Bring your passion for education and equity, as well as your curiosity about policy and program evaluation, to a professional summer experience that will hone your skills and help you take the next step in your career.

We are seeking a Summer Evaluation Intern to join our Policy and Evaluation team for the summer of 2025. Bellwether’s Policy and Evaluation team provides skill- and knowledge-building opportunities to a select group of students and professionals developing their careers in education policy and program evaluation. The location of this role is flexible, enabling us to hire the best person for the role, regardless of geography.

About Bellwether

Bellwether is a national nonprofit that exists to transform education to ensure systemically marginalized young people achieve outcomes that lead to fulfilling lives and flourishing communities. We work hand in hand with education leaders and organizations to accelerate their impact, inform and influence policy and program design, and share what we learn along the way.

Our Policy and Evaluation team conducts analyses that inform leaders, organizations, and the broader field on ways to improve their work for America’s underserved students. We produce quantitative and qualitative analyses of contemporary education issues, conduct traditional and innovative evaluations, and generate new ideas and solutions for the sector. We offer recommendations to improve outcomes for underserved youth across the pre-K, K-12, and post-secondary landscape that are informed by rigorous analytical methods; our extensive understanding of the local, state, and federal policy landscape; and our experience working with a wide range of educational and early childhood systems, leaders, and practitioners.

About the Evaluation Subteam

Truly effective organizations need access to quality information about what’s working, why, and for whom to guide strategic and operational decisions to accelerate and enhance their impact. Bellwether’s Evaluation team partners closely with clients to integrate evaluation into existing planning and implementation efforts, use information to drive what they do, and advance educational equity.

Because evaluating purpose-driven work can be a vulnerable process, we serve as trusted collaborators along the way. Our approach is grounded in developing mutual trust and offering ongoing, customized support across a range of services, including:

• Evaluations: We offer both short- and long-term program evaluations, including experimental, quasi-experimental, correlational, and descriptive research. We also offer developmental evaluations that can help organizations define, gather feedback on, and refine initiatives during the early stages of design. We typically use mixed-methods approaches that integrate quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence.
• Capacity Building: We build and strengthen organizations’ internal capacity to measure and evaluate their impact to inform continuous improvement and communicate results to key stakeholders. Services include refining logic models; developing and supporting implementation of evaluation plans; developing a research agenda; and creating dashboards and reports to enable insight and facilitate decision-making for stakeholders, including funders.
• Tailored Research: We offer rigorous and tailored research services to inform planning, implementation, and communications. Services include survey research to gather perspectives on sector-wide or client-specific questions; literature reviews to synthesize relevant, actionable research findings and support evidence-based decision-making; and social network analysis to provide insights on the strength, quality, and changes of relationships within a group of individuals or organizations over time.

About the Position

Over the course of a summer, the Evaluation intern will work on one to two substantive primary projects matched to their skills and interests. Interns typically provide both quantitative and qualitative research support to Bellwether staff — this might include writing memos, research summaries, briefings, and blog posts on a range of education topics; quantitative or qualitative data analysis; and contributing to client products, evaluation reports, or publications.

Interns will work closely with the internship coordinators and project managers to develop individually tailored goals for their time on the Evaluation team and at Bellwether. Interns will receive feedback and guidance to help them advance their professional goals during and beyond the internship. Interns also participate in internal and external meetings and may attend project-related events.

Qualifications

Bellwether is a good fit for professionals who possess strong personal drive and motivation as well as demonstrate exemplary professional behavior and values, and who are resourceful, responsible, tenacious, independent, and self-confident.

Excited? We are too. You should apply if you have:

• Familiarity with the challenges and disparities facing underserved students and pre-K, K-12, and post-secondary education in the United States.
• A commitment to Bellwether’s core values, including diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• A commitment to our work to address policies and practices that lead to inequitable outcomes for marginalized groups.
• The ability to model a high degree of reflection and self-awareness, build trusted relationships across lines of difference, and seek out and respond to perspectives different from your own.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn more about key topics in education policy and/or program evaluation.
• Experience with research projects.
• Demonstrated writing, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• A record of academic accomplishment, including enrollment in or completion of an undergraduate degree.
• A self-motivated and independent work style, including time-management skills, attention to detail, and willingness to ask questions as necessary.
• Computer competencies, such as finding articles/databases on a specific topic, slide creation, Microsoft Excel, and/or word processing.

The following traits/skills are ideal but not required:

• Current or previous enrollment in a degree program in education, public policy, or a related field, or an equivalent level of work/internship experience in education.
• Experience completing semi-independent research projects in an academic or professional setting.
• Qualitative and/or quantitative analysis experience and familiarity with statistical methods.

Length of Internship and Hours Requirements

The Policy and Evaluation team only accepts applications for summer internships. This is a paid internship ($30-$50 per hour, depending on incoming experience) that typically begins in June and lasts for eight to 10 weeks, no more than 40 hours per week, depending on an intern’s availability and Bellwether’s needs.

We are also excited to explore the potential opportunity for continued partnership beyond this internship period and/or a permanent full-time role as an analyst on the Policy and Evaluation team post-graduation, needs permitting.

https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit-internship/22c8fc3e8fd542c2a7d4f7473c6ec012-evaluation-summer-internship-2025-bellwether-washington?utm_source=symplicity&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=listings-api