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Education Policy Analyst, GS-1701-15 (MP)

Employer
USAJobs
Location
Washington, D.C
Closing date
Oct 4, 2020

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Duties

Summary

This position is located in the U.S. Department of Education, National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), in Washington DC and is responsible for developing plans and executing actions to inform policy decisions made by the Governing Board. The incumbent will serve as legislative liaison between the Board, the U.S. Congress and external stakeholders on a broad range of program activities.

Additional information on the Governing Board and its work can be found at https://www.nagb.gov

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

***This position is being announced concurrently NAGB-2020-0005 under Delegated Examining procedures. To be considered for announcement NAGB-2020-0005, you must apply separately***

APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 75 applications received and will close at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 75th application, or at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first.

We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.

The incumbent will serve as a senior staff person on policy and research, reporting directly to the Deputy Executive Director of the Governing Board. Key duties include the following:
  • Serves as the Governing Board's senior staff member on policy and budget, monitoring and reviewing Congressional and Department of Education activities related to National Assessment of Educational Progress' (NAEP) authorization and appropriations including the President's budget request, House and Senate appropriations and authorization bills, and congressional hearings to inform Board policy.
  • Serves as the lead staff member in support of the work of the Board and its committees in reviewing proposed and pending legislation and budget recommendations.
  • Develops strategy and leads engagement with key intergovernmental partners and stakeholders, including the U.S. Congress, Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES), and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in close collaboration with the Executive Director.
  • Develops strategy and leads engagement with state education leaders, including serving as the liaison with state advisory groups convened to inform Board policy.
  • Assists the Executive Director and the Deputy Executive Director in working with Board members to identify issues and set policy for work that falls under the responsibilities of the Board and assist in ensuring that Board policies are implemented as intended.


Travel Required

Occasional travel - Periodic travel is required

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
15

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen.
  • Must complete a Background Investigation and fingerprint check.
  • Must complete a One-year Probationary Period.
  • Relocation Expenses will not be paid.
  • Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
  • You may be subject to serve a one-year supervisory probationary period.


You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

If you are a current federal employee, you must meet all time-in-grade and time-after competitive appointment qualifications within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement. To verify that you meet these requirements, we will review your responses to the core eligibility questions on the occupational questionnaire, as well as your submitted resume and required documents. To make an accurate determination, you will need to include on your resume your federal position title, pay plan, occupational series, grade level, agency, dates for which you held the grade level (stated as MM/YYYY to MM/YYYY, OR MM/YYYY to PRESENT), and total hours worked per week.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social).

Qualifications

Specialized Experience for the GS-15:

One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-14 performing all three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:
1. Experience in planning and directing federal or state education policy and appropriations related to K-12 education, preferably measures of K-12 student achievement.
2. Experience in evaluating, recommending, and implementing strategies to improve federal or state policy in K-12 education.
3. Experience in communicating highly technical K-12 education policy to support decision-making by government officials, education stakeholders, and/or laypersons.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).

1. Knowledge and skill in executing federal and/or state education policy or practice in K-12 education, assessment, and appropriations.
2. Ability to develop and implement strategies at the federal or state levels to further policy and practice in K-12 education testing programs.
3. Skill in analyzing, organizing, and presenting highly technical material in K-12 educational assessment and highly technical K-12 education policy issues for laypersons.
4. Knowledge of the federal legislative and executive decision-making processes that inform K-12 education policy and testing and skill in communicating outcomes of those decision-making processes to various levels of federal, state, and local contacts.

Education

Applicants must meet BOTH the Basic Requirements and the Specialized Experience (listed in the section above).

Basic Requirements:

A. Degree: that includes or is supplemented by a major study in education or in a subject-matter field appropriate to the position.

OR

A. Combination of education and experience -- courses equivalent to a major in education, or in a subject-matter field appropriate to the position, plus appropriate experience or additional course work that provided knowledge comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of the 4-year course of study as described above.

This position has a positive education requirement.

Foreign Education:

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet education requirements if you can show that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. Click on the link for a list of accrediting organizations recognized as specializing in interpretation of foreign education credentials.

Additional information

Veterans' Career Counseling: If you are a veteran interested in receiving tips on preparing a Federal resume and/or how to prepare for an interview, you may email sro_recruiting@ed.gov to schedule a session with a career counselor ("Veterans Counseling Session" should be placed in the subject line of the email).

Student Loan Default: If selected for this position, we will verify that you have not defaulted on any loan funded or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are found to be in default, we will contact you to make arrangements for repayment prior to making an official offer of employment.

Suitability and Investigation: If selected for this position, you will be required to complete the Declaration for Federal Employment (OF-306) to determine your suitability for federal employment and successfully complete a pre-appointment investigation/background check.

Essential/Non-Essential: This position is considered not essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.

Financial Disclosure: This position requires financial disclosure.

Telework: This position is telework eligible. At the discretion of the supervisor, generally employees may be authorized to telework one day per week if they are on regular 8-hour work schedule. Teleworkers may participate in some Alternative Work Schedules (AWS) in combination with a Telework Agreement. However, all employees must work from the official worksite location a minimum of four (4) days per work week.

Bargaining Unit: This position is not included in the bargaining unit.

Selections: Agencies have broad authority under law to hire from any appropriate source of eligibles and may fill a vacancy in the competitive service by any method authorized. We may make additional selections from this vacancy announcement within 90 days from the date the selection certificates are issued, should vacancies occur. We may also share selection certificates amongst program offices across the agency.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We use a multi-step process to review and evaluate applicants:

1. Eligibility and Minimum Qualifications
Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will review your submitted resume and documents to determine if you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, including any required education, experience, and/or selective placement factors. You will be rated as ineligible if you are outside of the area of consideration (i.e., who may apply) or your application is missing any required documents. You will be rated as not qualified if you do not possess the minimum qualification requirements.

2. Rating and Ranking
If you are found to meet both the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, we will assess the quality of your experience and the extent to which you possess the required KSAs by comparing your submitted resume and documents against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. (The occupational questionnaire is the list of questions in the automated system that you will have an opportunity to answer once you apply for the position).

Based on the outcome of this evaluation, you will be assigned a numerical score (out of 100 possible). If your responses to the occupational questionnaire are not substantiated by your submitted resume, you may be eliminated from receiving further consideration.

3. Referral and Selection
If you are found to be amongst the most highly qualified applicants, you will be referred to the selecting official. As part of the assessment and selection process, the selecting official may invite you to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and/or request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Confidential

Drug test required
No

Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)

Trust determination process

Required Documents

You must submit (REQUIRED FOR ALL APPLICANTS):
• A resume demonstrating your education, experience, training, and accomplishments as it relates to the qualifications for this position and substantiating your responses to the occupational questionnaire.

Transcript:
• This position has a positive education requirement and requires proof of education for eligibility. You must submit an unofficial transcript that includes the following information: name of accredited institution, major(s), grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. If any required coursework is not easily recognizable on transcripts, or if you believe a portion of a particular course can be credited toward meeting an educational requirement, you must also provide a memorandum on letterhead from the institution's registrar, dean, or other appropriate official stating the percentage of the course that should be considered to meet the requirement and the equivalent number of units. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable; however, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to produce the original official transcripts. This also applies to ED employees.

If you are a current or former federal employee (including current U.S. Department of Education employees), you must also submit:
• A Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50), which demonstrates your competitive status eligibility. To verify your eligibility, we will review your SF-50 to determine your tenure (block 24) and position occupied (block 34). Examples of sufficient SF-50s include appointments, promotions, within-grade increases, and pay adjustments.

If you currently hold or previously held a federal position at or above the highest grade of this position or you have/had promotion potential at or above the highest grade of this position, you must also submit an SF-50 documenting your highest grade level held or promotion potential. Examples of sufficient SF-50s include appointments and promotions.

• A Copy of your Performance Appraisal and Awards, as applicable. Your performance appraisal and awards are requested to further assess the quality of your experience should your application be referred to the selecting official.

If you are claiming eligibility under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA), you must submit:
• A copy of your DD-214 that shows active service and character of discharge, member copy 4 (Separated Members only); OR
• A certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions within 120 days from the date of application (Current Active Duty Members only); AND/OR
• The Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (SF-15) AND all documents indicated on the form as proof of type of preference.

If you are claiming selection priority under Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), please visit:
CTAP: http://www.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/ctap.html
ICTAP: http://www.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/ictap.html

If you are claiming eligibility under any Special Hiring Authority, you must submit:
• Adequate proof of your eligibility (e.g., Documentation of noncompetitive eligibility as a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Documentation of noncompetitive eligibility for employment under Schedule A as a person with severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and intellectual disabilities.)

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

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