Bastrop Independent School District

Executive Summary

Bastrop Independent School District, located just outside Austin, Texas, serves a diverse population of over 13,000 students and approximately 1,500 staff. As the district rolled out a more targeted and prescriptive PD plan tied to teacher roles, leaders quickly realized their existing systems weren’t up to the task.

The district was juggling Eduphoria for PD, Google Forms for coaching, and PowerSchool Perform for evaluations—making data nearly impossible to synthesize across teams.

To create a unified, strategic approach to professional learning, Bastrop adopted KickUp's full suite of tools: Learning (Professional Learning Management System), Foundations (integrated Instructional coaching and walkthrough system), and Growth (Teacher and staff evaluation system). The result is a districtwide culture shift, with smarter workflows, stronger data integration, and increased ownership across departments.

The Challenge

Bastrop ISD faced several interrelated challenges in its educator support systems:

• Disconnected Systems: PD, coaching, and evaluations were all happening in separate platforms, making it difficult to connect the dots between educator support and classroom performance.
  
• Complex PD Pathways: A new district initiative required customized PD pathways for different educator roles, but the tools in place couldn’t track progress clearly or efficiently.
  
• Manual Tracking: Staff were relying on spreadsheets and email to monitor PD completion, coaching hours, and evaluation steps—an unsustainable process.
  
• Limited Visibility: District leaders had little real-time insight into coaching coverage, walkthrough activity, or evaluation completion.

The Solution

By implementing KickUp Learning, Bastrop centralized PD management and introduced more flexible ways to deliver and track learning—especially through self-paced courses. The district quickly expanded to include KickUp Foundations and KickUp Growth, creating a fully integrated professional learning ecosystem.

Key improvements included:

• Unified Learning Management: Teachers can now register for, complete, and reflect on PD activities in one system—reducing confusion and increasing engagement.
  
• Real-Time Coaching Data: Instructional coaches log support activities in a centralized hub, enabling district leaders to monitor coaching cycles and walkthrough trends.
  
• Streamlined Evaluation Workflows: HR gained the ability to track evaluation completion steps by role, school, or evaluator—all in real time.
  
• Data-Driven Alignment: PD, coaching, and evaluation forms are all aligned to the state’s T-TESS framework, ensuring data coherence and relevance.

Impact & Results

The transition to KickUp has allowed Bastrop ISD to modernize and connect its systems for educator growth, yielding major benefits:

• System Consolidation: The district retired three disconnected platforms in favor of one, reducing costs and increasing functionality.
  
• Increased Visibility: District and site leaders now have actionable insights into educator learning, coaching activity, and evaluation progress.
  
• Support for TIA Rollout: Bastrop is preparing for the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) by aligning PD offerings with evaluation data, helping educators self-select growth areas tied to their performance.
  
• Cross-Department Buy-In: HR, Curriculum, and Coaching departments now work from the same data set—reducing miscommunication and improving collaboration.
  
• Time Savings & Efficiency: KickUp’s streamlined event creation and management has saved Bastrop ISD an estimated 6,599 hours of administrative time this year. With nearly 700 professional learning events created, including asynchronous courses, what would have taken months of manual effort is now managed in minutes—giving staff more time to focus on meaningful educator support.

The Future

Looking ahead, Bastrop ISD plans to build on its foundation by:

• Enhancing Personalization: The district is working toward dashboards that show teachers their performance data alongside personalized PD recommendations.
  
• Expanding Use Cases: Leaders are exploring additional ways to use KickUp for state and federal program tracking, such as time-and-effort documentation.
  
• Deepening Data Use: With integrated systems now in place, the district will focus on building habits and routines to analyze and act on learning data.
  

Conclusion

Bastrop ISD has transformed its approach to educator support by shifting from siloed, manual systems to an integrated platform that brings learning, coaching, and evaluation into one cohesive workflow. What began as an effort to improve professional learning logistics has evolved into a districtwide strategy for instructional improvement.

For districts navigating similar complexity, Bastrop’s story shows how aligning systems—and the people who use them—can turn vision into sustainable impact.