Equitable Systems Transformation

Project Overview

Inclusive Innovation Eight Districts’ First Year Journey to Creating School Systems for All Learners

This initiative was launched in 2020 after a group of districts from the League of Innovative Schools participated in a study tour to the Toronto School District Board to learn about how the 250,000 student district had implemented equitable systems design. After the study tour, the participating districts were eager to work as a collaborative on systems change challenges in the areas of equitable learning pathways and teacher cultural development. Each district chose to focus on a context-specific problem of practice with the aim of enacting equitable systems-level change to create opportunities for diverse youth to thrive.

This Inclusive Innovation project was designed to achieve four goals:

Research and analyze a district-selected problem of practice area for equitable system redesign.
Implement a collaborative learning process, in partnership with the Asia Society, to inform the design of a framework for equitable system design.
Create and showcase a set of prototype solution designs to address each district’s problem of practice.
Scale the framework and learnings from the solution designs to districts across the country.

Participating Districts

The project included eight districts from the West Coast, Midwest, and Southeast. The districts were urban or suburban and ranged in size, with the smallest district serving just over 6,000 students and the largest serving just under 50,000 students. The student population within the districts varied as well. In one district, 4% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch, while in others over 90% of students qualified. In spite of these differences, all of the districts recognize and are committed to addressing inequities in their systems.

Cohort Learning Model

The cohort was designed as a 2-year engagement. District teams met regularly with each other and Digital Promise staff to engage in a collaborative learning experience.

Year 1

Systems Conditions Analysis: Conduct research on district problems of practice to identify inequitable conditions and necessary shifts.
Global Learning Series: Explore international equity models through collaboration with the Asia Society.
Prototype Ideation: Begin co-designing with community small test prototypes.
Interim Report: Capture lessons from the first year of the project in partnership.

Year 2

Australia Study Tour: Learn about innovative approaches to addressing both social emotional learning and equity in Melbourne schools.
Prototype Development, Implementation & Iteration: Test and refine prototypes through iterative learning cycles.
Equitable Systems Transformation Framework: Finalize development of an equitable systems change framework
Summative Report: Publish a report on the process, framework, and learnings.

Project Journey Map

Digital Promise provided a range of support to help participating districts achieve their goals:

The Water of Systems Change Model: FSG has created a system change model and toolkit. We engaged them to lead workshops and 1-1 sessions with each district to map the conditions within their districts.
Global Equitable Systems Models: We provided opportunities for the districts to see and experience on-the-ground global models and new approaches focused on equitable systems change through a learning series designed by the Asia Society.
The BELE Framework: We utilized the BELE Framework as the baseline to guide districts in centering equity and developed an equitable systems framework as an extension that reflects the shifts and strategies designed by the district cohort and implemented in pilots.
Equitable Systems Coaching: We engaged a district equity coach to provide direct consultation to the districts as they worked to analyze their system barriers and address their problems of practice.
Design Studios: We supported all of the participating districts in conducting design studios with diverse stakeholders to align on the root causes of their problems of practice and co-design solutions.

Through their system level analysis, each district developed and refined an equity-centered problem of practice. Below is a summary of the districts’ problems of practice and the pilot solutions designed to address them.

Problem of Practice	Pilot Solution
How can we intentionally increase high school graduation rates among English Learners?	Build a system of early intervention and communication structures for parents of English Learners and teachers
How can we address the disproportionality in our exclusionary discipline data for African American students?	Engage building leaders (principal supervisors and principals) to conduct root causes analysis and co-design interventions with students to interrupt the over-suspension of African American students
How can we understand and address why Brown and Black students are not pursuing higher education opportunities or gaining sustainable employment?	Implement professional learning to shift mindsets toward “All Means All” and provide logistical supports to enable teachers to effectively implement a career pathways program in grades 6-8
How can we identify and scale high-leverage strategies that eliminate racial disparities, disproportionalities, and predictability?	Develop a structure and process that allows for strengthened partnerships to be developed between the state agency and Regional Educator Networks and identify equity-driven progress measures that support educators at all levels of the system so students can thrive
How can adults in the district develop the capacity and cultural competency to promote the identity development and self-efficacy of Black and Brown students?	Co-design and operationalize feedback loops with Black and Brown parents with mechanisms for building relationships and school leadership accountability
How can we increase the college and career readiness rate among African American & Black and Hispanic & Latino/a/x students?	Empower Shared Leadership Teams to lead equity-centered professional learning for their staff

Problem of Practice	How can we intentionally increase high school graduation rates among English Learners?
Pilot Solution	Build a system of early intervention and communication structures for parents of English Learners and teachers
Problem of Practice	How can we address the disproportionality in our exclusionary discipline data for African American students?
Pilot Solution	Engage building leaders (principal supervisors and principals) to conduct root causes analysis and co-design interventions with students to interrupt the over-suspension of African American students
Problem of Practice	How can we understand and address why Brown and Black students are not pursuing higher education opportunities or gaining sustainable employment?
Pilot Solution	Implement professional learning to shift mindsets toward “All Means All” and provide logistical supports to enable teachers to effectively implement a career pathways program in grades 6-8
Problem of Practice	How can we identify and scale high-leverage strategies that eliminate racial disparities, disproportionalities, and predictability?
Pilot Solution	Develop a structure and process that allows for strengthened partnerships to be developed between the state agency and Regional Educator Networks and identify equity-driven progress measures that support educators at all levels of the system so students can thrive
Problem of Practice	How can adults in the district develop the capacity and cultural competency to promote the identity development and self-efficacy of Black and Brown students?
Pilot Solution	Co-design and operationalize feedback loops with Black and Brown parents with mechanisms for building relationships and school leadership accountability
Problem of Practice	How can we increase the college and career readiness rate among African American & Black and Hispanic & Latino/a/x students?
Pilot Solution	Empower Shared Leadership Teams to lead equity-centered professional learning for their staff

The work of implementing and iterating upon these pilot solutions is still underway. Stay tuned for case studies providing more detailed information about the districts’ efforts and learnings.

Resources & Tools

Equitable School Systems Transformation Framework: Systems level shifts and strategies designed by the eight school districts to create more equitable conditions.

District Dossier Template: A planning document used by districts to describe their context, current conditions, and existing equity initiatives as well as their problem of practice and desired outcomes.

Equity Use Case Template: A planning document used by districts to describe students furthest from opportunity and identify barriers to equity impacting these students at both the classroom and systems levels.

Theory of Action Template: A document used by districts to align existing barriers to equity with systems level shifts they wish to make, actions that will support those shifts, and anticipated outputs and outcomes.

Pilot Planning Template: After engaging in design studios to gather input from and ideate with community stakeholders, districts developed pilot solutions to address their problems of practice.

Implementation & Iteration Tracking Template: Once they had developed their pilots, districts used this document to plan for implementation, evaluation, and iteration of their pilot solutions.