Psychometrician

New Meridian Corporation, located in Austin, TX seeks outstanding candidates to fill a Psychometrician position. This position, reporting to the Manager of Psychometrics and Research Services will support New Meridian’s assessment design, psychometric, research, and statistical programming activities to further the goals of New Meridian to develop and market a portfolio of innovative customized assessment offerings. WHO WE ARE New Meridian is a non-profit, assessment design and development organization. We provide states with technical expertise and the highest quality, research-validated test content that is uniquely focused on critical thinking, reasoning, and communication skills — the capabilities all students will need to thrive in the future.
Our mission is to advance the quality of public education for all students by designing assessments that focus on the skills that matter.

Founded with the goal of enabling all states to be able to afford high quality assessments, New Meridian has created new assessment models and products to achieve that goal and continues to innovate to enable states to develop 21st century assessment systems that provide timely and actionable data that can drive improvements in the instructional core. Our team is marked by our willingness to go the extra mile for our customers, our operational excellence, our deep expertise in assessments, and our enjoyment of and ability to solve complex problems. WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR: SUMMARY: Candidates interested in this position will have a strong working knowledge of and interest in K-12 education, a collaborative working style, and expertise in psychometrics, data analysis and programming, data file management and cleaning, and applied research methods. Successful New Meridian employees possess the following traits:

• An ability to get things done: You are results-driven, resourceful, action oriented, and persistent. You consistently look ahead and anticipate needs before they arise.
• Analytical: You have strong analytical skills and are comfortable reviewing quantitative data to inform your understanding of the market and customer needs and issues.
• Creative mindset: You can quickly adapt and develop creative solutions to challenges. You deeply understand product management principles and can apply them to synthesize information and recommend a plan of action.
• Emotional intelligence: You are highly self-aware and perceptive to the dynamics of key relationships. You are positive, empathetic, flexible, and curious. You naturally gain the respect of your colleagues through your authenticity, warmth, and competence.
• Trustworthy: You are highly ethical, principled, and mission-driven. You operate with integrity and garner the trust of others. You exemplify the values of the organization.

EXPECTED DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES PSYCHOMETRICS & ASSESSEMENT DESIGN

• Develops and/or reviews specification documents for all psychometric phases of the asset development cycle.
• Independently conducts analyses, replications, and/or quality reviews of psychometric analyses in item calibration, equating & scaling, item and test analyses, DIF, test construction activities, and analyses for technical reports.
• Evaluates item pools for suitability for various assessment designs and advises internal staff on asset development needs.
• Generates technical documentation and white papers suitable as contract deliverables.
• Provides psychometric consultation to the Business Development team in support of new assessment solution designs.
• Operational experience in applying psychometric and statistical methods including item response theory, multidimensional IRT, CDM/DCM, sampling theory, and standard setting.
• Adheres to the principles of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing.

RESEARCH

• Develop and contribute to the New Meridian research agenda that align to organizational goals.
• Develop research designs appropriate for various projects.
• Generate datasets and conduct empirical analyses in support of research projects.
• Support publication efforts by producing technical memos, technical reports, book chapters, and/or journal articles as primary or secondary author.
• Actively presents research at professional organizations.

PROGRAMMING & STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

• Prepares and/or performs in-depth quality checks on data sets and analysis code for psychometric and/or research analyses.
• Prepares metadata and statistical summaries of item banks.
• Performs analyses and creates tables and/or performs quality checks for use in publications including white papers, technical manuals, marketing collateral, and customer stories.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION

• Works collaboratively with internal team and partners and follows established protocols to fulfill tasks accurately and on time.
• Skilled in building and documenting internal psychometric procedures, document organization, naming conventions, etc.
• Strong oral and written communication skills to both internal and external clients.
• Provide guidance and direction on projects.

REQUIREMENTS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Ph.D. in Educational Measurement, Psychometrics, Research Methodology, or a related field.
• At least three years of operational experience developing and implementing practical solutions to applied educational assessment problems and working as a Research Scientist/Psychometrician on large-scale assessment programs.
• Experience with computer software packages commonly used in psychometric work and research (e.g., FlexMIRT, SAS, R, WINSTEPS, IRTPRO, MPLUS, MS Excel).
• Actively engaged in advancing the field of educational measurement, psychometrics, and/or research methodology through presentations at profession conferences and/or publications in peer-reviewed journals or equivalent.
• Preferred location for this position is Austin, Texas. Telecommuting may be considered for candidates with proven experience working remotely.
• Travel to meetings and conferences as needed (less than 10%).

New Meridian Corporation is an equal opportunity employer and encourages individuals of all backgrounds and identities to apply. We are excited to receive applications from persons in occupations or positions where they are under-represented, particularly from individuals connected to underserved communities. We feel we are strengthened by diverse perspectives.