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Article: Building the Car While We’re Driving It
Data from across four districts shows that no design team feels like they’ve got everything “right” in their district when it comes to equity and resiliency in teaching and learning. Major disruptive events – like the move to remote schooling as a...
Activity: District Self-Assessment
When designing change, teams start with an in-depth analysis of the history of their school(s), what is currently working well in the district, and where the district’s primary pain points are.
Stanford d.School Empathy Interview Guide
When designing change in a district, it is essential that leaders hear directly from students, families, teachers, and classified staff (i.e., those most impacted by teaching and learning). This guide from the Stanford d.school provides in-depth...
Mastery Charter Schools: Empathy Interviews on Blended Learning and Culturally-Responsive Teaching
Mastery Charter Schools’ redesign sought to integrate blended learning and culturally-responsive teaching. Translating that model into specifics would require input from a variety of stakeholders: students, teachers, and families. The design team...
Activity: Conduct Empathy Interviews with Stakeholders
When designing change, teams ensure that stakeholders – students, families, teachers, and classified staff – are the primary sources of input for what change is necessary and what change might look like through direct interviewing.
Cedar Rapids: Getting Inspired by Standards-Based Grading
Cedar Rapids Community School District has a well-defined strategy for implementing competency-based learning. Amid implementation, however, they ran into challenges getting standards-based grading (a key part of their model) to really “stick” in...
Cedar Rapids: Getting Inspired by Real-World Relevance in Learning
Cedar Rapids Community School District has a well-defined Profile of a Graduate, or clear depiction of what a graduate of the district should know, feel, think, or believe; the profile focuses on ensuring that all Cedar Rapids graduates are ready...
Mastery Charter Schools: Getting Inspired by Blended Learning and Digital Literacy
Mastery Charter Schools envisions a future of confident, independent learners supported by personalized, blended, and culturally responsive teaching and authentic relationships with adults. To achieve this vision, Mastery knew it would have to...
Activity: Get Inspired! Explore Innovative Schools
When designing change, teams look externally to glean best practices from other districts and schools that have implemented strategies to increase equity and resiliency in teaching and learning.
Activity: Reflect on Equity in Your Process
When designing change, teams regularly pause and reflect on how equity is embedded in their change processes.
Activity: Making Sense of Empathy Interviews
When designing change, teams make sense of input and feedback from students, families, teachers, and classified staff to identify what changes are needed and what those changes might look like.