Executive Summary

Lincoln-Way serves 6,750 students across Illinois, with 395 dedicated teachers committed to continuous growth. But the district's three annual institute days—designed for meaningful professional development—were ready for transformation into more structured, choice-driven learning experiences.

When Dr. Tracey Miller arrived as Director of Assessment and Instruction, she was determined to transform these wasted opportunities into dynamic, choice-driven professional learning experiences. The challenge? Managing 450 staff members across multiple concurrent sessions with zero infrastructure for registration, scheduling, or feedback collection.

KickUp's comprehensive professional learning management system didn't just solve Lincoln-Way's logistical nightmare—it enabled a complete cultural shift from mandatory attendance to engaged, teacher-driven professional growth. The result: seamless institute days that teachers actually value and eagerly register for, and an administrator who reclaimed weeks of preparation time annually.

The Challenge

Lincoln-Way's institute days faced common challenges that many districts encounter with traditional professional development approaches:

• Opportunity for Enhancement: Institute days had potential for more structured professional learning experiences that would benefit from systematic organization and teacher choice.
• Manual Registration Hell: Dr. Miller initially attempted to modernize using Microsoft Forms, requiring her to manually place 450 staff members into sessions—essentially making 1,350 individual scheduling decisions across three institute days.
• 15-16 Hour Prep Days: The manual process consumed entire weekends, with Dr. Miller still frantically fixing registration errors hours before sessions began.
• Zero Teacher Agency: Teachers had no control over their learning paths, creating resentment rather than engagement.
• No Data or Feedback: With paper sign-in sheets and no systematic feedback collection, there was no way to measure impact or improve future offerings.

The Solution

KickUp's comprehensive professional learning management system serves as Lincoln-Way's central hub for all professional development activities—from year-round training sessions to compliance tracking and out-of-district conference management. For their institute days specifically, the platform transformed what were administrative nightmares into streamlined, teacher-empowered experiences:

• Self-Service Registration: Teachers browse sessions, read descriptions, and register themselves—eliminating the bottleneck of manual placement.
• Smart Capacity Management: Automatic seat limits and registration deadlines prevent overbooking while ensuring balanced session attendance.
• Instant Feedback Collection: Teachers complete evaluations before leaving sessions, providing real-time data for continuous improvement.
• Automated Certification: Professional learning hours and certificates generate automatically, supporting teachers' license renewal requirements.
• Presenter Empowerment: Internal staff facilitators can print sign-in sheets or use digital check-in codes, streamlining the day-of experience.

Impact & Results

The transformation has been remarkable across every metric:

Massive Administrative Efficiency:

• 135+ Hours Reclaimed Annually: What once required 45+ hours of prep per institute day now takes less than 5 hours.
• $1.73 Per Hour of Professional Development: Lincoln-Way delivers 8,100 hours of high quality, choice-driven professional learning annually at just $1.73 per hour—calculated using Edunomics Lab’s cost methodology. 
• 1 system for all PD: Lincoln-Way consolidated all professional development management—from institute days to year-round training and compliance tracking—into a single, unified platform.

Complete Cultural Transformation:

• From Limited Options to High Engagement: Lincoln-Way expanded from restricted institute day programming to offering varied sessions so appealing that teachers actively compete for spots and request additional offerings.
• Teacher Ownership: Educators now actively choose their learning pathways and take responsibility for their registration timing, rather than being passively assigned to sessions.
• Popular Sessions: High-demand offerings like "Chocolate Tasting" and "Auto Mechanics" (led by CTE departments) create genuine excitement around professional learning—a complete reversal from the previous resistance.

Administrative Excellence:

• Streamlined Efficiency: KickUp's automation handles the complex logistics of institute day management, allowing Dr. Miller to focus on strategic planning and content quality rather than manual coordination tasks.
• Real-Time Insights: Immediate feedback data enables rapid improvements to future institute day sessions.
• Compliance Support: Automated transcripts and certificates streamline state audit preparation.

The Ripple Effect

Lincoln-Way's transformation demonstrates the broader impact of streamlined professional learning systems:

District-Wide Culture Shift: Moving to teacher-driven, choice-based learning has fundamentally changed how educators engage with growth opportunities—from avoidance to active participation.

ROI That Matters: According to research from Edunomics Lab, effective professional development systems help districts "strategically weigh teacher professional development investments" to maximize student outcomes while optimizing costs. Lincoln-Way exemplifies this principle—transforming institute days into meaningful learning while dramatically reducing administrative burden.

The Future

Dr. Miller is expanding KickUp's impact beyond institute days:

• Conference Request Management: Rolling out a systematic process for out-of-district professional development requests, replacing chaotic email threads with structured approval workflows.
• Title II Integration: Streamlining federal program compliance by tracking conference attendance and professional learning hours in one centralized system.

Conclusion

Lincoln-Way's transformation shows what's possible when educators have the right tools to support meaningful professional growth. By eliminating the administrative chaos of institute day management, KickUp enabled Dr. Miller to focus on what matters: creating professional learning experiences that teachers actually want to attend.

For districts struggling with fragmented professional development systems, Lincoln-Way's story demonstrates how streamlined conference management can transform both educator experience and administrative efficiency. When teachers have agency over their learning and administrators have tools that actually work, everyone wins.