Education Program Specialist, GS-1720-13 FPL-GS-13 (OESE only)

Clarification from the agency

• Current OESE employees serving under competitive, permanent appointments; and • Current OESE employees serving under temporary appointments with reinstatement eligibility.

APPLICATION LIMIT: This vacancy announcement is limited to the first 50 applications received and will close at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the day that we receive the 50th application, or at 11:59PM Eastern Time on the listed closing date, whichever occurs first. We encourage you to read this entire vacancy announcement prior to submitting your application.

As an Education Program Specialist, GS-0301-12, FPL GS-12, you will be responsible for:

• Providing substantial input into the development of education objectives, policies, and long-range work priorities for the program unit to which assigned.
• Providing broad levels of advice to managers in virtually all aspects of the program and activities related to it.
• Providing authoritative leadership and guidance for important special projects that have a significant bearing on the direction and operation of the organizational unit.
• Representing the Office in a variety of meetings and conferences and maintains effective relations with lay and professional organizations and education officials at the federal, state and local levels.
• Handling the most complex features of the operational aspects of the program, providing coordination and leadership where necessary to other members of the staff and/or representatives from other organizations.
• Initiating, planning, and providing leadership for national, state and local meetings, seminars, and conferences for the purpose of providing training to professional specialists on major program activities.

Conditions of employment

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has interagency agreements (IAAs) with other agencies to ensure efficient delivery of funded programs and activities and move closer to fulfilling the President's promise to return education to the states. Employees may receive detail assignments to these agencies in support of the IAAs.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement.

If you are a current federal employee, you must meet all time-in-grade and time-after competitive appointment qualifications within 30 days of the closing date of this vacancy announcement. To verify that you meet these requirements, we will review your responses to the core eligibility questions on the occupational questionnaire, as well as your submitted resume and required documents. To make an accurate determination, you will need to include on your resume your federal position title, pay plan, occupational series, grade level, agency, dates for which you held the grade level (stated as MM/YYYY to MM/YYYY, OR MM/YYYY to PRESENT), and total hours worked per week. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social).
Key Requirements:

1. Must be a US Citizen.
2. Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
3. Must complete a Background Investigation and Fingerprint check.
4. Relocation expenses will not be paid.
5. You may be subject to serve a one-year probationary period.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements

You may meet the minimum qualifications for the GS-13, if you possess the specialize experience.

Specialized Experience for the GS-13:

One year of experience in either federal or non-federal service that is equivalent to at least a GS-12 performing two (2) out of three (3) of the following duties or work assignments:

1. Experience providing technical guidance and assistance, developing solutions to complex problems, creating new procedures, managing special projects, and gaining acceptance of new or revised program requirements and approaches.
2. Experience interpreting program requirements and regulations, reviewing and providing feedback on proposed policies, and serving as a project lead for a portfolio of grants.
3. Experience conducting projects involving the analysis of policy-related issues by gathering and compiling input from program offices, reviewing relevant literature, regulations, program records, and other Department offices to develop analysis and support conclusions for management decisions.


Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) The quality of your experience will be measured by the extent to which you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). You do not need to provide separate narrative responses to these KSAs, as they will be measured by your responses to the occupational questionnaire (you may preview the occupational questionnaire by clicking the link at the end of the Evaluations section of this vacancy announcement).
1. Knowledge of educational improvement and adult learning theories, principles and practices and the roles of federal, state and local
educational systems sufficient to plan, evaluate and advise on funded educational technical assistance programs, their requirements and problems.
2. Ability to apply analytical and evaluative methods and techniques in developing of new procedures and approaches to identify and resolve significant issues and problems.
3.Skill in engaging relevant education partners and working across multiple organizations or units to achieve common goals.
4.Ability to develop and lead others to implement education program policies, processes, or guidelines.
5. Skill in developing and leading training or professional learning meetings for senior education officials.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You must submit (REQUIRED FOR ALL APPLICANTS):
- A resume demonstrating your education, experience, training, and accomplishments as it relates to the qualifications for this position and substantiating your responses to the occupational questionnaire.
Please limit your resume to 2 pages with the font size no smaller than 10 points. If your resume is more than 2 pages, only the first 2 pages will be reviewed and considered for the qualifications determination.

• Transcript: This position has a positive education requirement and requires proof of education for eligibility. You must submit an unofficial transcript that includes the following information: name of accredited institution, major(s), grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. If any required coursework is not easily recognizable on transcripts, or if you believe a portion of a particular course can be credited toward meeting an educational requirement, you must also provide a memorandum on letterhead from the institution's registrar, dean, or other appropriate official stating the percentage of the course that should be considered to meet the requirement and the equivalent number of units. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable; however, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to produce the original official transcripts. This also applies to ED employees.
• If you are a current or former federal employee (including current U.S. Department of Education employees), you must also submit: - A Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50), which demonstrates your competitive status eligibility. To verify your eligibility, we will review your SF-50 to determine your tenure (block 24) and position occupied (block 34). Examples of sufficient SF-50s include appointments, promotions, within-grade increases, and pay adjustments. If you currently hold or previously held a federal position at or above the highest grade of this position or you have/had promotion potential at or above the highest grade of this position, you must also submit an SF-50 documenting your highest grade level held or promotion potential. Examples of sufficient SF-50s include appointments and promotions. - A Copy of your most recent Performance Appraisal and Awards, as applicable. Your performance appraisal and awards are requested to further assess the quality of your experience should your application be referred to the selecting official.
• If you are claiming eligibility under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA), you must submit: - A copy of your DD-214 that shows active service and character of discharge, member copy 4 (Separated Members only); OR - A certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions within 120 days from the date of application (Current Active Duty Members only); AND/OR - The Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (SF-15) AND all documents indicated on the form as proof of type of preference.
• If you are claiming eligibility under any Special Hiring Authority, you must submit: - Adequate proof of your eligibility (e.g., Documentation of noncompetitive eligibility as a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Documentation of noncompetitive eligibility for employment under Schedule A as a person with severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and intellectual disabilities.)
• Are you claiming special priority selection rights under the Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP/CTAP)?
  • If you are a current or former Federal employee who was displaced (for example, due to a Reduction-in-Force) and want priority consideration, you must submit the documents listed below.
    • Required documents for Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan consideration (All are required): 1. Proof that you were displaced, such as Reduction-in-Force (RIF) notice or notice of proposed removal.
      • SF-50s (Notification of Personnel Action) showing:
        • RIF as the Nature of Action (Box 5B)
        • Career or career-conditional status (Box 24 must be 1 or 2)
        • Competitive status (Box 34 must be 1)
        • Promotion potential or full performance level of the position from which you were or are being displaced. This is likely your appointment SF-50 for that position.
        • Duty location
      • Your most recent performance appraisal showing a rating of Fully Successful or higher.
  • Your Federal position at the time you were displaced must be within the local commuting area for a location listed in this announcement. The definition of local commuting area varies based on duty location and hiring agency policy. To receive priority consideration, you must also be found well-qualified, which means you score 75 or higher based on this announcement's assessment rating criteria.

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