About RPPL
The Research Partnership for Professional Learning(RPPL, pronounced “ripple”) is a collective of PL practitioners, researchers, educators, and funders committed to advancing educational equity for every student, including students who are Black, Latine, Indigenous, AAPI, Multilingual Learners, students with disabilities, and students experiencing poverty. Together, we study teacher and educator learning to identify, share, and enact PL that improves teachers’ instructional practices and students’ classroom experiences, well-being, and academic growth.
Guided by our learning agenda, RPPL seeks to:
- Uplift the current evidence base
- Generate faster and better research on PL
- Create the research and collaborative infrastructure so we can get that better research into practice in thousands of districts, schools, and PL orgs across the nation
- Change who sets the research agenda
Since February 2020, RPPL has been a coalition of interested PL organizations, researchers, and funders who spent 2021 planning for our long-term work and writing our shared learning agenda. In 2022-23, we entered our established chapter of research and collaboration, and brought on our Executive Director. The full-time team expanded to eight people, and we are now hiring for a full-time Director of District and State Engagement to join us.
At RPPL, for students, educational equity means that each child receives the unique supports they need to develop their full academic and social-emotional potential; for educators, equitable PL means that each educator/teacher receives the training and support necessary to develop their practices to effectively meet the individual learning and development needs for all students in their classroom. Read our equity statement here. We believe this work is critical to disrupt and close gaps in student academic outcomes in order to ensure equally high academic growth and social-emotional development of students that lead to positive life outcomes, especially for those pushed to the margins of our education system.
Director of District & State Engagement Position Description
The Director of District and State Engagement (DDSE) is a leader in the research and PL space, with a deep understanding of how districts and states conduct research and a keen ability to forge relationships. They are an adaptive problem-solver and enjoy the prospect of building RPPL as a new type of research-practice partnership. They will spearhead the build-out of RPPL’s district and state partnership network and facilitate relationships with these partners to engage in the full spectrum of offerings at RPPL, from shared learning and engagement offerings to capacity building to conducting co-designed PL research. As is true for all RPPL team members, they believe in transforming teacher learning to ensure that students in priority groups learn rigorous content and thrive in equitable schools.
The DDSE will work closely with and be a key liaison with RPPL’s research collaborator, the Annenberg Institute at Brown University (AIB), to understand current district PL and related research needs, and support the execution of co-designed PL research. The DDSE will report to RPPL’s Executive Director.
This is a remote full-time position; the DDSE can work anywhere, with availability on CT/ET hours. Expected travel is up to 30%, and includes quarterly leadership/staff meetings, one to two annual events, and travel to district/state partners several times a year. This position is considered exempt from overtime status. The start date for this role is between October and December 2025.
Responsibilities
In RPPL’s strategic plan for 2026 and beyond, the DDSE will play a critical role in strengthening and expanding district- and state-level partnership strategies to support cross-sector learning and evidence use.
Strengthen District Pathways and Partnerships: Engage more diverse district affiliates (e.g., rural, suburban) not yet engaged in and/or ready to conduct research and want to be part of a shared learning collective.
- Clarify goals and criteria around district selection/partnerships.
- Identify and recruit high-prospect districts to become RPPL District Affiliates, taking into account where they are in the work, current capacity, services provided, etc.
- Create a process for districts to self-recruit
- Understand and promote a co-design approach when engaging with districts, prioritizing their learning questions and practical needs.
- In partnership with the AIB research team, identify common questions across individual district studies, building on district studies to identify broader findings and themes across districts.
- Incorporate PL organization district site visits to help make more explicit connections to PL enabling conditions research and principles.
- Create pitch decks and other collateral with information for how districts/states can engage with RPPL
- Hold conversations with interested parties (district/state leaders); facilitate conversations and all follow-up
Build State Pathways and Partnerships: Create and execute a state engagement plan that emphasizes a clear value proposition that RPPL will help states build research infrastructure in simple, actionable ways
- Develop and promote model RFPs that encourage investment in education research and better research design.
- Increase our presence at state and regional convenings attended by key instructional, state, and district leaders to share our pitch and build interest.
- Support improved approaches to measurement within funded projects.
- Influence and align contracting policies to better support research use and impact.
- Create tools and resources for partners to use to strengthen evidence-aligned PL policies at the state and federal levels.
Increase RPPL’s Role as a Data-Sharing and Benchmarking Entity: Provide meaningful, data-driven insights for the PL field.
- Support the team’s work to develop a comprehensive shared measurement and benchmarking framework such that districts and states better understand trends, measure progress, and make informed decisions that improve teacher practice and student outcomes.
Facilitating Research with Districts & States
- Work with researchers, PL orgs, districts, states, and RPPL’s fiscal sponsor to update the procurement, contracting, IRB, and DSA processes to work smoothly with district/state partners
- Partner with RPPL members and AIB to creatively work through barriers to conducting relevant, equitable, high-quality PL research; serve as a liaison with researchers and PL organizations, helping them think through and solve on-the-ground challenges with districts/states
- Partner with RPPL members and AIB to creatively work through barriers to conducting relevant, equitable, high-quality PL research; serve as a liaison with researchers and PL organizations, helping them think through and solve on-the-ground challenges with districts/states
- Support data infrastructure work, including collaborating with learning engineers to improve the way RPPL members collect data from their district partners, use instrument platforms, and expand open data access to researchers
Translating Research to Practice & Disseminating Findings
- Conduct the translation between research and practice; write position papers and other strategy resources out of this work
- With the Director of Equitable Research-Practice Partnerships, integrate equity frameworks, practices, and tools for RPPL’s RPP activities and strategies; steward RPPL’s partnerships through equity frameworks and study implementation processes
- Spearhead the dissemination of RPPL research findings to districts/states, encouraging and facilitating the uptake of learnings, signaling effective PL supports to the market
- Create shared learning opportunities – potentially including district networks, PLCs, or other structures – to support, strengthen, and continuously improve the enactment of evidence-aligned practices.
- Support RPPL’s communications, especially involving research plans and findings, such as co-writing white papers, reports, and presentations
Candidate Qualifications & Traits:
- Master’s degree (PhD preferred) in education, data analysis, program evaluation, statistics, policy, or related field
- 7+ years working in district-facing or adjacent K-12 education roles in equity-focused research and practice organizations, including:
- 5+ years of district and/or state-level experience, ideally including district procurement
- 5+ years in a research-focused leadership role (including as PI or co-PI, preferably) conducting and/or managing rigorous, equity-centered research
- 2+ years working in or with schools and educators in a professional learning capacity
- Some teaching experience (can be K-12 or higher ed) required
- Successful track record in recruiting districts and/or states to participate in research studies, including navigating procurement processes, contract negotiation, IRBs, and DSAs across multiple researchers, districts/states, and non-profit vendor organizations
- Able to deeply speak to and lead co-design conversations that generate practical, relevant, equity-oriented, rigorous research; thorough knowledge of current educational best practices and theory related to research and evaluation methodology
- Experience working with a network of organizations and managing a variety and significant volume of ecosystem entities; enjoys navigating many entities that may pull in different directions
- Relationship-driven, experienced leader; can articulate a vision and help groups navigate different approaches to achieve a practical path forward
- Able to manage multiple workstreams or projects simultaneously, establish priorities, and lead a team to execute work quickly and with quality
- Demonstrated success in communicating about research and evaluation
- Adaptive and flexible; can create and stick to a practical yet ambitious plan in a fast-moving, growing, new environment, but be emergent in strategy
- Quick study and learner; thrives when building from the ground up in a start-up environment alongside high-level leadership
Hiring Process & Timeline
- Interviews: August-September
- Offer made by: Early October
- New hire starts: between October and December 2025
Compensation & Benefits
The starting salary for this position is $130,000–$145,000. Generous benefits (healthcare, 401k, PTO) are offered through RPPL’s fiscal sponsor New Venture Fund, who will be the official employer for this role.
The comprehensive benefits package includes 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for employees (and their families). Employees are able to enroll in 401k retirement plan and are eligible for a 3% automatic contribution and up to a 3% employer match on 401k contributions. Employees are also eligible for pre-tax transportation benefits. Employees will receive 200 hours of vacation time, 80 hours of health leave, up to 2 days of casual leave, and 20 hours of volunteer leave annually. Employees will also receive 13 paid holidays throughout the calendar year. Employees are eligible for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave after 90 days of employment.
How to Apply
Please email your cover letter, resume, and links to examples of any district/state engagement work in which you have been involved to team@rpplpartnership.org.
New Venture Fund Hiring Statement
The Research Partnership for Professional Learning is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. NVF is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. NVF’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.
E-Verify Statement
NVF participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with employees’ Form I-9 information to confirm authorization to work in the United States. Job candidates and employees authorized to work may not be discriminated against on the basis of national origin or citizenship status.
This position was originally posted by RPPL and has been curated by PurposePhil Career. To apply, please visit the original listing on the "apply" link below. We are not affiliated with the employer organization of this job ad or consultancy, and provide this curated listing as a service to our users.
