Case Study

Youngstown City School District

Greg Kibler

Deputy Chief of Data

Struggling with academic outcomes in an economically-disadvantaged region, Youngstown City School District needed to shift instructional practice with a focus on equity. With Kickup, YCSD built a data framework that invested teachers in their own feedback and coordinated real-time interventions to what students needed most. The results? A strategic alignment that's closing the achievement gap across demographics.

KickUp Closes $1.75M Series A Round

Founded in 2015 by two teachers who wanted to improve professional learning for all educators, KickUp's software-as-a-service platform helps K-12 school districts and PD providers schedule and manage job-embedded professional learning, assess program impact, and use formative data to drive better decision-making. Today, KickUp’s platform is used by more than 100,000 teachers. The Series A funding will be deployed to accelerate the company’s customer growth and platform expansion.

Blast walkthroughs: how to build protocols that make the most of observation data

One of the most powerful data collection strategies a district can employ is walkthroughs. They can provide clear, actionable feedback about how professional learning efforts are translating into the classroom. But making them effective requires setting up strong protocols and building a culture of teacher buy-in so that they can serve their purpose as formative assessment without feeling too evaluative to teachers.

Putting PD Feedback to Work: Question Bank and Strategies

Sample question bank for PD feedback, plus a guide to good strategies for getting the most out of your participants' comments.

Designing Data Structures to Build a Culture of Improvement at Youngstown City Schools

How one Ohio district is closing the achievement gap with a thriving professional learning culture, holistic teacher supports, and a data strategy for real-time intervention.

Our team’s top 5 takeaways from Learning Forward 2018 Annual Conference

Our staff came together after Learning Forward's 2018 Annual Conference to sum up five of our biggest takeaways from conversations, sessions, and activity happening in Dallas. What trends resonate with your team?

2018 Learning Forward Partner Sessions

We're co-hosting 5 sessions during the Learning Forward annual conference with our district partners. Register now to reserve your seat in the sessions between December 3-5th.

Part 3: Assessing and Refreshing PLCs – Creating alignment between district priorities and teacher needs

How DO district and school leaders refresh professional learning communities (PLCs) mid-year? The final part of this three-part series focuses on how districts create alignment between high-profile district priorities and the everyday issues being surfaced in PLCs.

Part 2: Assessing and Refreshing PLCs – Making mid-year course corrections

How DO district and school leaders refresh professional learning communities (PLCs) mid-year? Part Two of this three-part series focuses on how districts assess the impact of their PLCs and gather the information needed to make adjustments mid-year.

Part 1: Assessing and Refreshing PLCs – Building and maximizing time for PLCs

As a company partnering with districts to assess impact, we brought three education leaders together to explore the answer to a big, essential question: How DO district and school leaders refresh professional learning communities (PLCs) mid-year? Part One of this three-part series focuses on how innovative districts are building and maximizing time for PLCs within limited school days.