Key Takeaways
Table of contents
- 1 Key Takeaways
- 2 Helping School Leaders Succeed with Ongoing Professional Learning
- 3 The Challenge: Managing High-Demand Training Events Without a Centralized System
- 4 The Solution: Sched’s Intuitive Platform for Seamless Event Management
- 5 The Results: Greater Event Transparency and Stronger Training Impact
- 6 Why School Leaders Trust Sched for Event Management
- 7 Smooth, Easy School Planning with Sched
- Context: Chicago Public Schools (CPS) serves over 1,200 school leaders, including principals and assistant principals, with a strong focus on professional development and training. Veronica Johnson, School Leadership Development Specialist, leads a four-person team responsible for managing virtual and in-person training events.
- Challenges: Before using Sched, CPS relied on Google Docs to organize events, which made it difficult to track registrations, promote sessions, and provide transparency for speakers and attendees.
- Why Sched? Sched was chosen for its ease of use, scheduling and registration features, and responsive support. It was the ideal tool for managing CPS’s large-scale professional development events.
- Results:
- Improved event planning with full visibility into registrations and schedules.
- Streamlined event promotion: school leaders now browse CPS events directly on Sched.
- Simplified attendee registration with an easy-to-use platform.
- Consistently high attendance rates for HR, finance, and wellness training workshops.
- Better feedback collection: exit slips help refine training sessions.
Helping School Leaders Succeed with Ongoing Professional Learning
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is dedicated to providing ongoing professional development to its 1,200+ school leaders. Their purpose is to ensure principals and assistant principals have the tools needed to thrive in their roles.
Veronica Johnson, School Leadership Development Specialist, plays a critical role in managing CPS’s virtual and in-person training sessions. From HR workshops and tech training to finance sessions and wellness events, her four-person team organizes as many as 10–11 training sessions per month to support all school leaders across the district.
However, managing these events is not always simple. Before Sched, CPS relied on Google Docs to coordinate training sessions, which lacked visibility for attendees and speakers.
As Veronica explains:
“Before Sched, the event speaker couldn’t really see how many people signed up. Only the person that signed up would get the event on their Google Calendar.”
The Challenge: Managing High-Demand Training Events Without a Centralized System
CPS offers a diverse range of training sessions to support its school leaders, including:
- HR & finance workshops: One of the most highly attended training categories, especially as many first-year principals and assistant principals need ongoing support navigating HR and budgeting processes.
- Technology training: Helping school leaders discover and effectively use the right digital tools to enhance teaching and operational efficiency.
- Time management: Equipping school leaders with better planning and prioritization skills to handle their day-to-day responsibilities more effectively.
- Wellness & burnout prevention sessions: Offering a supportive space for school leaders to decompress and focus on their well-being.
With up to 11 training events per month, Veronica and her team needed to:
- Eliminate the burden of organizing events manually, which made it difficult to track event registrations
- Improve scheduling transparency for both speakers and attendees
- Ensure school leaders could easily browse and register for upcoming events
- Collect valuable attendee feedback to continuously improve future sessions
Without a centralized system, planning each event became time-consuming and lacked transparency on training events.
The Solution: Sched’s Intuitive Platform for Seamless Event Management
When Veronica discovered that another department within CPS was already using Sched, she and her team quickly saw the potential and adopted the platform.
Two key Sched features helped CPS transform its event planning process:
Scheduling & Session Management
CPS used Sched’s scheduling feature to organize up to 11 training events per month. The team started to track registrations, assign speakers, and ensure sessions run smoothly, all in one place.
Seamless Event Registration
Sched’s registration feature allowed school leaders to easily browse upcoming training, register for sessions, and receive event updates. Veronica and her team could now track attendance and make real-time adjustments as needed, ensuring a better experience for both attendees and organizers.
Right away, Sched made a difference by:
- Providing full visibility into who registered for each event
- Allowing speakers to track sign-ups and prepare accordingly
- Helping school leaders easily browse and register for CPS training sessions
As Veronica puts it:
“Sched is very user-friendly and easy to use. If I ever run into any support issues, Sched always gets back to me within 24 hours.”
The Results: Greater Event Transparency and Stronger Training Impact
With Sched streamlining the event planning process, CPS has gained better event visibility and consistently high attendance in key training sessions.
More Transparency in Event Registration
Sched has made it easier for Veronica, her team, and event speakers to track sign-ups. They’re able to plan and adjust sessions more effectively.
“We usually get great feedback. And one thing about my team is we actually utilize the feedback,” says Veronica.
Easier Event Promotion
Now, School leaders actively check Sched to browse available CPS training sessions. This increased event awareness and made it easier for school leaders to select training sessions based on their availability and professional needs.
High Attendance in Key Training Sessions
HR and finance training has been tremendously successful. These workshops attract both new and experienced principals who need ongoing support for handling HR issues and budgeting.
Veronica has also noticed that first- and second-year principals frequently return for training. Additionally, wellness and emotional well-being sessions have become some of the most highly attended workshops. School leaders appreciate having a space to recharge and connect with their peers. Veronica shares:
“A lot of our training workshops are voluntary, and we noticed that a lot of our first- and second-year principals and assistant principals continually come back.”
Impactful Training For All School Leaders
Before the pandemic, nearly all CPS training workshops were held in person. Now, with Sched, Veronica and her team can continue supporting school leaders virtually. This makes it easier for them to access valuable training without having to leave their school buildings.
As Veronica shares, “All these trainings we do, it really shows them that our office is a support to them. We’re there to support them along the way and show them all the different resources they have at their disposal.”
Why School Leaders Trust Sched for Event Management
For Veronica and her team, Sched is more than just an event tool—it’s a key part of how CPS delivers impactful, well-organized training for their leadership staff.
CPS also values Sched’s built-in feedback tools, allowing them to collect real-time insights and adjust training sessions based on attendee needs:
“We do exit slips at the end of every event. That lets us know which direction they want to go. We use the feedback to help us pivot and adjust to what school leaders need most.”
This data-driven approach ensures CPS training remains relevant, impactful, and tailored to the needs of all school leaders across the district.
Smooth, Easy School Planning with Sched
Chicago Public Schools has seen firsthand how Sched removes the complexity from event planning.
Sched has made it easier to organize, promote, and track professional development sessions for school leaders. With streamlined registration, better event visibility, and real-time attendee feedback, CPS continues to improve the training experience for principals and assistant principals.
If you’re looking for a simpler, smarter way to manage school events, Sched provides the tools you need, whether it’s for PD workshops, district-wide meetings, or leadership training.
Try Sched for free today and see how easy event management can be.
