We adhere to a radical commitment to equity – a statement that challenges us, along with systems leaders, educators, researchers, and developers, to do whatever it takes to ensure all students are seen, heard, and valued as powerful learners.
Inclusive Innovation is an equity-centered R&D model that seeks to affect change by supporting communities and schools in co-designing solutions that embody novel and differentiated approaches. Inclusive Innovation starts by intentionally creating and catalyzing opportunities for communities—including students, parents, families, organizers—to be at the education R&D table with district leaders, educators, researchers, and developers.
Not only are communities at the table, they are engaging as:
Holding positions of power and decision-making
Guiding the research, design, and creation of solutions
Defining outcomes that are of value to both communities and schools
Schools and communities are leading. Digital Promise is facilitating, supporting, and resourcing their work in collaboration with researchers and developers.
The process of Inclusive Innovation moves iteratively through five intersecting stages:
What distinguishes the Inclusive Innovation model from other R&D models is that it results in solutions that have been informed and developed by co-experts, including community stakeholders, developers, and researchers. Co-designing solutions ensures they are contextually and culturally relevant. Additionally, Inclusive Innovation solutions are designed for eventual scale. The five stages provide a roadmap for mutual partnership, embedding an awareness of community context so that solutions produced through this process are effective and can be implemented in similar contexts.