Policy Research Analyst
Research Analyst
*As a note, this position has an activity that must be completed by candidates to be considered. Details and instructions are included at the bottom of the posting.
About Our Office
The Office of the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury is responsible for the audit of state and local governmental entities and participates in the general financial and administrative management and oversight of state government. The Office is led by Comptroller Jason E. Mumpower, a constitutional officer who is elected by the Tennessee General Assembly.
In the Comptroller’s Office, we strive to deliver on our mission to make government work better. We believe our success as an office depends on finding opportunities for employees to accomplish our office’s goals and answer challenges to make things better.
We want every member of our team to be excited to come to work every day and be challenged. Through dedicated hard work and commitment, every Comptroller’s Office employee accepts personal responsibility to accomplish our mission and uphold it.
Position
The Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) is committed to producing objective and accurate research, evaluation, and analysis to inform public policy discussions and decisions in the Tennessee General Assembly. The work of OREA helps support the TN General Assembly and thereby supports the broader mission of the Comptroller's Office, to make government work better.
We are looking for a Research Analyst who will be responsible for producing publications for the General Assembly on education policy issues and on other policy issues related to state and local government. To qualify for consideration, an applicant should have graduated from an accredited college or university with a Master’s degree in a field requiring knowledge of research methodology, or a Bachelor’s degree with at least one year of relevant research experience. Other combinations of education/experience, if evaluated as equivalent, may qualify an applicant for consideration.
To perform this job successfully, the candidate should possess the ability to produce publication-quality written text. The candidate should also possess a basic knowledge of the function and structure of state and local governments, of the legislative process, and of general research methodology. The candidate should have the ability to deal tactfully and professionally with the public, co-workers, and members of the General Assembly. Successful candidates will be able to express ideas and present information clearly and concisely and have organizational skills to maintain documentation of activities. Knowledge of statistical methods and the ability to use spreadsheets for analysis are also desirable.
For examples of OREA publications, please visit our website at https://www.comptroller.tn.gov/OREA/.
Major responsibilities for this position will include:
• Working individually and in a team environment to analyze complex issues in a variety of topic areas.
• Collecting and analyzing data.
• Conducting interviews.
• Developing and administering surveys and compiling survey results.
• Producing detailed publications including text, graphs, tables, and exhibits.
• Responding to requests for information from legislators, the Comptroller of the Treasury, and other officials.
• Monitoring legislative committees and analyzing the fiscal impact of legislation.
The Office of Research and Education Accountability has set a long-term goal to become one of the best public policy research, evaluation, and analysis organizations in the United States. Join us as we aim for organizational excellence.
Compensation
The Comptroller’s Office offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package that includes twelve days each of annual leave and sick leave, insurance plans, pension retirement plan, 401(k), college fee waivers, and much more.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Pursuant to the Comptroller of the Treasury’s Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the Office is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the Comptroller’s policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person’s race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, sexual orientation, transgender and gender identity status, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws.
Candidate Activity
This assignment includes one required section and three optional sections. Applicants are highly encouraged to complete the optional sections. If you do not have the past experience necessary for response to an optional section, please state so in a brief response. Applicants who do not have past experience related to an optional section are still encouraged to apply, as OREA seeks to hire applicants with a wide range of skillsets.
Candidates must use their own words for these exercises. Any submissions that are found to be plagiarized in any way will not be considered.
REQUIRED EXERCISE:
The Office of Research and Education Accountability received the following letter from a legislator requesting a study. Review the letter below and formulate a research plan.
At a minimum your research plan should include:
- Research questions and hypotheses
- What types of quantitative and qualitative data will be collected?
- How will the data be analyzed?
- Limitations
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LETTER:
Dear Comptroller Mumpower,
It has come to my attention that Tennessee students with disabilities across the state are being subjected to "informal exclusionary discipline practices,” which negatively impacts their education. These are practices that almost exclusively affect Tennessee students with disabilities, limiting their access to educational opportunities, the least restrictive environment for learning and the rights and protections afforded to them through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). I would appreciate it if the Office of Research and Educational Accountability could research the issue and report back your findings.
"Informal Exclusionary Discipline Practices" can be characterized by the following practices:
- Informal removal: directives to parents/guardians to visit a child's school and take them home for the day, often as a result of behaviors manifesting from their disability, without recording the removal as a formal suspension/removal.
- Inappropriate homebound placement: the placement of a student receiving special education services in the hospital/homebound setting (as defined by IDEA) as a result of behaviors manifesting from their disability, or without following proper protocol as defined by IDEA (including for inappropriately lengthy periods of time).
- Excessive use of threat assessments: the use of a threat assessment to remove a student who receives special education services for behaviors that are manifestations of their disability, particularly for lengthy periods of time and/or without progress toward the completion of the threat assessment and/or return to school or alternative placement.
- Alternative placement (or threats of alternative placement): the placement of students receiving special education services in alternative, non-general education settings (such as an alternative school) in inappropriately and/or frequent instances, without proper intervention and data collection (as defined by IDEA) or under coercive circumstances.
- Inappropriate use of in-school suspension (ISS): frequent use of in-school suspension, or other formal or informal in-school removal from the assigned education setting, as punishment for behaviors that manifest from a disability from a student who receives special education services, particularly without proper documentation, intervention or instruction.
- Inappropriate suspension from transportation: the use of long-term prohibitions from using school-supplied transportation arising from behaviors that manifest from a disability, without providing alternative means to access the school or without due process protections afforded to students with disabilities through IDEA
- Excessive use of shortened school day: excessive or long-term use of shortened school day as an IEP intervention for behavior that manifests as a disability, often without adequate intervention and documentation, or no plan or timeline for a return to full school day schedule
I sincerely thank you for your work and your consideration of this request; I look forward to seeing the work of you and your team on this important issue.
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OPTIONAL EXERCISE 1: If you have past experience creating and following a research plan, or evaluating data, please explain, including any problems encountered and how you addressed them. Limit your response to 1-2 paragraphs.
OPTIONAL EXERCISE 2: If you have past experience in STATA or another statistical analysis software, please explain what steps you first take when you receive new data. What commands do you use and why? What can you learn from those commands? Limit your response to 1 paragraph.
OPTIONAL EXERCISE 3:
Background: The following optional exercise includes data analysis for the Tennessee Promise Scholarship program, which provides last-dollar scholarships for graduates of Tennessee high schools to attend a Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT), Tennessee community college, or a qualifying program at a Tennessee university tuition-free. Although all Tennessee high school graduates are eligible for Promise regardless of financial need or academic merit, students must meet a set of requirements to become and remain a Promise student. If a student does not complete one or more of these requirements, they are no longer eligible for the Promise scholarship.
Exercise: How would you describe the STATA output below to someone who does not have experience with statistical analysis? Please include both what we can learn from the output as well as any potential limitations of the model. Limit your response to 1-2 paragraphs.
Variable Key:
- oneyearcredit: A total for the number of credits a student accumulated during their first year of postsecondary education.
- ever_tnp: A binary indicator of whether a student started their postsecondary education as a Promise student.
- SYSTEM: Which higher education system the student is enrolled in (i.e., community college, TCAT, university).
- hsgpa2: The student’s high school GPA.
- totalagi: The average adjusted gross income (AGI) from each year a student filled out a FAFSA application.
- race2: The student’s race.
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