The Job

The Education Policy Scholar will work on projects that study and uplift the importance of diversity, justice, and equity in public schools. You will assist in documenting the growth and success of racial and socioeconomic integration strategies in K–12 education, and will present this content in a variety of forms, possibly including case studies, fact sheets, and interviews with students, teachers, and families. You should be able to look at school diversity through an intersectional lens, recognizing the importance of elevating the experiences of low-income students, LGBTQ students, English-language learners, and students of color in their work. You will also pay particular attention to possible ways low-income students can gain access to better schools through changes in housing policy, such as the elimination of exclusionary zoning policies, implementation of inclusionary zoning policies, or strengthening of Fair Housing Act enforcement.

You

A self-proclaimed policy wonk who lives for researching policy, writing about policy, organizing events around policy…you get the picture. You’re equally at home writing formal policy analysis and 600-word blog posts—-and you understand that these two things shouldn’t sound the same.

Qualifications

• Some college, perhaps more. You should be an undergrad, grad student, or recent graduate with a strong background in policy analysis or communications.
• Exceptional research skills. You need to be quick, thorough, and accurate. You should be able to work with complex data, and then present that data in engaging graphic formats.
• A good writer. Everyone thinks they write well. You actually do. If you can also communicate well in-person, that’s even better.
• A self-starter. You’re looking for the opportunity to own a project and work independently.
• A team player. TCF is highly collaborative. We want you to own your project, but we also want you to remember that your colleagues have some skills that you probably don’t.
• A multi-tasker. You’ll be working on a lot of different things on any given day. You’ll have to be organized, good with details, and have a knack for problem solving to succeed here.
• A progressive. TCF is a progressive public policy think tank. If you spend your evenings with Hannity and Breitbart, you’ll probably be pretty unhappy here.
• A sense of humor. Have you read these descriptions? This will be your life.