Professional Biography
Will Jordan is a research officer at the Wallace Foundation and a part time faculty member at Penn GSE, where he teaches Exploring Frameworks for Learners and Learning. At Wallace, he manages the foundation’s portfolio of research grants in its education leadership focus area. Jordan’s expertise is in research to inform policy development and leadership for improving school quality. He was previously an associate professor of urban education at Temple University and spent his early years after graduate school at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Social Organization of Schools. In between Temple and Hopkins, he was a senior analyst at The CNA Corporation, a Washington-based nonprofit research and consulting company.
Jordan is interested in systemic change to address the complex problem of equity and social justice in education. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and coauthored a book on improving urban high schools. His scholarship includes “Defining equity: Multiple perspectives to analyzing the performance of diverse learners” in Review of Research in Education, and “Teacher preparation and performance in high-needs urban schools: What matters to teachers” in Teaching and Teacher Education. The thrust of his work is creating new knowledge, not simply for knowledge’s sake, but for the purpose of improving the conditions of education for all students. Throughout his career, he partnered across diverse communities and contexts. In addition to collaborating with the School District of Philadelphia on its System of Great Schools initiative, he is former President, and presently a member, of the Board of Directors of Big Picture Philadelphia. Big Picture is a national organization which locally runs two high schools, El Centro del Estudiantes and Vaux Big Picture High School.
Jordan earned his Ph.D. in sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He has a master’s degree in political science, with a concentration in public administration, and a B.A. in sociology, both from Stony Brook University. Jordan is a Brooklyn native and completed his K-12 education in New York City public schools.
