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Educator development Software

Spend your time developing educators, not managing software.

KickUp is the modern PL, Coaching, Walkthroughs, and Evaluation system that saves you hours each week and finally connects the dots between PL and educator performance.

We work with

PD leaders

Reclaim hours back, so that you can focus on high quality professional learning.

"KickUp has saved me probably 75% of the time I used to spend on PD management, and I’m able to focus on other things now that I'm not stressing about the system."
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jamie manolo
Program Development Specialist, Twin Rivers USD
Read Twin Rivers' story
HR leaders

Simplify the evaluation process, and ensure a consistently high bar for all staff.

"KickUp is simple on the surface, but powerful underneath. It gives us everything we need to support our principals and streamline the entire appraisal process."
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Katie Kavanagh
Director of Talent and Support Services, Spring Branch ISD
Read Spring Branch's story

Sound familiar?

Districts that made the switch say the same thing about where they started.

Staff need a step-by-step guide just to register for PD or finish an evaluation.

Changing one field on your evaluation form means a two-week IT ticket.

Reconciling PD attendance and credits by-hand is somebody's never-ending job.

You can't answer "is our PD working?" — because the answer is spread across four systems.

Deep dive:Why districts are leaving Frontline

Products

What we do

One platform for PD, evaluations, coaching, and classroom walkthroughs — purpose-built for instructional leaders.

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KickUp Learning

Manage your PD, without emails filling your inbox

  • All PD in one place
  • Flexibly manage attendance
  • Give principals visibility
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KickUp Growth

Run evaluations for any staff role, with the flexibility you need

  • Run Danielson evaluations
  • Track progress in real time
  • Accelerate observers with AI
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KickUp Coaching & Walks

See and support what's happening in classrooms every day

  • Run classroom walkthroughs
  • Manage mentorship work
  • Show coaching impact

How Wisconsin Districts are raising the bar

Giving principals hours back

When principals spend their evenings with multiple tabs open, the instructional thinking gets crowded out. 

KickUp cuts observation documentation time by up to 80%. The feedback gets sharper because principals aren't exhausted by the time they get to the part that matters.

Explore KickUp Growth →

I've played in all the systems — paper forms, Google Docs, Frontline, all of it. KickUp is the easiest to use I've worked with. No one wants to hear about another new system, but when the tool is actually better, you stop fighting it and start using it.
Kelly Schaffer

Principal, Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools

Bringing leaders complete clarity

Good decisions need the right context at the right moment: before a walkthrough, after a coaching session, ahead of a cabinet meeting.

KickUp's Instructional Leader Intelligence, built into every part of the platform, surfaces that context in real time — so every move a leader makes is grounded in data.

Explore KickUp AI →

Removing "track PD attendance" from their to-dos 

Districts coming from Frontline report cutting PD Management time by up to 75% after switching to KickUp.

KickUp Learning was designed so staff can find sessions, register, confirm attendance, and pull their own transcripts without ever emailing you.

Explore KickUp Learning →

Heatmap showing walks data by component

Building a truly connected system for educator effectiveness

When evaluations, coaching, walkthroughs, and PD live in siloed systems, keeping a pulse on what's happening and whether it's making a difference is harder than it should be.

  • Who's being coached, how often, and on what components.
  • What’s happening in classrooms and where support is needed
  • Where the team should focus next

Explore KickUp Dashboards →

FAQ

Can the Educator Effectiveness Grant be used to pay for KickUp?
Decorative element

Yes. Wisconsin's Educator Effectiveness Grant provides $88 per educator annually to cover costs associated with system development, training, software, support, and resources. KickUp qualifies as an allowable expense under that software and support category.

The grant is a non-discretionary annual allocation, meaning every LEA required to use the EE System is eligible to apply and receive funds each year. For most districts, this makes KickUp a budget-neutral decision.

For questions about applying or allowable uses, contact DPI's Educator Development Grants team at EdDevGrants@dpi.wi.gov.

Can we use the Danielson Framework with KickUp?
Decorative element

Yes, KickUp is a commercial partner with the Danielson Group, allowing districts to seamlessly use and adapt Danielson-aligned tools. KickUp supports any instructional framework — Danielson, Stronge Model, Get Better Faster, or one your district built itself — across any staff type: teachers,  paraprofessionals, administrators, support staff. Districts start from KickUp's best-practice templates or build from scratch, and can make changes mid-year without IT involvement.

Evaluation cycles, coaching forms, walkthrough look-fors, and PD tags can all be aligned to the same frameworks, so every touchpoint is pulling in the same direction.

Read more about the KickUp-Danielson Partnership →

Is KickUp a replacement for Frontline?

KickUp replaces Frontline's educator development products — PD management, instructional coaching, walkthroughs, and teacher evaluation. It does not replace Frontline's hiring, onboarding, or absence management modules. Most districts run KickUp alongside those tools, or alongside Red Rover for absence management.

What districts tend to notice most after switching is how much lighter PD management feels, and how much more visible their data becomes.

Lincoln-Way found they could do in hours what used to take days.
Twin Rivers described getting back 75% of the time they used to spend just keeping the system running.

How is KickUp different from Frontline for evaluation specifically?

The biggest differences show up in three places.

Flexibility: KickUp supports unlimited evaluation cycles for any staff type or framework, and changes can be made mid-cycle without rebuilding from scratch. Stevenson High School District, one of the top-ranked high schools in the country, runs 17 distinct evaluation cycles in KickUp. Read their story →

Leader and staff experience: Evaluators walk into observations with tools that work with them, not against them. AI timestamps notes and tags evidence to your framework in real time, cutting scripting and write-up time by up to 80%. Feedback is faster to write and clearer to receive. Staff always know exactly where they stand in the process and what's expected next. And the interface is intuitive enough that most districts need no formal training; teachers and evaluators figure it out on their own.

Visibility: Every leader sees exactly where evaluation progress stands — by teacher, by step, by evaluator — without running a report. District-level leaders get the same real-time picture across all schools and staff groups, so gaps get flagged before they become problems.

Can KickUp support observer calibration across our evaluation team?

Yes. KickUp's data visualizations show average ratings by component across evaluators, making rater drift visible at a glance. Leaders can spot calibration gaps without pulling manual reports, and use the data to drive calibration conversations with their teams.

For onsite training, calibration workshops, and consulting services on Framework implementation, The Danielson Group offers those directly. We're happy to facilitate introductions as useful.

What does switching from Frontline look like?

Most districts are surprised by how smooth the transition is. From the moment you sign, you have a dedicated Customer Success Manager and an onboarding specialist working alongside your district. KickUp handles the heavy lifting — configuration, data sync, SSO setup, and training — in close collaboration with your team.

If you're migrating historical data from Frontline or another system, your CSM works alongside your district's technical team and KickUp's technical integration team to determine what to import, format historical records, and ensure the right people have access to the right data from day one.

KickUp typically kicks off 4–8 weeks before your target go-live date, with weekly working sessions throughout. Timelines can be accelerated or extended based on your needs.

Training doesn't end at launch. as your team changes and your use of the platform deepens, KickUp continues to provide check-ins, new feature training, and refresher support throughout the partnership.

Will KickUp pass our district's IT and security review?

Yes. KickUp is SOC 2 Type II certified, FERPA compliant, and WCAG 2.0 AA accessible. All data is hosted on AWS in U.S.-based data centers and encrypted at rest and in transit. KickUp has maintained 99.98%+ uptime over the last two years. Full documentation is available at trust.kickup.co.

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