Take time to step back and ensure that your proposed solution is an equitable one
When designing change, teams should regularly pause to reflect on whether equity has been embedded in their process and whether their planned change will lead to more equitable outcomes.
By now, you have defined a specific, important problem of practice to solve in order to move your district toward more equitable, resilient teaching and learning, and you’ve ideated and selected a specific solution to pilot.
As highlighted in earlier activities, it remains essential to both embed equity in your process and to plan periodic stepbacks to reflect on whether you are on track to increase equity in your district. This is an important checkpoint, before you start to pilot your solution, to reflect on whether your selected solution aligns with your equity vision and goals.
Steps to Implementation
Suggested time: 30-60 minutes
- Gather your team in a room (in-person or virtual) with access to sticky notes or a digital alternative, such as Google Jamboard.
- As a design team, consider the following questions:
- Does the solution truly address the needs of the students we most seek to benefit? Does it respond to what they’ve told us in empathy interviews?
- Does it address the needs we uncovered in looking at our district’s history and data?
- Does the solution prioritize the needs of our students furthest from opportunity?
- Have we sought ideas from a diverse group of students, families, teachers, and classified staff? Who else might have valuable insights that we haven’t considered?
- What barriers to equity do we need to keep in mind as we continue our work into the pilot phase?
- Revisit the work you’ve done in this unit. If necessary, repeat steps to improve the equity of your process.
- Next, you will start an exciting new phase of this work: building out and piloting your solution.
This strategy is a part of TLA’s Real-Time Redesign release, a practical toolkit for improving equity and resiliency in schools. Explore the full guide to find additional strategies, insights, and resources.