Programs and initiatives are at the heart of what an education network and its organizations do. Doing this work is why they exist, how they build partnerships, and how they seek to directly impact education. But to what extent do those programs center equity? How are they designed, led, and informed by marginalized communities?
Guiding Questions
Programs, projects, and initiatives in education are too often designed for—not with—the communities they are intended to serve. This is especially true for those at the margins. The best practices, learnings, and impacts of human-centered design have proved out the importance of design informed by an understanding of community. And multiple examples across multiple fields point to the failures of “solutions” that did not center community needs, culture, and desires.
Equity-focused programs are those that don’t just serve or design for “end-users” but co-create with them. They design for the margins. They amplify and include. In our work, we have been inspired by the principles of EquityXDesign, the model of Liberatory Design, and others. Based on our own experience leading multi-sector, collaborative R&D work with schools and districts, we developed the Inclusive Innovation framework. We recommend engaging more deeply with these models as a way to further shift and center your work.
On the worksheet for this module, you’ll find prompts to help networks and organizations examine their programming and initiatives from an equity lens—from strategy to design, participation to impact. We also recommend exploring additional resources that will support your work in building more equitable programming.
Education Innovation Clusters