Assessments Advisor – USAID Kenya Primary Literacy Program

EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CENTER (EDC)

Education Development Center (EDC) is a global nonprofit that advances lasting solutions to improve education, promote health, and expand economic opportunity, with a focus on vulnerable and under-served populations. Since 1958, we have been a leader in designing, implementing, and evaluating powerful and innovative programs in more than 80 countries around the world.

EDC promotes equity and access to high quality education and health services and products that contribute to thriving communities where people from diverse backgrounds learn, live, and work together. We support an inclusive workplace culture that embraces many perspectives and broadens our understanding of the communities we serve, enhancing and enriching our work.

EDC is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Project Description

The USAID Kenya Primary Literacy Program (USAID KPLP) is a five-year initiative that supports the Kenyan Ministry of Education to deliver interventions at scale as well as pilot and expand innovations that address the language and literacy needs of primary grade learners while building more inclusive, accountable, and resilient education institutions and systems.

USAID KPLP has three broad objectives:

1. Improving education services and student learning outcomes, including for vulnerable populations;

2. Strengthening education institutions and systems to become more accountable, self-sustaining, and resilient; and

3. Empowering local youth organizations to strengthen and sustain community and family support for student learning and wellbeing.

Position Description

As part of KPLP, the Assessments Advisor will play a crucial role in the development and analysis of educational assessments for reading in the early grades and will lead assistance and collaboration in the development of assessment practices. This highly collaborative position involves creating reading assessments, including continuous assessments, analyzing large-scale early grade reading data sets, and potentially equating assessments. The successful candidate will also be involved in training educators, team members, and counterparts on assessment strategies and communicating results to stakeholders. The Assessments Advisor will report to the Deputy Chief of Party. This is a full-time position based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Assessments Advisor’s responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Provide technical assistance and strategic guidance in the development of assessments strategies, instruments, and practices, working in collaboration with senior technical team members and counterparts.
• Develop and/or adapt, refine, implement, and analyze early grade reading assessments, utilizing both electronic and paper-based administration methods.
• Expertly analyze assessment data, including large-scale EGRA data sets.
• Collaborate in the development and delivery of training programs on assessments for teachers, headteachers, MOE counterparts, and project partners.
• Communicate assessment results effectively to various stakeholders.
• Work closely with MOE counterparts and technical team members to align assessments and assessment-related activities with KPLP objectives.
• Work with the KPLP administration and finance team and counterparts to establish planning and budgeting procedures for assessment-related activities.
• Institute and monitor procedures to ensure prompt collection and submission of implementation data.
• Collaborate in the development and implementation of the collaboration, learning, and adapting (CLA) agenda.
• Prepare data and information for project quarterly and annual reports, and other data as required.

The candidate for the position of Assessments Advisor shall have at a minimum the following qualifications:

Education:

Master’s degree in relevant field required.

Skills and Experience:

• 8 to 9 years of progressively responsible and directly relevant experience required.
• Thorough knowledge of EGR teaching principles and practices.
• Demonstrated experience in USAID EGR projects.
• Experience in the development and adaptation of continuous assessments aligned to the CBC in the areas of language and literacy.
• Experience in development of summative and formative assessments, especially for EGR, using electronic and paper-based administration modalities.
• Expertise in analyzing assessment data, including large-scale EGRA data sets.
• Familiarity with the Kenyan basic education system and reading standards.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and delivering training on assessments.
• Demonstrated experience in technical collaboration and coordination.
• Effective communication skills for relaying assessment results to stakeholders.
• Preferred experience in equating assessments.

Language:

Fluency in oral and written English and Kiswahili is required.

Other:

Applicants must be Kenyan nationals or hold current work authorization.