Building Systems That Prove Impact: Job Descriptions, Evaluations & Hiring

RPIE — research, planning, implementation, and evaluation — is at the heart of strategic school public relations and APR-aligned practice, yet many districts haven’t fully embedded it into the systems that define expectations and accountability.

This three-part webinar workshop series helps districts apply the RPIE framework to the practical tools that shape communications success: job descriptions, performance evaluations, and hiring interviews.

Whether you lead a communications team or serve as a one-person communications office, you’ll learn how to translate RPIE into clear role expectations, measurable performance indicators, and interview questions that identify strategic skill sets. Participants will work on their own documents in real time and leave with revised, ready-to-use tools, plus language to confidently partner with supervisors and HR.

Part II: Evaluations That Measure Impact: Using RPIE to Strengthen Performance Reviews

Many communications evaluations still rely on checklists of tasks without capturing the true value of the work: trust built, understanding improved, behavior changed, and outcomes achieved. When communications work is assessed primarily by volume, it can unintentionally reward "busyness" over strategy and leave high-impact work invisible. This workshop-style session helps participants strengthen staff evaluation tools using the RPIE process as a clear framework for performance expectations and evidence. Participants will learn how to evaluate communications work in a way that reflects research-based decision-making, strategic planning, quality implementation systems, and thoughtful evaluation, not just output. Designed for communicators with or without direct reports, including one-person offices, this session supports both sides of the evaluation process: supervisors who want fair, meaningful performance conversations and communicators who want a better way to document impact, provide evidence, and connect their work to district priorities. Participants are encouraged to bring a current evaluation tool (or role expectations) to revise during the session. You’ll leave with language, evidence prompts, and a usable evaluation framework grounded in RPIE with immediate application in your district.

Be sure to visit nspra.org to register for the other webinar in this series (Part I can be found in NSPRA Plus:

April 13, Hiring Through the RPIE Lens: Interview Questions That Identify Strategic Communicators 

If you have any questions, please email pd@nspra.org.