ELA 6-12 Senior Assessment Designer (Contractor)

A pioneer in K-12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our core and supplemental programs in ELA, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products help teachers identify the targeted instruction students need to build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide educators with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of every student. Today, Amplify serves more than 10 million students in all 50 states. For more information, visit amplify.com.
Amplify is reimagining the way teachers teach and students learn. We believe technology can work alongside great and diverse literature to empower teachers to create deeply engaged classrooms and to inspire the next generation of critical thinkers and leaders. Come and work with us!
The Senior Assessment Designer is responsible for ensuring that 6-12 ELA assessments reflect the program's content architecture, reporting structure, and vision for overall impact while aligning to key competencies, graduation requirements, and learning standards across the United States. The Senior Assessment Designer focuses on deeply understanding the vision for curriculum, assessments, and reporting in 6-12 ELA; designing a comprehensive yet flexible assessment model in 9-12 ELA; creating templates and training materials for assessment development; and overseeing an iterative process of strategic improvements to ensure varied, reliable, and appropriate assessment options.
"Amplify's COVID-19 vaccination policy requires all staff to provide proof of vaccination for in-person meetings unless an approved exemption is provided."
Job Responsibilities:
Assessment and Reporting Design:

• Work collaboratively with 6-12 ELA leadership and Research & Measurement leadership to design the following:
• 1) A structure of competencies and sub-competencies that will undergird the 9-12 ELA curriculum, assessments, and reporting system; and
• 2) A model for assessing and reporting on student progress against all competencies and sub-competencies in both structured and flexible implementations.
• Collaborate to refine, actively communicate, and translate the program vision into a commercial product that meets market needs while providing clear and actionable data to teachers, students, and administrators.
• Maintain a deep understanding of the current national landscape of high school ELA instruction and assessment, state learning standards, and college readiness metrics to ensure strong alignment between the Amplify ELA 9-12 offerings and the needs of the commercial product.

Assessment Development Structures:

• Work collaboratively with 6-12 ELA leadership and management to develop the processes, templates, and training materials that effectively support content developers to create a range of assessment content, including auto-scored selected response items, rubrics, and guidelines for scoring a range of authentic, creative, and flexible projects and assessments.
• Lead content and resource reviews to ensure high-quality assessment content that is varied, reliable, and appropriate and to identify areas for the ongoing training of content creators.

Iterative Assessment Improvement:

• Work collaboratively with 6-12 ELA leadership and colleagues on the Research & Measurement team to design and oversee a review process that gathers internal and/or external feedback on assessment content before it is released and that uses performance data to evaluate the reliability and appropriateness of assessment content that has been piloted and/or used in the field.
• Consolidate feedback to identify needed improvements. Continue to identify additional program needs, design content to respond to those needs, and evaluate the effectiveness of assessment content.

Basic Qualifications of the Senior Assessment Designer:

• Bachelor's Degree in an ELA-related field (English, Comparative Literature, etc.); Education; Instructional, Curriculum, or Assessment Design; or related field
• 5+ years of teaching or instructional/curriculum/assessment design experience
• 2+ years of work experience in education or curriculum/assessment publishing in a leadership capacity that involved overseeing and evaluating assessment content development
• Experience writing fair and appropriate selected response assessment items measuring students' reading comprehension and text analysis skills
• Experience designing rubrics and clear criteria for success on a broad range of projects and assessments
• Experience with digital assessment design and delivery
• Excellent leadership and collaboration skills; excellent written and verbal communication
• Broad understanding of the 6-12 educational landscape, including state standards, standardized assessments, and college readiness criteria
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment

Preferred Qualifications of the Senior Assessment Designer:

• MA in Education, Instructional design, English, or related field
• Experience working in or with Educational Technology
• Basic familiarity with validity, reliability, and best practices for designing fair and appropriate assessments
• Deep knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or other spreadsheet software
• Deep familiarity with the 6-12 ELA Common Core State Standards and/or at least one state's 6-12 ELA learning standards

*Some travel and in-person (Brooklyn-based) required (about 10-15%)
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To that end, we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.
Amplify is an Equal Opportunity Employer of Minorities, Females, Protected Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities.
This position may be funded, in whole or in part, through American Recovery & Reinvestment Act funds.
Amplify Education, Inc. is an E-Verify participant.