In 37 years of education, I've never had an onboarding experience that has been as positive or welcoming as this one has been with KickUp. It has been the easiest rollout of anything that I've worked with in all my years.
When Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools needed to transition away from their state-provided evaluation platform, they faced a tight timeline and a staff that was wary of change. The district serves 4,500 students across 12 buildings, with 275 teachers who needed a new system—and they needed it fast.
What could have been a stressful implementation turned into the smoothest rollout Director of Teaching and Learning Roxanne Filtz had seen in nearly four decades in education. The key? A platform that was intuitive enough to require minimal training, flexible enough to match their existing workflows, and backed by support that was there every step of the way.
Wisconsin Rapids had been using Frontline for educator effectiveness as part of a statewide agreement. When Wisconsin ended its Frontline contract, districts were left scrambling to find alternatives with just months to plan, pilot, and implement a new system.
For Wisconsin Rapids, the timing couldn't have been worse. They'd just rolled out EduClimber, another major system change, and staff were feeling the weight of too many new platforms. Roxanne knew she was walking into a tough crowd.
The stakes were high:
The district briefly considered going back to Google Sheets—the manual, tedious system they'd used before Frontline—but Roxanne refused to take that step backward. They needed something better, and they needed it to work right away.
Before Wisconsin Rapids even committed, the KickUp Partnerships team took time to understand what the district needed. They answered questions thoroughly, didn't rush the decision, and made it clear that implementation support would be there from day one. That responsiveness gave Roxanne the confidence to move forward.
Wisconsin Rapids chose KickUp's full suite—Foundations, Learning, and Growth—for educator effectiveness and professional development management.
A structured, confidence-building rollout:
Working with the KickUp Client Success team, Wisconsin Rapids completed a methodical rollout that felt organized at every step. Each meeting had clear objectives and deliverables, and when Roxanne had questions, she got answers within minutes—not days.
The team customized forms to emphasize reflection over box-checking. Because of KickUp's partnership with The Danielson Group, they didn't have to recreate everything from scratch—they could keep what was familiar while making it work better for their district's priorities.
Training that actually worked:
Here's where it could have gone wrong. Roxanne needed to get 275 teachers comfortable with a brand-new platform before the school year started—with staff who were already exhausted from learning new systems.
Her strategy was simple: be transparent, make it easy, and prove it wouldn't waste their time. She offered three evening training sessions so teachers could choose the time that worked for them.
The training itself: two hours. In that time, teachers who had never seen the platform:
No follow-up sessions needed. No flood of confused emails. Just 250+ teachers, trained and ready to go.
Behind-the-scenes support that made the difference:
On training nights, the KickUp team was on standby. When 87 teachers logged in at once and a couple had login issues, they were resolved in minutes. Roxanne had communicated one thing clearly: "I can't have this be negative." The team made sure it wasn't.
Wisconsin Rapids went live with KickUp for the 2025-26 school year with zero implementation issues. Not one.
A rollout so smooth, it redefined expectations:
The lack of complaints spoke volumes. In a district where staff aren't shy about voicing concerns, the silence was telling. Instead of complaints, Roxanne received positive emails: "I love KickUp," "This is really easy to use." Even her toughest critics had nothing negative to say.
From skepticism to confidence:
The success of the rollout came down to three things: a platform that didn't fight back, preparation that respected people's time, and support that showed up when it mattered.
As Roxanne put it: "You can’t be afraid of the change. The work you put in at the beginning makes everything so much easier as you move forward. It’s going to impact your everyday building meetings and help you answer to your school board. And for teachers, it's making their lives easier."
What's next:
Now that educator effectiveness is running smoothly, Wisconsin Rapids is rolling out KickUp Learning for professional development management. Roxanne is building out the district's course catalog and planning to train her student engagement facilitators first, who will then take it out to their buildings.
The confidence is there. The process is proven. And the data dashboards Roxanne just received? She's already thinking about how to use them to make smarter decisions about PD offerings based on what teachers actually say they need.
Wisconsin Rapids is already exploring what's next with KickUp. Key features could cut out hundreds of manual clicks by pulling evaluator assignment data directly from their existing spreadsheets. And they're working with their Client Success Manager on workflow refinements, like ensuring only designated evaluators can sign specific forms.
For a district that needed to switch platforms fast, Wisconsin Rapids didn't just survive the transition—they thrived. The platform worked, the staff embraced it, and Roxanne rediscovered what it feels like to be genuinely excited about a new system.
When implementation is this smooth, you spend less time managing the transition and more time supporting educators.
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You can't trust everything you read on the internet.
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