Education Program Associate

The Right Question Institute (RQI) is looking for a hardworking Program Associate to support the work of our Education team. This position offers an unusual opportunity to be a part of a passionate, intellectually curious team, effect change in the field of education, and support educators in their work to transform thinking and learning in the classroom.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, RQI is a nonprofit educational organization that aims to make education and democracy work better. RQI offers a simple, powerful strategy that builds people’s skills to ask better questions, learn, participate more effectively in decisions that affect them, and advocate for themselves.

RQI works across a variety of fields. In the field of education, our vision is that every student will learn to ask and pursue their own questions, and, by building that skill, become engaged critical thinkers, curious lifelong learners, and active advocates for themselves and their communities.

The cornerstone of RQI’s education program is the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), a powerful step-by-step protocol designed to teach students how to formulate, improve upon, and use their own questions. We support educators in using the strategy by developing free resources and powerful professional learning experiences. The Education Program Associate will work closely with RQI’s Director of Professional Learning and Education Program Coordinator to advance this vision and support all aspects of the education team’s work.

Your Role

The Education Program Associate is a crucial member of the education team. The Associate will work as a meaningful thought-partner to colleagues, collaborate closely with senior staff, and help develop, manage, and drive projects, strategies, and opportunities. They will also support administrative work across the organization for 10% of the time.

The Program Associate is responsible for a wide range of tasks including:

• Managing day-to-day email (and occasionally phone) communications with educators, potential partners, and other stakeholders in the field
• Helping to design and implement RQI’s social media strategy, including basic marketing for events and initiatives
• Supporting presentations put on by senior staff, including event coordination and materials preparation
• Supporting the design and development of training materials and online resources
• Supporting the education team in writing and editing thought pieces and instructional content
• Organizing and managing the education team’s library of resources
• Supporting administrative work across the organization

This is an exciting time to join a fast-growing organization and an emerging leader in education. RQI is committed to supporting the professional growth of each employee, and we expect the responsibilities in this role will expand and deepen over time.

Due to COVID-19, RQI currently has no physical office space. Comfort with virtual work and collaboration is essential, as most of the educators we work with and members of our team will continue to be remote even when we return to the office. Applicants outside of Massachusetts are welcome to apply. This position can be 100% remote for the right candidate.

Qualifications

• You are a self-motivated self-starter who is able to independently make connections and push the work 2-3 steps beyond what is required. You work well when given a loose task and the space to run with it.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication. You are equally comfortable writing emails in a professional setting and articulating and advocating for your point of view for external and internal audiences.
• You are deliberate, organized, and diligent. You will take responsibility for the collective work that the education team is doing and will be able to step into a project management role when necessary.
• Reflective, receptive to feedback, and genuinely motivated by learning. You view writing as an evolving process and enjoy giving and receiving feedback. You thrive in an iterative environment where every presentation and piece of writing goes through multiple editors and multiple drafts. You are comfortable with very precise, granular tasks, on occasion, in addition to the broad, open-ended ones.
• Familiarity and comfort with social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or a willingness to learn more and become an in-house expert.
• Fluency in Google suite platforms (docs, sheets, slides, forms, keep, calendar), Microsoft suite including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Live Meeting software including Zoom and Google Meet, and a readiness to learn additional apps. Additionally, it is helpful if you have experience and/or interest in learning educational technology used by teachers for virtual and hybrid learning. When senior staff wonder whether it is possible to design something new in this software, you will find a way to make it happen.
• You have some background in education or an unrelenting excitement to dive into the field and learn as much as you can.
• A commitment to come to work each morning to advance RQI’s mission.
• B.A. required; M.A. welcome.

Starting salary $40,000

Why work for RQI?

You will work in a mission-driven, collaborative, and intellectually stimulating environment, with colleagues who are passionate about the work we do. A strong candidate will have numerous opportunities for professional growth, including participation in occasional events and seminars, daily relationship-building with stakeholders across the field, and the freedom to propose and pursue independent projects as they align with the mission and vision of our work.

Compensation & Benefits

In addition to meaningful work and the opportunity to engage with a growing international community, RQI provides an excellent compensation and benefits package including medical, dental, a 401(k) program with a discretionary organizational contribution, and generous paid time off. This position also offers remote work flexibility.

To Apply

Why are you the right person to be doing this work?

Please submit the following to Katy Connolly, Education Program Coordinator, at jobs@rightquestion.org.

1) A one-page cover letter

2) Your CV/resume

3) One writing sample (not a new piece, but a short piece, or excerpt of a longer work you already have).

Applications with no cover letter or writing sample will not be considered.

No phone calls please. Candidates that make it to the next round will be contacted to schedule a phone interview. RQI is a small organization with limited staff, thus, we will not be able to contact candidates that will not make it to the next round.

Deadline

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. We will start the interview process with outstanding applicants as soon as possible.

Start date: as soon as possible.

The Right Question Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We are strongly committed to hiring a diverse and multicultural staff and encourage applications from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.