Independent Research Lead

Program: ED/IES Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Phase IA
Engagement: Contract, part-time
Position: Remote (U.S.-based)

ApplyA structured application with a short work sample, about 30 to 40 minutes.
ReviewEvery application is read against the criteria below. You will hear back within five business days.
ConversationA 30-minute call about study design.
Research planA paid, fixed-fee draft of the proposal's research plan section.
ProposalNamed as research lead on the submission.

The study

ORFF Maestra LLC is preparing a proposal to the U.S. Department of Education's SBIR program for a prototype that supports school-based speech-language pathologists in disorder-versus-difference assessment decisions with culturally and linguistically diverse students.

The Phase IA pilot examines feasibility, usability, and promise. Participants are practicing school SLPs working constructed case profiles. No students or student records are involved.

The design keeps the evaluation independent of the developer. It uses an expert classification panel, blinded raters, a contract statistician, and a blinded research coordinator.

Project Director: Sybrey “Sunny” L. Callwood, CCC-SLP. The next ED/IES SBIR Phase IA solicitation has not yet been released.

The role

Before submission, draft the research plan section of the proposal for a fixed fee.
If funded, lead the study part-time over the nine-month performance period.
Be named on the proposal as research lead.

Strong candidates bring

A research doctorate (PhD) in communication sciences and disorders, special education, educational psychology, or educational measurement
Experience designing usability, feasibility, or practitioner-focused studies
Familiarity with IES or other federal research standards
Knowledge of CLD or multilingual assessment (preferred)

Compensation

Pre-award work is compensated. Compensation for the funded study will be set when the proposal budget is built and is contingent on award.

How applications are reviewed

Each application is read against the same five criteria.

Criterion	What we look for
Study design	You have designed a feasibility, usability, or practitioner-focused study and can describe your role in it.
Strengths	You can identify what the approach does well and what a pilot would need to show to support it.
Method fit	You can describe a sound way to examine how clinicians reason about disorder versus difference when combining multiple sources of evidence.
User insight	You anticipate where practicing SLPs may struggle and how you would detect it.
Capacity	You can meet the pre-award timeline and the nine-month commitment.

Apply

All fields are required unless marked optional. Questions: sybrey@orffmaestra.com

About you

Full name

State of residence

I am based in the United States and would perform this work in the United States.

DoctorateDegree, field, institution, and year.

Link to your CVGoogle Drive, Dropbox, a personal site, or LinkedIn. Please check that it opens without signing in.

Experience and capacity

Describe one usability, feasibility, or practitioner-focused study you designed, and your role in it.About 100 to 200 words.

Can you complete a draft research plan within the next two months?

Yes No

If funded, can you commit part-time for nine months?

Yes Unsure No

Work sample

The prototype will support school SLPs as they plan an assessment, code each source of evidence (for example, an observation, an interview, a language sample, or a standardized test) as supporting disorder or difference, and combine those codes with a fixed convergence rule. A public version of the summary table it builds on is at callwoodslp.com/table.

In the Phase IA pilot, practicing school SLPs will use the prototype to work constructed case profiles. The pilot examines feasibility, usability, and promise.

What do you see as the strongest feature of this approach, and what would a pilot need to show to support it?About 100 to 200 words.

How would you examine whether clinicians using this approach reason more soundly about disorder versus difference? Describe what you would compare and what evidence would convince you.About 150 to 250 words.

Name one thing you expect practicing SLPs to find difficult about using a tool like this, and how you would detect it during the pilot.About 100 to 200 words.

One last thing

Where did you hear about this role? Optional.