Research Assistant

Job Description

Research Assistant, TIMSS and PIRLS

Reporting to the Senior Research Director, DigitalSystems, Operations and Quality Verification, the Research Assistant, TIMSS and PIRLS, assistswith ensuring the highest standards of operations and quality control in TIMSSand PIRLS.

The TIMSS & PIRLS InternationalStudy Center is home to two major international research programs that monitorstudent achievement in mathematics, science, and reading.

TIMSS (the Trends inInternational Mathematics and Science Study) is conducted on a four-year cycleand measures mathematics and science achievement at fourth and eighth grades.

Currently involving more than 70 countries from all parts of the globe, TIMSShas successfully completed international assessments of student achievement everyfour years since , with TIMSS underway.

Currently involving more than60 countries, PIRLS (the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study)assesses fourth grade student achievement in reading literacy on a five-yearcycle since .

Since the TIMSS cycle and the current cycle of PIRLS, both studies have transitioned from paper and pencil to fully digitalassessments.

TIMSS and PIRLS are sponsored by the IEA(International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), anindependent international cooperative of national research institutes andgovernmental research agencies headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

This roleincludes :

Assisting with ensuring the highest standards of quality control for the TIMSS and PIRLS assessment instruments, both international and national.

• Use proprietary web-based application to build and review mathematics and science assessment items that look and function as designed by content specialists with supplied item text and graphics and follow the provided formatting style guidelines.
• Review the international TIMSS and PIRLS assessment instrument players to ensure the highest quality. This involves running multiple versions of players and reporting any issues found.
• Perform localization verification and adjust the national TIMSS and PIRLS assessment instruments from the participating countries to ensure the highest quality.
• This involves checking the national assessment instruments against the international version; applying corrections as necessary or communicating necessary fixes to the platform provider;
• commenting on issues to the participating countries and revising until the issues are resolved; checking functionality of the national players;

assisting / working with the participating countries during the national instrument localization process. This work requires using the embedded systems functions or applying HTML or CSS code (at least basic understanding of HTML and / or CSS will have a preference).

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree preferred;
• Skilled in using computers and able to quickly learn new systems / programs and troubleshoot as needed;
• Basic HTML and / or CSS code understanding;
• Basic Google Docs and / or Microsoft Office skills;
• Meticulous attention to detail;
• Able to work under tight timelines and meet high standards of quality;
• Patience for repetitive work;
• 0-2 years of experience.

Competitive salary commensurate with relevant experience.

This is a temporary position for a 12-month period with a possibility to extend.

This is a grant funded position.

Closing Statement

Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility :

• Tuition remission for Employees
• Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
• Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Low-Cost Life Insurance
• Eligibility for both University-Funded k and Employer-Sponsored b Retirement Plans
• Paid Holidays Annually
• Generous Sick and Vacation Pay
30+ days ago