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The Superintendents to Watch award recognizes up to 25 school district leaders each year who have fewer than five years of experience as a superintendent and who demonstrate dynamic, fast-paced leadership with strong communication at its core.
Dr. Jordan was elevated to be NCISC's executive director on July 1, 2024, after serving as the assistant executive director since 2019. She stepped into the role with both grace and force, taking the recently-adopted strategic plan and bringing it to life. She developed clear tracking and reporting systems for the plan, guiding her leadership team in ensuring our organization is following the plan and keeping that plan at the forefront in all decisions. Leadership team meetings are called "Strategic Plan Meetings" to ensure that the plan and the organization's forward path is the focus of leaders' time together.
As the executive director of an organization that serves 39 school districts and two special education cooperatives, Dr. Jordan is a "leader of leaders" -- and she truly embodies that role. She brings together superintendents and other educational leaders from our region in meaningful ways - to share ideas and resources, to discuss hot topics and to hone their leadership skills. She leads professional development for superintendents, including leadership book studies; here is a recent example: https://reg.abcsignup.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0048-0021-e941efc2e6104bec8e4423fb97027f37. Dr. Jordan has grown NCISC’s leadership coaching practice, and is one of the program’s leadership coaches, working directly with building- and district-level leaders to grow their leadership skills (https://www.ncisc.org/professional-learning/leadership-coaching).
She clearly and consistently communicates with them through emails, her "News & Notes for District Leaders" newsletter and in meetings. She is their trusted advisor when issues arise, helping them navigate regulations and policy, parent concerns and community crises.
Dr. Jordan is a relational leader who builds a positive internal culture, intentional in making connections with and between staff members. This approach is particularly impactful in an organization experiencing great growth; NCISC staff numbers have increased by more than 50% since 2022, to 87. She has designed all-staff meetings to include opportunities for staff members to share about themselves and get to know each other. She is leading a session at the "Raising Student Achievement" conference in December, hosted by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, on Human Elements: Honoring the Humanity of Humans to help other leaders understand how to create a culture of care and connection in their organizations.
Dr. Jordan not only led the creation of NCISC's communications department, she is a key collaborator in its success. She recognized that the rollout of the new North Cook Intermediate Service Center brand would be a foundational initiative for NCISC and she set the stage for ensuring its impact.
The brand design was finished in the spring of 2024, but knowing that NCISC was bringing on a new director of communications as of July 1 (the same date she took over as executive director), Dr. Jordan asked then-executive director Dr. Kevin Jauch to hold off on the rollout to ensure that it was done as part of a full communications plan. She worked with the director of communications on building that plan -- the goal, objectives, strategies and tactics, as well as the timeline -- and she supported the execution of that plan in every way, from budgeting to brainstorming, event planning, and editing and review of all aspects of a "teaser campaign" and a new website. She was a strong voice in the video that launched the brand and tied it to the strategic plan (https://youtu.be/vAsw3kio6AA). As you can see in the video, Dr. Jordan understands the importance of messaging, and in this campaign, fully delivered at every turn. She reinforces that messaging at every opportunity -- in staff meetings, with district leaders, in her newsletters and in personal emails.
Dr. Jordan was a strong collaborator in the launch of a new website as part of the rebrand. Her thoughtful insights and specific suggestions (particularly in how we highlight the successes of districts) made the website a valuable tool in reaching our audience. She is eager to learn and grow her skills in communication to support NCISC's efforts; recently, she asked for training on best practices on LinkedIn. She brings a fresh voice to her "News & Notes for District Leaders" newsletters, always suggesting new ideas for both design and content to make it more relevant, readable and engaging for her audience.
Dr. Jordan recognizes that an effective strategic plan is a living, breathing guiding document. When she and the previous executive director gained approval to create the position of Director of Communications, she saw the importance of the role to the organization, and added the goal of communications to the plan. Over several meetings and brainstorming sessions, she worked closely with the director of communications to refine that goal to ensure its alignment with all other areas of the plan, particularly our purpose "to be the epicenter for educational services, support and influence in the region." She wanted to ensure that adding a communications goal to the plan would elevate communications as a high-impact area for NCISC -- and for the districts we serve.
The goal is actionable and powerful:
Exemplify best practices in highly effective communication to ensure constituents are informed and engaged, and support them in their own communications efforts:
• Improve and increase communication systems and structures • Establish communications services to support member districts • Highlight the value and the stories of public education in the region
The strategic plan was an integral part of the new brand rollout, shared in newsletters, videos and prominently on the ncisc.org website. In her presentations and communication, Dr. Jordan references the plan in such a way that its language is becoming part of regular conversation (particularly our tagline, "Leading. Learning. Together." and our belief statement "We believe we are better together.") .
Dr. Jordan is the face of NCISC and she recognizes the importance of that leadership role.
In seeking to increase her ability to highlight NCISC's connections and the success of district leaders (as specified in the communication goal of highlighting the value and the stories of public education in the region), she recently sought out advice and training on the use of LinkedIn. She never turns down an opportunity to attend celebrations and events at districts, such as the recent launch of a new health center at one district, an event that was attended by state and US elected officials and was covered by the Chicago media. Her presence was recognized by that district's superintendent as a highlight of the event.
She provides and seeks out opportunities to "lead, learn, together." She visits districts regularly to see the work of leaders and educators of our region in action and to support that work. She sets aside time on every staff meeting agenda to discuss communication, whether it is training for all staff on Canva, or showing how to access the shared drive with brand assets, templates
She was involved in designing the new branded newsletters, and puts great thought into writing "News & Notes for District Leaders," modeling that effort for others leaders within the organization and the leaders who receive it.
B.A. - Mississippi State University; MPA - University of Georgia
I believe school PR/communications is what I was born to do! One of the biggest decisions a parent can make is where to send their child to school, and it’s an honor to share with our parents the engaging work that their children are doing under the guidance of world-class teachers and leaders. On any given day, in any given school, there are many stories to be told and I take that charge seriously. As school communicators played a key role in COVID-19 communications, storytelling was more important than ever – not only did I share information with parents about our protocols, but I also made over 80 visits to schools last year and told a variety of stories about how students were thriving with both in-person and distance learning options. I also worked with principals to determine best mitigation practices and helped make those pervasive, because positive action must be the foundation of what we are ultimately communicating. School public relations is incredibly complex and I love that each day brings a new challenge.
My greatest school PR success was completing 11 nationally-innovative school communication audits using a process of research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. I am now in phase two of this project and am attending school council meetings to garner feedback from parents about school-level communication and how I can better support the work of their schools. One of the most significant findings is that as students take more ownership of their learning, they also take more ownership in parent communication. Therefore, next steps are to better prepare parents for this transition and to also determine best practices from exemplar teachers and coaches at the secondary level so we can strike the right balance with parents feeling informed and fostering student independence.
My greatest school PR challenge is overcoming rigidity. Like many PR professionals, I am detail-oriented and a self-described perfectionist. It’s a blessing and a curse to see when something is one pixel off, but the greatest challenge I have faced in my 13 years in this field is to learn to be more flexible. I might have an aversion to Comic Sans or Curlz, but it’s not the end of the world if those are a font favorite elsewhere. What’s more important is the bigger picture – staff and parents feeling well-informed and students growing and learning in positive school cultures. Instead of telling someone their website isn’t formatted properly, I now make a 2-3 minute screencast if I think there’s a quick tutorial I can offer to provide ongoing professional learning. By being much more flexible, I have deepened relationships and become better at supporting the most important job that occurs in our school system: teaching.
My favorite part of my job is the relationships. I often say that there is no substitute for showing up, and that’s why I make so many school visits each year. From getting to hold a gorgeous monarch butterfly to watching a vibrant student musical to seeing 3-D printing in action from engineering students, I have witnessed countless unique opportunities, and these experiences are just a small piece of what our students get to take part in each and every day. If I didn’t take the time to form relationships, I wouldn’t know that what students value is knowing that the photos I take may show up in their yearbooks. I wouldn’t know the myriad of annual activities that teachers do across our schools because I wouldn’t have witnessed them firsthand. I wouldn’t know about the families of our principals or what they believe makes their school unique. All of that is invaluable because at the end of the day and at the end of this career, relationships are what will remain – both professionally and personally.
The communication tool I use the most is Canva! I would be a brand ambassador if they asked! I am not very mathematically-minded and it can be challenging for someone with an eye for good design – but not an eye for rulers and gridlines – to be a graphic designer. However, Canva has made it possible and I am able to create aesthetically-pleasing graphics with short turn-around times. I have trained communication ambassadors at our schools how to use it as well. Right after Canva, the tool I most use is iMovie. I am completely self-taught in videography and using iMovie and Canva together has made me someone who can add “videographer” to their list of expertise.