“School and system leaders know they need to remove barriers to equity, but it can often feel difficult to find the right time to make these changes,” said Beth Rabbitt, CEO of The Learning Accelerator. “We cannot wait for the perfect time to take on the improvement and innovation we need to serve students. We believe that with the right team, tools, and processes school leaders can build durable mindsets and the muscles needed to inclusively tackle concrete, meaningful challenges in their schools, today.”
The toolkit reflects ideas from a number of design processes, but we think the Real-Time Redesign process is unique in its focus on the practical application of three key areas:
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identifying concrete problems of equity and resiliency,
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making targeted improvement towards bigger change, and
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engaging authentically and inclusively with those most affected.
As mentioned above, it includes a series of guided activities paired with examples from real schools that were members of the Strategy Lab.
“Schools are resilient and making changes all the time, and recent events demand that we continue to hone our perspectives and actions around equity,” said Gwen Baker, Chief Operating Officer and Partner at Bellwether Education Partners. “Too often we let perfect be the enemy of good when it comes to designing and sustaining change. The Real-Time Redesign toolkit shows us that school systems can make small and intentional changes to efforts that are already underway that can sharpen their focus on achieving more equitable outcomes.”