Equitable Systems Transformation

Equitable systems transformation ensures that every student has access to and benefits from powerful learning opportunities. Equitable systems transformation does not happen with a single action. Instead, it occurs when mindsets and mental models shift the conditions within a system to enable equity.

Achieving this level of transformation in education requires R&D approaches that challenge dominant paradigms by:

• Tackling the root causes and conditions of inequitable system design
• Being accountable to communities, including students, parents and families
• Centering the voices and choices of those most impacted by inequity and by the challenges
• Holding integrity to equity throughout the process to ensure the impact of solutions

We have to intentionally create an environment that stimulates and builds the conditions that inspire the shifting of mental models, actions and behaviors that transform conditions, build new capacities and introduce differentiated solutions. To enable this shift, the Center for Inclusive Innovation’s work is rooted in a continuum that invites systems leaders, practitioners, communities, researchers, and developers to engage in increasingly deeper collaborations that ultimately lead to new ideas, actions, and outcomes.

Our progressive approach provides stakeholders with a pathway for learning that builds their capacity for addressing education challenges through an equity lens, and inspires commitment to centering the voices and needs of students furthest from opportunity, their families, and communities to transform the education system.

The continuum is designed as a progressive experience:

• DISCOVER: Create awareness of opportunities by offering systems leaders and education ecosystem stakeholders experiences that enable them to see and learn from communities and entrepreneurs who are most impacted by the challenges but have never had a seat at the education innovation table.
• CULTIVATE: Cultivate matches by fostering connections that invite systems leaders and education ecosystem stakeholders to discover community-centered research and solutions—and benefit from curated connections to researchers and entrepreneurs.
• BUILD: Facilitate pilots where communities collaborate with districts to engage in equity-centered R&D to address a challenge by co-researching a specific problem that the community prioritizes and co-creating novel and differentiated solutions.
• SUSTAIN: Foster sustainability by supporting districts and communities in building capacity for the practices that foster continual systems change through collaborative equity-centered work.