Introducing: Collaborative Coaching from KickUp

Collaborative coaching and teacher mentorship programs creates conditions for success — and successful programs have research-backed elements in common. Let's summarize the best practices and explore how KickUp supports each one.

Building Out Coaching Cycles

We get it! Starting your first Coaching Cycle can be overwhelming. The most important thing to remember is to start small. Read about the importance of Coaching Cycles, their impact on transferring professional development into the classroom, and how to get started with replicable success.

Case Study

Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District

Dr. Glenda Horner

Director for Professional Learning, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD

“Our ultimate goal is program improvement. We are here to solve problems and serve people.” By understanding when, how and where new-teacher mentors are spending their time, this Texas school district is creating an environment for both retention and growth.

Research to Practice:
3 principles for new-teacher mentoring programs

As education leaders, how do we retain our experienced teachers and leverage their support for new teachers? With the prospect of a “great resignation” — and the associated costs to replace them — well documented, that question has never been more important.

Driving Toward Educator Growth and Retention: Culture-Building for Support and Performance

This is the second post in a series on a framework for creating a school district culture that increases educator growth and retention. In this post, we’ll share specific strategies to help you create a roadmap to increased educator growth and career satisfaction in your district. 

Driving Toward Educator Growth and Retention: The Four Quadrants of Staff Culture in K-12 Schools

This is the first post in a series exploring a framework for creating school district staff cultures that increase educator growth and retention. In this post, we’ll share an overview of the framework and provide some practical tips for how you can move your district toward a path of both high performance and high support.

Building an Environment for Teacher Growth

Study after study shows that educator quality is the most impactful school-based factor in student outcomes — so how do districts create environments where teachers are professionally fulfilled, directly supported, and continuously growing in their practice?

New Teacher Induction: Data for supporting early-career teachers

Taking charge of a classroom for the first time is no small task. So how to ensure new teacher induction programs are working across the district? Good data practices that keep administrators informed, coaches aligned, and educators clear on their next steps.

Evaluating Equity Training: 3 Tips for Optimizing Antiracist Teacher PD

Any work that deals with attitudinal change like unconscious bias must be embedded so it’s front-of-mind and continuously active. This means applying the same best practices found in any other PD intervention. Explore how to evaluate anti-racist teacher PD, and ensure that the training is translating into classroom practice.

Lessons Learned from the Teacher Incentive Allotment

The Teacher Incentive Allotment within HB-3 is one of Texas’s best levers for recruiting, retaining, and rewarding exceptional educators. But as district leaders know, building a local designation system requires careful planning, data design, and calibration to be successful. Hear Lubbock Independent School District share the challenges, insights and lessons learned from their TIA journey.