Elevating the Ingenuity of School Districts and Communities to Co-Create Innovative Solutions

Since the release of our initial white paper in 2019, the Center for Inclusive Innovation has engaged with students, families, community members, practitioners, and community partners not only to research, develop, and incubate solutions, but also to build their capacity to sustain R&D as a practice into the future.

A New Narrative: How Unlocking the Power of R&D Through Inclusive Innovation Can Transform Education shares the stories, solutions, outcomes, and learnings from these years of deep collaboration.

In this white paper, we:

• Spotlight school and community R&D stories through the words of district leaders, teachers, students, and community leaders
• Illustrate the four Practice Tenets of Inclusive Innovation necessary to make steps toward what educational equity can and should be, as well as the two Impact Tenets that inform the next stage of our work
• Summarize the research and lessons we have learned so far that highlight the promise of Inclusive Innovation
• Introduce Inclusive Innovation 2.0, an updated model based on our experience supporting over 30 districts in the past three years
• Our work in progress—and that of others in the field—shows significant promise across persistent challenges such as the recruitment and retention of teachers of color; student mental health; disproportionate disciplinary action; and building student confidence and expression through writing.

Indeed, a new narrative is emerging that points to the ingenuity of schools and communities as central both to education R&D and to truly transforming education opportunities and learning for historically and systematically excluded learners.

Suggested Citation

Smith, K., & Young, V. (2024, January). A new narrative: How unlocking the power of R&D through Inclusive Innovation can transform education. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/202