Wednesday, April 12, 2017

YMCA Program Evaluation Internship PAID Internship

YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) is the national resource center for YMCAs. Y-USA strengthens its member associations’ ability to effectively carry out the YMCA mission in their communities and partners with all YMCAs to achieve the movement’s collective goals and priorities.

Y-USA is focused on programs that address the achievement gap in holistic, youth development, out-of-school time (OST) settings. Through the Achievement Gap Initiative, Y-USA works in collaboration with Ys across the country to improve the school readiness, engagement and success of children. Y-USA believes that all children and youth have potential and should have the opportunity to discover who they are, express themselves, and be nurtured to help them achieve their possibility.

The achievement gap evaluation team within the Research, Evaluation, and Data Sciences (REDS) department at Y-USA supports program development and improvement by evaluating program implementation, assessing program quality, and measuring academic and non-cognitive outcomes for children and youth.

Program Evaluation Intern
The Program Evaluation Intern will support the evaluation of YMCA of the USA’s youth development programs. Specifically, the intern will gain knowledge and provide support in the following key areas: analyzing program participation and survey data gathered from YMCA programs and preparing evaluation reports. Under the direct supervision of Program Evaluation staff, the intern will help coordinate the data collection efforts from Y-USA-funded programs.

The internship will be 20 hours/week during summer 2017 with the possibility of beginning in spring 2017 and/or extending the work into the school year.

Functions:
• Assist with data collection, cleaning, analysis, and reporting
• Assist with writing report text and creating graphs, tables, and other data displays
• Troubleshoot issues related to data collection
• Track completion of external assessments by sites (STAR, DESSA, PQA)
• Track completion of surveys and other evaluation requirements
• Conduct literature reviews to collect research to support the efficacy of the program models


Education, Knowledge, and Skills:
• Undergraduate senior or graduate student (preferred) in social sciences, education, public policy, or research methods
• Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills required
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and customer service skills required
• Ability to work and reason independently, work within a team, and take direction from others required
• Commitment to the YMCA character development values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility required
• Previous coursework or experience in working with program or research data preferred
• Academic experience with quantitative and/or qualitative research and analysis preferred
• Intermediate to advanced skills in Microsoft Excel preferred
• Basic to intermediate proficiency in SPSS or similar statistical software preferred
• Technical knowledge of and experience with Business Intelligence tools (Tableau, Cognos, Qlickview) preferred
• Experience with qualitative data analysis software (nVivo, Dedoose) preferred
• Proficiency in locating relevant journal articles in academic indexes such as PsycInfo, ERIC, and ProQuest preferred
• Knowledge of informal education or youth development programs preferred

Please submit a cover letter and resume with your application to Program Evaluation Specialist, Suzanne Robinson, at suzanne.robinson@ymca.net.