Association for Education
Finance & Policy

Summary The Education Policy Initiative (EPI) seeks candidates interested in deepening their knowledge of rigorous, applied mixed-methods quantitative and qualitative education policy research for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship.

EPI is composed of researchers interested in understanding and evaluating education policies at the local, state, and national level. This fellowship position will train the postdoctoral fellow to use quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate outcomes and disseminate lessons learned about early childhood curriculum implementation. Fellows should be interested in applied research, implementation science, creating policymaker-focused deliverables (along with academic articles), working with district and state partners, and leading the mixed-methods analysis in collaboration with scholars at EPI, UM, and from other highly respected institutions.

Fellows will receive close mentorship from professor Christina Weiland and will have the opportunity to learn from cross-disciplinary faculty at EPI. The fellow will also have the opportunity to work with district partners in Mississippi and Boston, Michelle Bellino at the University of Michigan, Michelle Maier from MDRC, Terri Sabol from Northwestern, and Dana McCoy from Harvard University. Moreover, the University of Michigan (UM) is home to a dynamic community of researchers, with ample opportunity for professional development—via participation in seminars and trainings, as well as through exposure to high-profile speakers.

The research that will be completed over the 2-year fellowship period is part of a Gates Foundation-funded project. This implementation-focused project will be completed in close partnership with district and state early childhood educators. The goals of the project are three fold: 1) to generate stories of effective curriculum implementation, 2) amplify lessons learned from locations implementing high-quality early childhood curriculum, and 3) build champions at local and national levels to sustain this work. The project will include aspects of technical assistance, curriculum fidelity measurement, hosting a community of practice, and qualitative data collection for story generation.

The postdoctoral fellow will lead all aspects of the qualitative methods and be highly involved in the quantitative aspects of the project. They will clean and analyze data; participate in research planning; write papers; present results at seminars and professional meetings; and help to supervise research assistants.

Given the implementation and practice focus of the project, the fellow will have ample opportunity to develop strong relationships with education practitioners (including in-person trips) and to engage with policymakers regarding results including communicating results to other non-technical audiences.

EPI strives to foster an inclusive work environment that is home to scholars with a wide range of backgrounds and research interests. We do so by bringing in a diverse set of speakers who do research directly on inequality in education, encouraging trainings and collaborations across campus, surveying community members about our seminar culture, and self-evaluating ways to make our research—from start to finish—more equitable. We are interested in recruiting applicants with diverse backgrounds and life experiences and from a diverse pool of academic disciplines and PhD institutions.

This is a 1-2 year fellowship beginning in the spring of 2026 with competitive salary and benefits plus funds for related travel. Renewal of the position in the 2nd year is contingent on strong performance in the first year. The position is open to both remote and Ann Arbor-based applicants.