Case Study: Youngstown City School District closes achievement gaps with KickUp

Youngstown City School District - Customer Case Study

Youngstown City School District, serving a largely economically disadvantaged student population across 13 schools in Youngstown, Ohio and Mahoning County, faced long-standing academic struggles despite strong teacher evaluation ratings. To address the gap between perceived instructional quality and student outcomes, the district partnered with KickUp to support more frequent, actionable feedback and improve instructional practice with an equity focus.

Using KickUp’s walkthrough and evaluation framework, YCSD aligned district leaders around its Gradual Release of Responsibility model, improved observer calibration, and made feedback more collaborative and actionable. The district reported 87% teacher proficiency in the GRR framework within two years, a 16% increase in observed active student engagement, and a 31% increase in student-led discussion. KickUp also helped YCSD dramatically narrow achievement gaps, including reducing the African American reading gap from 54.6% to 4% and the Hispanic math gap from 39.3% to 18%.

Youngstown City School District

Greg Kibler

Deputy Chief of Data