Rodel is hiring!

Job title: Research and Policy Fellow

Reports to: Policy and Advocacy Manager

Apply By: July 1, 2025

*Note, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis

To Apply:

Submit a resume and cover letter to Tiffany Trawick via email at ttrawick@rodelde.org.

 

Position Summary:

Rodel seeks a Research and Policy Fellow to work with the policy and communications teams to engage and inform stakeholders, partners, and the community to work together in support of Rodel’s vision. The Research and Policy Fellow will have the opportunity to be involved in large-scale projects covering topics including teacher and leader diversity, education innovation, personalized learning, funding equity, college and career readiness, and early childhood education. 

Location and Schedule:  

This is a part-time, paid experience, approximately 15-20 hours per week at $22 per hour from August 2025 to December 2025 (with option to renew through May 2026). 

This is a hybrid position, with preference for candidates based in the DE, PA, or MD area who can attend team meetings at the office and occasionally support in-person events and related preparation activities. 

Critical Success Attributes:  

• Passion for public education and alignment with the organization’s mission 

• Strong critical thinking and analytical skills 

• Proactive mindset with flexibility in a fast-paced environment 

• Excellent prioritization, time management, and organizational abilities; able to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines 

• Consistent attention to detail and accuracy 

• Effective communicator and collaborative team member 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:  

• Execute small to large research requests on a wide variety of education topics 

• Synthesize findings of research, including national best practices, for different audiences 

• Contribute to long-term planning through research, analysis, synthesis, and visualization 

• Develop externally facing data products, including Delaware Public Education At A Glance Support data analysis and visualization within Excel and other visualization tools 

• Provide general office support and administrative assistance for events and meetings 

• Assist with survey creation, distribution, and data collection 

• Attend and monitor community meetings, legislative committees, and related events 

• Other duties related to research and data, as assigned 

Education, Experience and Skills:   

• Currently enrolled college seniors or individuals pursuing a graduate degree (master’s or doctorate) in education, public policy, public administration, or a related field are preferred. 

• A general understanding and/or strong willingness to learn about state and national education systems, policies, and practices are required.    

• Successful candidates must be proficient in the full suite of Microsoft Office, especially Excel and PowerPoint. 

Rodel is hiring!

Job title: Program Specialist

Position Summary:

Rodel seeks a Program Specialist to support the organization’s technical assistance efforts with school districts, higher education institutions, and state partners. A successful candidate will bring an equity-centered mindset with a background in education, project management, and/or related areas.

Position Description: 

The Program Specialist will be responsible for effectively supporting the Rodel team in the successful planning, execution, monitoring, tracking, and reporting of multi-partner projects and grants. This is an excellent opportunity for a detail-oriented and systems-minded person to craft solutions while working with multiple internal and external stakeholders to impact the future of education and workforce in Delaware. This role is critical to strategically build out Rodel’s technical assistance capacity on high-quality projects that benefit students and align with our organization’s mission. This role requires a strong combination of project management, educational expertise, and collaboration skills to ensure the success of initiatives with partners across the state.

What You’ll Do

• Contribute to Student- and Educator-Centered Programs
  • In collaboration with the Programs Team, support the development and sustainability of program design, implementation, and evaluation.
  • Support the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate and define impact across all programs.
  • Support the Programs Team in building out Rodel’s technical assistance capacity to support the creative implementation and design of initiatives across the state.
  • Support the design and implementation of comprehensive project plans that advance equity and student achievement and align to programmatic vision.
  • Conduct and synthesize research as appropriate to support projects and grants related to program work.
  • Stay informed about national and local education trends in Delaware, providing the programs team with timely and relevant updates.
• Coordinate event planning and foster strong partner engagement.
  • Center work on the needs of students and educators.
  • Support the programs team’s collaboration with internal and external partners, including educators, students, community organizations, families, to co-design, gather feedback, and ensure program/project success.
  • Ensure the successful facilitation of meetings by coordinating logistics and developing high–quality materials including slide decks, agendas, and a variety of project-specific documents.
  • Develop materials for both internal and external audiences, including blogs, one-pagers, charts, and presentations for programmatic initiatives.

 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Commitment to centering work on the needs of students and educators
• A passion for education, innovation, and a commitment to educational equity
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through continuous development, modeling inclusive behaviors, and proactively managing bias
• Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to translate vision into actionable plans
• Exceptional project management skills, including the ability to prioritize tasks, manage timelines, and deliver results
• A desire to self-reflect, give and receive feedback, and continuously improve
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with diverse partners
• Commitment to promoting a culture of inclusivity and belonging that embraces the contributions of all team members
• Ability to adapt to changing circumstances and thrive in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to support the effective facilitation of diverse partners, including session design and presentation
• Ability to assess progress and problem solve with support from team/manager

 

Education/Experience:

A bachelor’s degree is required for this position.

Rodel is an equal opportunity employer, offering a competitive salary and benefits package, including dedicated professional development resources to support your growth in the role.

The salary range for this position is $50,000 to $60,000, commensurate with education and experience.

To Apply:

Submit a resume and cover letter to Tiffany Trawick via email at ttrawick@rodelde.org.

Rodel is hiring!

Job Title: Vice President

Position Summary:
The Vice President is responsible for Rodel’s programmatic and policy efforts related to postsecondary success. This includes managing technical assistance efforts with state, district, higher education partners, and employers, particularly within Rodel’s focus on career pathways and postsecondary completion.

This role reports to the President and CEO working closely with the Executive Leadership Team to build relationships and to understand the work underway. To deliver on and deepen the work, the person in this role will collaborate with staff across the organization to support implementation efforts ensuring alignment with strategic goals and our collective impact. This role will entail working with the CEO and the VP for Programs and Strategy to continue to build the team, some of which will be shared, to implement against a growing portfolio of work.

The Vice President will also work closely with the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President always with an eye toward alignment to the strategic plan, including:

• Coordinating with the CEO and SVP to align policy, advocacy, and programmatic strategy and priorities.
• Ensuring that the process for monitoring progress towards Rodel’s goals reflects the needs and interests of the organization as a whole.
• Collaborating with the COO to build an organizational talent strategy with a supportive, values-driven culture.
• Working closely with the CEO, COO and SVP to cultivate funders and develop fundraising asks to support programmatic work and strategy implementation.

 

Position Description
What you will do:

• Program Implementation/Technical Assistance
  Collaborate with VP for Programs and Strategy and CEO to understand the current workflow and relationships associated with our postsecondary work.
• Lead overall strategy development for Rodel’s programmatic priorities related to postsecondary success as well as ensure strong implementation consistent with Rodel’s commitment to partners and funders.
• Collaborate with Senior VP and CEO on policy development to scale and sustain the postsecondary solutions.
• Cultivate and build new state, district, higher education, and employer partnerships to further Rodel’s theory of action, including regular engagement with all levels of leadership at relevant state departments (e.g., workforce development, labor, and education), district and charter schools, Delaware institutes of higher education, and employers.
• Support the growth and development of work-based learning statewide, including the support and growth of industry councils, including the Tech Council of Delaware.
• Be proactive about learning from and with national and international best practice leaders.
• Build and manage project budgets in coordination with COO including approval of vendor payments, development and execution of contracts, and ensuring adequate staffing to meet project goals and outcomes.
• Manage and build team responsible for overseeing implementation of programmatic partnerships and policy development, including management of full-time Rodel staff and technical assistance vendors/contractors, development and updating of project plans, and management of budgets.

 

Co-Investment

• Serve as primary owner, in collaboration with Leadership Team and the associate director of development, of co-investment strategy related to postsecondary success.
• Identify and source new funding opportunities to fund work via national and state foundations, federal and state grants/contracts, and fee-for-service opportunities.
• Maintain and grow relationships with current and new co-investment partners, including regular check-ins with current funders, identification of new funders, organization of site visits, and regular presentations at national conferences.
• Ensure timely submission of identified grant proposals and reports.
• Contribute to Rodel’s overall co-investment strategy.

 

Internal Strategic Management

• Collaborate with Vice President for Programs and Strategy to oversee and monitor implementation of organizational strategic plan, including applying systems for developing and tracking internal measures of success and facilitating opportunities to align internally on strategic approaches and progress towards goals.
• Work with the Executive Leadership Team to steward implementation of Rodel’s Equity Commitment, ensuring that the organization considers and addresses all the places the Equity Commitment could affect its culture, strategy, and work.
• Proactively lead and co-design with Rodel’s Communications Team an effective communication and external engagement strategy that includes publications, conferences, panels, and leveraging social media and media channels.
• Serve on Executive Leadership Team.

 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• High emotional intelligence, with an ability make people feel comfortable and seen in relationships.
• Strong track record of working with schools, districts, higher education, and employers to build and strengthen career pathways as well as postsecondary success and completion.
• Strategic thinker, with ability to generate new approaches that are both innovative and implementable.
• Deep experience working with teams to strengthen their connection and cohesion, particularly as it relates to building trust around how to build on a team’s diverse assets and differences.
•  Strong attention to detail.
• Operates with a sense of urgency to solve pressing problems aligned to Rodel’s mission tied to tangible impact that improves the lives of young people.
• Effective problem-solver with a willingness to course correct quickly when we run into roadblocks.
• Demonstrated ability to build and manage a budget of approximately $2M per year.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills including skillful facilitation of diverse partners.
• Good judgment and ability to work independently.

 

Education/Experience
A bachelor’s degree is required for this position and an advanced degree is preferred.

Rodel is an equal opportunity employer, offering a competitive salary and benefits package, including dedicated professional development resources to support your growth in the role.

The salary range for this position is $170,000 to $190,000, commensurate with education and experience.

To Apply: Submit a resume and cover letter to Tiffany Trawick via email at ttrawick@rodelde.org.

Rodel is hiring!

Job title: Research and Policy Fellow

Reports to: Policy and Advocacy Manager

Position Summary:

Rodel seeks a Research and Policy Fellow to work with the policy and communications teams to engage and inform stakeholders, partners, and the community to work together in support of Rodel’s vision. The Research and Policy Fellow will have the opportunity to be involved in large-scale projects covering topics including teacher and leader diversity, education innovation, personalized learning, funding equity, college and career readiness, and early childhood education.  

This is a part-time, paid experience, approximately 15-20 hours per week at $22 per hour from September to May. 

Critical Success Attributes and Strengths for this Role: 

• Passion for the mission and public education 
• Strong critical thinking and analytic capability 
• Practices flexibility and is proactive 
• Strong prioritization, time management, and organizational skills; ability to manage multiple projects at once and meet deadlines  
• Strong attention to detail 

 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Execute small to large research requests on wide variety of education topics  
• Synthesize findings of research, including national best practices for different audiences 
• Contributing to long-term planning through research, analysis, synthesis and visualization 
• Developing our externally facing data products, including Delaware Public Education At A Glance 
• Support data analysis and visualization within excel and other visualization tools 
• General office support and administrative support for events 
• Other duties related to research and data to be assigned as needed 

 

Education/Experience and Computer Skills:  

• A bachelor’s degree in education, public policy, public administration or equivalent is preferred.   
• A general understanding and/or strong willingness to learn about state and national education systems, policies, and practices are required.   
• Successful candidates must be proficient in the full suite of Microsoft Office, especially Excel and PowerPoint. 

 

To Apply

Submit a resume and cover letter to Tiffany Trawick via email at ttrawick@rodelde.org.