DRIVING DISTRICT-WIDE CHANGE IN ILLINOIS
Waukegan Public Schools
Serving a large and diverse student population, Waukegan Public Schools needed a better way to connect daily work to strategic goals. RespondAbility helped district leaders create transparency, strengthen accountability, and focus on the practices that truly move outcomes forward.
COMMUNITY
Located in Waukegan, IL, an industrial town of 88,000, situated 30 miles north of Chicago along Lake Michigan
STUDENT BODY
• 80.2% Hispanic/Latino
• 12.7% Black
• 2.9% White
• 1.4% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander
• 0.8% American Indian or Alaska Native
• 0.1% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
SCHOOL STATISTICS
• Serves approximately 14,000 students, K-12
• Includes 15 elementary schools, five middle schools, two high school campuses, and one early learning center
• Approximately 73% of students come from low-income households
MOTTO
“Equity + Access = Excellence”
MISSION
To educate students for the world of tomorrow by mobilizing the entire community to inspire excellence in a safe and inclusive learning environment
Summary
Four years ago, Waukegan CUSD 60 faced significant leadership challenges, including unclear role definitions, inconsistent progress monitoring, and a task-oriented culture that lacked strategic alignment. Partnering with RespondAbility transformed the district’s approach, fostering a culture of strategic priorities, actionable insights, and data-driven reflection and collaboration.
EDUARDO D. CESARIO
DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF ACADEMIC SUPPORTS & PROGRAMS
“RespondAbility helps us continue with practices that are moving us towards our goals and serves to remove practices that are ineffective or moving us away from those goals.”
3 Key Challenges For Leadership
01
Siloed Workflows
Supervisors rarely met with teams to monitor progress or offer support.
02
Lack of Clarity
Team members struggled to align their responsibilities with strategic goals.
03
Task-Oriented Culture
Employees focused on task completion without considering impact or quality.
How RespondAbility
Supports Waukegan’s Growth
RespondAbility offers an integrated solution that has fundamentally improved Waukegan’s leadership and team dynamics.
01
Clarity & Strategic Alignment
RespondAbility provides leaders with a bird’s-eye view of their organization’s work while enabling granular insights to prioritize efforts effectively.
02
Accountability & Reflective Practice
The platform enables real-time progress tracking and fosters reflective conversations through tools like KPI dashboards and weekly reports.
03
Simplified Management
RespondAbility centralizes workflows and eliminates ambiguity, allowing leaders to make timely, informed decisions.
RespondAbility’s Impact
Since adopting RespondAbility four years ago, Waukegan has experienced transformative improvements in three key areas:
Evidence-Based
Decision-Making
Initially, staff struggled to articulate their progress and provide supporting evidence. RespondAbility’s visual dashboards have been transformative, allowing staff to clearly see successes, identify challenges, and track improvement over time.
Aligned Roles & Goals
RespondAbility has been instrumental in clarifying how individual efforts support districtwide objectives, fostering a culture of alignment and purpose. It provides a clear structure to ensure every team member understands how their work fits into the broader mission.
Shared Accountability & Reflective Practice
Before RespondAbility, supervisors rarely followed up with their teams to gauge progress. Now, regular meetings supported by RespondAbility dashboards ensure accountability, foster reflection, and identify areas needing targeted support.
“RespondAbility helps define roles, establish clear, well-defined expectations and responsibilities, and gives us a chance to celebrate growth and support areas of needed growth.”
-EDUARDO D. CESARIO
Why Work with RespondAbility?
RespondAbility provides dual value: it equips districts with tools to define roles, expectations, and responsibilities while fostering a culture of reflective practice and continuous improvement. This unique combination transforms complex systems into clear, actionable priorities.
Real-Time Insights
Actionable data guides decisions before issues arise.
Efficient Collaboration
Tools break down silos and enhance teamwork.
Strategic Focus
Day-to-day tasks connect directly to long-term goals.
Ease of Use
An intuitive platform simplifies leadership workflows.
Real-Time Insights
Actionable data guides decisions before issues arise.
Efficient Collaboration
Tools break down silos and enhance teamwork.
Strategic Focus
Day-to-day tasks connect directly to long-term goals.
Ease of Use
An intuitive platform simplifies leadership workflows.
Partnering for Success
The RespondAbility support team is dedicated to ensuring the platform’s success in your district. From setting up effective structures to fostering reflective conversations, they provide tailored guidance, resources, and best practices to help leaders maximize impact.