Right Question Institute Summer Fellowship Program

Would you like the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to a successful nonprofit working on innovative strategies in the fields of education and school-family partnerships? If so, the Right Question Institute (RQI), a small nonprofit in Cambridge, MA, is offering a limited number of fellowship positions for the summer of 2017 for students eager to work hard, learn a lot, and contribute to our efforts.

Organization Overview:

The Right Question Institute (RQI), an education nonprofit in Cambridge, MA, strives to make democracy work better by ensuring that all people can learn to ask better questions and participate more effectively in key decisions that affect them.

As part of its work over the past 20 years, RQI developed the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), a simple and powerful strategy that helps students learn to produce their own questions, improve their questions, and strategize on how to use their questions. In 2011, Harvard Education Press published Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions by Co-Directors Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana. Since publication, 22,000 educators have joined our online Educator Network and more than 200,000 educators around the world are implementing.

Building upon the field’s enthusiasm, RQI is now committed to getting the Question Formulation Technique into one million classrooms by the year 2020. Our Million Classrooms Campaign will offer new resources and a range of opportunities for engaging educators and supporting their use of the Question Formulation Technique. By 2020, we expect to see tens of millions of students in one million classrooms who are using the QFT to activate their own curiosity and become more engaged learners. 

In addition to the thousands of educators using the QFT to teach students how to ask their own questions, educators also use RQI’s educational strategies to strengthen school-family partnerships. The Right Question School-Family Partnership Strategy is used by educators to help parents build and develop two fundamental skills: question-formulation and decision-making. Parents can use these skills to support the education of their children, monitor their progress, and advocate for them.

Summer Fellowship Overview:

RQI Summer Fellows will work in general office support, communications, organizational development, social media, and provide programmatic support for our upcoming summer conferences. General office support may include supporting staff members on the development of PowerPoint presentations, assisting with the formatting and design of resources, documentation, and other support as needed. RQI Summer Fellows learn how the strategy helps individuals develop their ability to ask and use questions and will have opportunities to work closely with senior staff at a successful nonprofit. 

Essential Skills & Experience:

-         Organized

-         Attention to detail

-         Self-motivated

-         Critical and analytical thinking

-         Strong communication skills

-         Able to work independently and as part of a team

-         A positive attitude

-         Familiar with Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms

-         Office and program support skills (organization, documentation, general support)

-         Computer expertise (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and comfortable with new applications) 

Funding:

The RQI Summer Fellowship positions are unpaid. In the past RQI Summer Fellows have sought and received funding through their colleges. We recommend that if you are interested in applying for this position that you explore funding opportunities provided through your college. Please mention in your cover letter whether you may be able to secure funding for this fellowship opportunity. 

RQI Summer Fellows work 20 hours a week from June 6th until August 12th. All fellows must work 40 hours the week of July 17th in preparation for our summer conference in Boston. Fellows will be expected to work at RQI’s International Conference at the Boston Park Plaza from July 23-25th.

Instructions: Please submit the following to Dominique.Rivera@rightquestion.org

1) Your resume or CV

2) A brief cover letter that references your interest in the position and an example of how your prior experiences will be helpful for this position. Please indicate which area of RQI’s work (i.e. education or school-family partnerships) you are most interested in and how your previous work relates to this interest. 

Please note that you may be asked for a writing sample and references later in the interview process, but these are not required for your initial submission. 

Deadline: Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Please be aware that the application process is competitive and it is advisable that you submit your application materials as soon as possible.  

No phone calls please. All applications are considered and will be acknowledged. Candidates that make it to the next round will be contacted to schedule a phone interview. 

Reflections from past RQI Summer Fellows:

"Working at RQI for the summer provided me with the opportunity to make meaningful relationships, gain invaluable experience from a small group of talented and experienced individuals, and explore my own passions and strengths through projects tailored towards my interests. The work atmosphere is engaging and productive while maintaining an open, safe space for honest conversation and learning. As a rising senior, this work truly helped me determine where I envisioned myself after graduation and allowed me to strengthen and diversify my network and experiences." - Kelly, Boston College Student 

“At RQI, I learned a method of producing, improving, and using questions as a means for creating a more democratic society. I got to help plan a two-day conference from start to finish, a conference which hosted 150 educators from around the world. I learned ways of staying organized, detail-oriented, and thinking logistically about tasks that need to be done. I had some autonomy to choose various projects to work on including writing presentation proposals, research projects, and working on outreach and communications. Overall, I learned to navigate working in an office environment with very diverse people, and got a clearer sense of direction I wanted to take in my career.” - Kiki, Brown University Student 

The Right Question Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We are strongly committed to hiring a diverse and multicultural staff and encourage applications from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.