The New Jersey Education to Earnings Data System (NJEEDS) is the State of New Jersey’s centralized longitudinal data system and was developed in 2012 through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Its core mission is to create a single place where de-identified state education, postsecondary education, employment, and workforce longitudinal data are safely made available to educational and training stakeholders and the public for analysis to improve governance efforts, policymaking, and the performance of educational and workforce initiatives. Four New Jersey agencies contribute data and resources to the data system. They include:

• New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE),
• New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA),
• New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL), and
• New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE).

Since 2017, NJEEDS has been hosted at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. Over the past two years, the system has enhanced its accessibility to external researchers. To continue to pilot our data access processes and to solicit important research, the data owners have authorized a grant and training program to qualified researchers to conduct research for the benefit of state agencies and educational and workforce programs. The grant program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences’ Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant (PR/Award #: R372A200035).

State agencies are interested in understanding the impacts for the recession on the workforce and possible impacts on educational outcomes, particularly as they relate to differential outcomes for different populations. Approved grantees will be awarded $3,000 for research projects that cover at least one of the following three priority areas:

• Postsecondary Outcomes: Comparative analysis of employment outcomes for people that stop out and those that transfer out and continue to obtain a credential.
• Educational Workforce Projections: Teacher workforce and workforce projections using existing data from the New Jersey Education to Earnings Data System (which can be used to inform future reports with expanded data).
• Socio-economic Status (SES) Exploration: Develop new socio-economic measures in OSHE and NJDOE data given the limited administrative data available.

Researchers must meet the following eligibility requirements to receive this grant:

• Minimum training in research methods and the research process. To meet this requirement, applicants should meet one of the following criteria:
  • Earned a Ph.D. or equivalent degree, OR
  • Be a current student in a graduate degree program and sponsored by a faculty member with a Ph.D. or equivalent, OR
  • Provide documentation of equivalent experience in supervised or independent research.
• Work must be conducted within the United States.
• Researcher must have a sponsoring employer, educational institution, or organization.
• Obtain approval from an Institutional Review Board (note that Rutgers is affiliated with Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative [CITI Program] and has reciprocity with institutions involved with that program).
• Researcher must agree to sign the NJEEDS Non-Disclosure Research Agreement. A sample can be found on the NJEEDS website.

This grant is ideal for postdoctoral students or early career academic researchers, though it is open to experienced researchers as well. This grant also may be well suited for doctoral students paired with their faculty advisors, since awardees will receive training provided through an Applied Data Analytics course, which incorporates collaborative learning tasks prior to investigation of individual research questions.

Proposals should provide a brief synopsis of the research plan. Proposals are limited to 3 single-spaced pages with 1-inch margins and text no smaller than 11-point Times New Roman.  Researchers are encouraged to review the data dictionary presented on the NJEEDS website. The page limit does not apply to the reference list, the researcher’s curriculum vita, or qualification statement (if applicable). All proposals should cover the following topics:

• Introduction explicitly describing which priority area above the research will cover. 
• Research question
• Brief literature review
• Preliminary list of data elements required
• Proposed method
• References (not included in the page limit)
• Curriculum vitae or résumé (not included in the page limit)
• Qualification statement (if applicable – 1-page maximum beyond page limit) 

Per NJEEDS Policy, all research questions must include data sources across two or more agencies to be eligible as a research project in the data system. Single-agency projects will be referred to the agency owner for review but are ineligible for the research grant.

Research proposals will be pre-screened to meet the following criteria before undergoing a more in-depth review. The pre-screening criteria will include: 

• • • Priority Area – The research plan adequately addresses one of the priority areas listed in the call for grant applications. The research proposed is consistent with existing state and federal privacy/confidentiality laws.
    • Multiple Agency Data Use – The researcher proposed data elements belonging to two or more agencies.
    • Agency Approval – Agencies grant permission to use their data consistent with the purposes outlined in this grant proposal and have verified the legal authority under the law to conduct the project. 

  After proposals pass this initial screening, the proposals will be scored based on the following criteria:

The application is due on Friday, March 17, 2023 by 5:00 p.m. Eastern. 

Those that are awarded a grant must participate in a mandatory orientation before accessing the data system. In addition, grantees that are unfamiliar with data science tools are invited to attend an Applied Data Analytics course. The first module of the course provides an introduction to R statistical programming and Structured Query Language (SQL). The second component is optional and covers the research design, analysis techniques, data visualizations, and intermediate data science methods. This training is provided for free to those who are awarded a grant (valued at up to $4,000). The class is scheduled to run from:

Monday, May 29, 2023 to Friday, August 18, 2023

After research is completed, working papers or summaries will be posted on the NJEEDS website. If researchers will be submitting their papers to  journals with publishing restrictions, researchers will need to post an executive summary until their papers are published.

Click here to access the grant application form.

Q1. Would your disclosure process permit identification of individual institutions and their outcomes (subject to the normal sample size rules for disclosures)? Would this be something that the state would be particularly interested in having published in an accessible way?

A1. Yes, as long as individual cell sizes comply with the requirements of disclosure review, results can be reported at the institution-level. The disclosure requirements can be found in the Acceptable Use Guidelines.

Q2. Are researchers permitted to bring in outside data to match to NJ SLDS data? (in particular, institutional characteristics from other sources)

A2. While working within the Administrative Data Research Facility where you will access the data, our staff will be able to support the import of institution-level or county and local-level data into the environment for these research projects. However, you will not be able to take the data out unless it is aggregated according to the NJEEDS disclosure rules.

Q3. Is there any availability of data at the student/individual level? What options may come in the future?

A3. The data are at the unit record level for students, workers, and firms.

Q4. Are researchers required to come to a physical research center to access the data or is there an alternative such as an offsite secure data center at another university?

A4. The facility we are using for our de-identified data system can be accessed over the internet. It is a remote desktop environment with additional security. When you initially log into the system you are required to take a mandatory training. We will authorize the creation of a “container” and when you get into your work space you will have access to our suite of tools. However, you will not be able to take anything out of the system or access the internet from the secure environment. You will be able to remote in from anywhere in the US and its territories that has adequate internet access.

Q5. Is IRB approval required prior to the application?

A5. IRB approval is not required at the time of application. If your application is accepted, we will work with you get the supporting information necessary to go through the IRB process. The IRB process takes place in the time between when your application is approved and when you receive access to the data.

NJEEDS is the State of New Jersey’s centralized longitudinal data system and was developed in 2012 through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Its core mission is to create a single place where de-identified state education, postsecondary education, employment, and workforce longitudinal data are safely made available to education and training stakeholders and the public for analysis to improve governance efforts, policymaking, and the performance of education and workforce initiatives. Four New Jersey agencies contribute data and resources to the data system. They include:

• New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE),
• New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA),
• New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL), and
• New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE).

Since 2017, NJEEDS has been hosted at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. While the system has been operational, it has not yet been open to public researchers. In order to better understand how the data system can serve the community and to meet the demand for using the data, the data owners have authorized an internship and training program to higher education students to conduct research for the benefit of state agencies and educational and workforce programs. The grant program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences’ Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant (PR/Award #: R372A200035).

Job responsibilities include:

• Processing, cleaning, and verifying the integrity of data used for analysis;
• Utilize predictive analytics, data mining, and/or inferential statistics using data science methods;
• Produce timely and high-quality written, tabular, and visual materials for research reports and presentations under the supervision of senior research staff;
• Assist in the execution of research activities, studies, and projects, including conducting and writing literature reviews, and undertaking data collection and analysis in the area of postsecondary education policy and workforce development;
• Prepare print documents, web page content, and/or other products and graphics using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and/or other software packages.

This position is open to students at the graduate level attending any higher education institution that is authorized for operation in the State of New Jersey. The ideal candidate should have the following skills and qualifications:

• Very strong writing and analytical skills;
• Possess mature, articulate, and tactful communication skills;
• Interest in workforce development or postsecondary education policy;
• High personal motivation, self-management, and detail orientation, and the ability to take responsibility in meeting deadlines and making progress without frequent supervision;
• Motivation to engage in and manage a wide array of intellectual and logistical work, ranging from preparing literature reviews to analyzing data and drafting research papers; and
• Experience in a computer programming and/or a statistical programming (SPSS, Stata, SAS, R, SQL, Python, etc.) language.

In addition, applicants must be available to work between May 29, 2023 and August 25, 2023 and attend the Applied Data Analytics course as a part of their responsibilities. The training is provided for free to those who are hired as an intern (valued at up to $4,000). Students will be required to present the results of their internship during a stakeholder briefing in September 2023. Papers will be posted on the NJEEDS website.

Students are asked to submit a cover letter, résumé, and graduate school transcript.

The hourly pay is commensurate with experience. These positions are anticipated to be around 30 hours per week. The successful candidate should be available to meet at the Heldrich Center located at 30 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Partial telework may be available depending on the applicant’s location within the state.

All offers at Rutgers University are subject to pre-employment conditions that must be met. For this position, you will need to successfully clear a background check investigation and provide proof that you are fully vaccinated and have received a booster (where eligible) against COVID-19 prior to beginning employment unless the University has granted you a medical or religious exemption.

Submit your application online.

Q1. If I am on a Visa can I apply for the internship program? I know that I may not earn money, but can I get the experience and the credit for the work.

If applicants are non-Rutgers F-1 students, contact the international office at your current institution. They can confirm eligibility and requirements to participate in the internship for pay. In general, Rutgers cannot sponsor most other visa statuses from another University to work for pay at Rutgers in this internship program. For students in other visa categories not eligible to work, we will work with your native institution to support the internship to meet academic requirements or professional development.

Q2. How many rounds of interviews will there be?

The application review will be followed by a screening call with an NJEEDS staff member, then one round of interviews with staff at state agency partners. If there are any changes due to feedback from our partner agencies, we will send an email to all candidates and post the information on the NJEEDS website.

Q3. Is there a preferred program for coding/data analysis i.e. R, Stata, SPSS, etc.?

We do not have any preference on coding or data analysis experience. We want candidates to have general interest in quantitative data. The selected interns will be trained in R and Structured Query Language.

Q4. The internship is listed as 20 hours per week. Will interns be allowed to work full-time/more hours over the summer?

The internship positions have been budgeted for 20 hours per week. If you are an active full- time student in the Rutgers system, you cannot work over 19.5 hours per week over the summer if you are taking classes.

Q5. How does the hiring procedure work?

Candidates are required to apply through the application link on the NJEEDS website. If for any reason you are unable to attach all of the supplemental information you would like, you can send those materials to njeeds@ejb.rutgers.edu. Next, there will be an application screening done by the NJEEDS staff and the partner agency data stewards. Candidates are asked to include in their cover letter their preference for which agency they would like to work with. Following the application screening, candidates will interview with agency staff. The application is currently posted on the Rutgers job posting website as well as on our NJEEDS website. Once an offer is made, the additional steps such as the vaccine requirements and background checks are started. We hope offers will be made by April 15, then the necessary paperwork will need to be completed in order to get the new interns into the system by June 1.

Q6. Upon completion of the internship, is there an opportunity for an extension or a full-time position?

There are always opportunities. The Heldrich Center will be posting Research Assistant positions that will work with NJEEDS data soon; the timing does not align for this internship, but there may be similar postings in the future. The Research Assistants will be participating in the Applied Data Analytics class and gaining experience and networking within state agencies. There are no guarantees, but interns may be able to get an extension and get involved in short term projects.