PDG Early Childhood Systems Evaluator

About Building Bright Futures

Building Bright Futures is a nonprofit that works to improve the well-being of each and every child and family in Vermont, from the prenatal period through age 8. We bring together a robust network of policymakers, early childhood professionals, educators, health and mental health providers, business leaders, families, and other stakeholders to share insights and problem-solve through regular meetings of 12 Regional Councils, 7 Committees moving forward the work of Vermont’s Early Childhood Action Plan (VECAP), and a 23-member State Advisory Council. We empower and elevate family and community voices as partners in decision-making. We also centralize and disseminate early childhood data to inform policy through Vermont’s Early Childhood Data and Policy Center at VermontKidsData.org

About the Preschool Development Grant (PDG)

Vermont has been awarded a $23 million federal grant for three years (2023–2025) to strengthen the state’s early childhood system, support the early childhood workforce, and improve the quality and availability of services for children from birth to age 8. The grant will support Vermont in improving service delivery to families with young children across settings and services, including child care, Universal Prekindergarten Education, Head Start, health care, mental health care, and other services and programs that support the health and well-being of Vermont children and their families. Building Bright Futures has been contracted by the State of Vermont to host several grant functions, including the grant evaluation. 

About the position

The PDG Early Childhood Systems Evaluator will focus on evaluating Vermont’s complex early childhood system in partnership with BBF’s Research and Data Team and network of stakeholders (regional, state, public, private). The PDG Early Childhood Systems Evaluator will support Vermont’s ability to improve policies, service provision, and outcomes for children and families by ensuring robust evaluation of the PDG grant. This position will support BBF in evaluating Vermont’s ability to examine the system of services with an equity lens, understand short and long-term child and family outcomes, and ensure early childhood stakeholders have access to up-to-date data to guide best practices and decision-making. Specifically, this position will be responsible for Vermont’s Program Performance Evaluation Plan, which will use continuous quality improvement with a child-centered and equity focused lens to evaluate progress made in Vermont’s EC system and to promote accountability across the mixed delivery system.

The PDG Early Childhood Systems Evaluator position is full-time with a competitive salary and flexible work schedule. Candidates would need to be available for regular meetings. This is a home-based position with the option to work in BBF’s Williston, Vermont headquarters. The position does not have to be based in Vermont; however, they will need to work in a complimentary time zone to EST and be willing to travel to Vermont for occasional in-person meetings. The PDG Early Childhood Systems Evaluator receives supervision from the Director of Research and Data. This is a grant-funded limited service position through 12/31/25.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary range of $80,000 – $87,000 annually. Benefits include generous paid time off, healthcare insurance, dental insurance, and retirement. 

Responsibilities Include:

This position is responsible for developing, implementing, and reporting on evaluation activities related to Vermont’s Preschool Development Grant and Vermont’s Early Childhood System. These responsibilities include:

Developing Vermont’s PDG Program Performance Evaluation Plan: 

• Design an evaluation plan for PDG, including data collection/compilation processes and reporting mechanisms that can show measurable impact to inform future programming and financing of the early childhood system, replicable systems beyond the grant period, actionable CQI 
• Convene stakeholders and facilitate workgroups
• Ask strategic questions 

Execution of Evaluation:

• Implement data collection, track progress on action items
• Policy analysis
• Align data collection efforts

Reporting & Dissemination:

• Analyze, evaluate, and assess the success of the grant using administrative and performance data collected in the course of grant administration and implementation
• Effectively communicate findings, write about complex systems, and create and utilize visualizations of data
• Prepare reports summarizing the findings of the data analysis conducted as part of grant evaluation efforts
• Promote what is learned from these evaluations and assessments by developing data-interpretive expert narratives which may be communicated via analytical reports, visualizations and tables, toolkits, stakeholder webinars, policy briefs, and conference presentations for purposes of dissemination to the public and policymakers 

Project Management:

• Establish appropriate approaches, timelines, and deliverables
• Document process and progress
• Communicate with and hold partners accountable

Other responsibilities as required

Desired Expertise

Education: 

• Must have a Ph.D. in evaluation, epidemiology, econometrics, public health, political science, community development, child development, maternal and child health, social policy, or related field 

Evaluation: 

• Considerable knowledge of planning and evaluation principles and practices
• Experience evaluating complex systems
• Experience with or knowledge of community-based evaluation frameworks (theory and frameworks, and methods for evaluation)
• Ability to analyze, synthesize, and present complex quantitative and qualitative data and information
• Understanding of the complex public systems that serve children and families is preferred
• Considerable knowledge of the principles and practices of quality assurance management

Skills: 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to prepare and present clear, concise oral and written reports
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to analyze, synthesize, and present complex data and information
• Manage relationships in the context of evaluation and program implementation 
• Considerable project management experience
• Candidates should be flexible, agile, and self-motivated, and be able to work independently, take initiative, and exercise self-directed problem-solving

Tools: 

• Considerable knowledge of technology-based systems, evaluation programs and databases
• Experience with, or an ability to quickly adapt to technology that supports collaborative and virtual work including Google Suite, Microsoft Office Suite, Slack, and Zoom

To Apply

Please send a cover letter, resume, and three references as one PDF labeled: lastname_firstname_Evaluator to: kmobbs@buildingbrightfutures.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis beginning March 27. Position is open until filled.