification related to educational research, program evaluation, survey design, statistical analysis, and evidence-centered decision support.
- Relevant training in project management, data governance, privacy, accessibility, database, analytics, or information security.
Required / Desired Experience
Required Experience
- Three or more years of progressively responsible experience in K-12 education, student information, data, technology, compliance, research, records, or a closely related function.
- Experience with a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence.
- Experience interpreting requirements, procedures, definitions, reports, system information, or technical documentation relevant to assigned work.
- Experience coordinating or completing deadline-driven work with careful documentation and quality control.
- Experience handling confidential information and communicating with users or stakeholders.
Desired Experience
- Experience with student information, assessment, accountability, survey, data warehouse, statistical, qualitative-analysis, and visualization systems.
- Experience partnering with program leaders, educators, students, families, community partners, analysts, technology staff, executive leadership, and external researchers.
- Experience in cross-functional planning, ownership, calendars, training, quality control, escalation, and continuous improvement.
- Experience using SQL, advanced spreadsheets, scripting, workflow tools, APIs, secure file transfer, or visualization tools when relevant to assigned duties.
- Experience developing accessible training, technical documentation, process maps, data dictionaries, or continuity materials.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Planning, Operations, and Service Delivery
- Develop an annual research and evaluation agenda aligned with district priorities, decision timelines, capacity, and ethical requirements.
- Translate decision questions into feasible designs, measures, samples, data-collection plans, analytical methods, deliverables, and limitations.
- Lead or coordinate surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, administrative-data studies, and mixed-method evaluations.
- Establish review, consent, privacy, data-sharing, records, and publication procedures for internal and external research.
- Prepare technical reports, executive briefs, presentations, public summaries, and actionable learning products.
Data Quality, Controls, and Documentation
- Apply appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods and document assumptions, missing data, uncertainty, limitations, and potential bias.
- Maintain reproducible datasets, code, instruments, protocols, data dictionaries, analysis plans, and decision logs.
- Use peer review, quality checks, sensitivity analysis, and subject-matter review before consequential findings are released.
- Protect participant confidentiality and apply minimum-necessary data access, secure exchange, retention, and destruction.
- Distinguish findings, interpretations, hypotheses, recommendations, and causal claims.
Research and Evaluation Coordinator-Specific Leadership and Support
- Own or support the assigned portfolio for a governed district research and evaluation portfolio that produces credible, ethical, useful evidence, with responsibilities clearly matched to the position’s authority and classification.
- Develop role-specific calendars, service expectations, status reporting, support channels, and escalation paths.
- Coordinate decisions with responsible data owners, program leaders, technical custodians, reviewers, and approving officials.
- Provide accessible training, guidance, communications, and technical assistance tailored to user responsibilities.
- Analyze recurring errors, incidents, requests, and process delays and recommend sustainable improvements.
Security, Improvement, and Continuity
- Protect personally identifiable and confidential information in systems, files, reports, email, tickets, meetings, training, and support activity.
- Test consequential changes using representative cases, documented expectations, peer or owner review, and post-change validation.
- Use automation only with appropriate access, versioning, logging, exception handling, review, and recovery procedures.
- Maintain current standard operating procedures, cross-training, critical contacts, dependencies, backup coverage, and recovery steps.
- Perform other related duties consistent with the position’s purpose and classification.
Required Skills and Abilities
Knowledge of
- Educational research, program evaluation, survey design, statistical analysis, and evidence-centered decision support.
- Student information, assessment, accountability, survey, data warehouse, statistical, qualitative-analysis, and visualization systems.
- Data governance, source ownership, data quality, internal controls, change management, documentation, and continuous improvement.
- Student privacy, confidentiality, role-based access, secure transmission, records management, incident escalation, and responsible use.
- Project coordination, customer service, adult learning, accessible communication, and support practices appropriate to assigned work.
Ability to
- Interpret detailed requirements and translate them into accurate procedures, system actions, reports, guidance, or decisions.
- Trace discrepancies through source records, processes, configurations, mappings, transformations, and outputs.
- Manage competing priorities and fixed deadlines with transparent status, documentation, review, and escalation.
- Communicate clearly with technical, program, school, leadership, family, vendor, or agency audiences as appropriate.
- Exercise discretion, preserve confidentiality, recognize limits of authority, and escalate material risk promptly.
- Learn evolving requirements and technologies and improve processes without weakening controls or continuity.
Work Environment
- Work is performed primarily in district offices, schools, service locations, meetings, training environments, and other computer-based professional settings.
- The position requires sustained computer use and detailed review of records, systems, files, reports, requests, and technical or procedural documentation.
- Work involves frequent interaction with program leaders, educators, students, families, community partners, analysts, technology staff, executive leadership, and external researchers.
- Workload may increase substantially during annual cycles, reporting windows, implementations, releases, audits, incidents, school transitions, or other critical deadlines.
- The employee may encounter frequent interruptions, confidential matters, ambiguous records, failed processes, competing priorities, and urgent requests.
- The position requires secure handling of personally identifiable student, family, or staff information.
Other Requirements
- Successfully complete required criminal-record, fingerprint, and employment clearances.
- Complete a tuberculosis risk assessment and any examination required by applicable law or district policy.
- Complete annual mandated-reporter training and fulfill all legally applicable reporting responsibilities.
- Complete district-required cybersecurity, student-privacy, safety, nondiscrimination, records, and workplace training.
- Maintain professional confidentiality and comply with district policies governing records, information security, acceptable technology use, and data access.
- Travel between district offices, schools, service locations, meetings, and professional-development activities as assigned.
- Possess a valid California driver’s license and maintain insurability when driving is an essential function of the position.
- Occasionally work early-morning, evening, weekend, or extended hours during critical operational, reporting, testing, implementation, or incident periods.
- Regularly sit, stand, walk, speak, hear, read, and operate computers and standard office equipment.
- Use hands and fingers for keyboarding and handling documents; maintain visual attention while reviewing detailed records and computer displays.
- Occasionally lift, carry, or move records, devices, equipment, or supplies weighing up to 25 pounds.
- Perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.