Districts, families, communities, and youth support organizations have vested interests in supporting students’ academic journeys, but their decisions that affect education often occur independently. This disconnect is especially evident for students from communities that have historically and systematically been excluded (HSE) from opportunities and access to education: Black, Brown, Indigenous, those living in poverty, multilingual students, and students who experience differences. Learning.
Despite decades of educational reform efforts, The academic experiences and achievements of HSE students are still moderated by social position and identity factors, such as race and socioeconomic status.. Many seek to address these disparities by implementing educational solutions at the district level. However, these solutions are often not co-created with HSE communities and families, and the diversity of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) solution providers does not reflect the HSE student population.
Solving deep-rooted equity challenges in education is complex for countless reasons. A key and solvable challenge is for solutions to be based on the cultural and contextual experience of the communities in which they are implemented. One consideration is that BIPOC solution providers and developers likely possess deep cultural and community experience, but often lack the access needed to share their solutions.
“And something didn’t feel right to me saying, ‘Hey, why aren’t the people in the communities that we serve the people who are actually building and leading these initiatives, right?’ Inherently, we’re saying that they’re not capable of addressing the community concerns that they have, right? Because for some reason, we’re not creating pathways for people to really get to whatever solutions they are.” — Solution provider
Digital Promise Center for Inclusive Innovation participated in exploratory research through a pilot initiative called Learning Salons to explore this idea. These BIPOC solution providers hiding in plain sight are people of color who lead high-value edtech companies and have potentially created solutions that can effectively address districts’ needs.
The imbalance between need and opportunity
Based on the spirit of the Core Principles of Inclusive Innovation, we describe the criteria to consider when evaluating promising solutions to address an equity-based challenge:
- Focused on belonging and identity
- Natively designed to meet the needs of diverse learners
- Reflection of the culture, languages and experiences of diverse students.
- Including the voice and contributions of diverse communities.
Using criteria like this will help find BIPOC educational solutions and solution providers that fully incorporate equity as a starting point for supporting HSE student access and support. Still, a larger problem remains based on the stratification of opportunities for BIPOC solution providers.
BIPOC solution providers have the ability and determination to develop impactful educational solutions. However, they encounter obstacles in establishing district relationships and contracts. Our report describes an effort to address barriers to opportunity experienced by a sample of BIPOC solution providers we have had the honor of working with over the past year, including:
- Human, financial and social capital barriers related to their social and professional networks, financing and the capacity necessary to navigate a complex educational solutions industry.
- Challenges associated with the nature of industry practices and district procurement practices.
- Sociocultural barriers related to perceptions of BIPOC solution providers and the sociopolitical climate surrounding equity-focused work.
All of these barriers have implications for the visibility and success of solutions that are aligned with the needs of HSE students and, ultimately, how many HSE students can receive support designed with their needs in mind by people who understand and, in some cases, sharing—their experiences.
Scaling up BIPOC solution providers through a learning classroom model
Digital Promise and our partners designed the Learning Halls model to create opportunities for school districts to broaden their lens on finding solutions to meet the needs of HSE students through a rapid cycle approach anchored in the problem of practice of each district to discover innovative, equity-focused solutions. programs and practices.
The Learning Halls engaged BIPOC district leaders and solution providers in a collaborative experience focused on:
- Define the root cause of a district’s practice problem.
- Identify a solution path to address the practice problem with the goal of achieving student-centered results.
- Match and adapt equity-focused learning solutions directly aligned with a district’s problem of practice to define opportunities for partnership and engagement.
Benefits and Impact of Learning Lounges for BIPOC District Leaders and Solution Providers:
- Prioritized opportunities for districts and BIPOC solution providers to collaborate on practice problems to discover equity-focused, innovative, and effective student-centered tools.
- Created a platform for BIPOC solution providers to share their deep content and contextual expertise in high-priority challenge areas and showcase their solution and impact.
We complemented the Learning Halls with a broader opportunity designed to engage leaders and decision-makers from state district and charter school teams, practitioners, researchers, and funders in a BIPOC-created solutions showcase where they learned about solutions and undiscovered teaching and learning tools.
The Learning Halls approach helps mitigate the equity gap by:
- Creating awareness of solutions and tools that are unknown to district leaders and decision makers.
- Fostering collaborations in co-designing solutions that align with the district’s specific challenges or problems.
- Building relationships between district leaders and BIPOC solution providers based on a shared commitment to an equity challenge.
The promise of addressing the needs of historically and systematically excluded students
When BIPOC solution providers intentionally engage and have a platform to showcase their talent and solutions, opportunities to address inequity abound, informed by:
- The value of deep equity content and experience in context: BIPOC solution providers bring extensive knowledge and lived experience to address critical challenges. Their insights offer practitioners valuable perspectives, methods, and successful models tailored to the needs of HSE students, providing effective solutions to district leaders’ equity challenges.
- Discovering culturally relevant solutions: BIPOC solution providers naturally integrate culturally responsive pedagogy into HSE youth solutions. With inclusive research and continuous improvement, plus careful diversity of representation, they create impactful solutions. Their understanding of the authentic experiences of excluded students drives meaningful and resonant change.
- Expanding the definition and measurement of impact: Like most BIPOC solution providers, BIPOC solution providers design products and programs to meet traditional standards and metrics that demonstrate solution impact. BIPOC providers can offer different perspectives on measures and indicators of progress that are most meaningful to HSE students and communities, such as engagement and belonging, identity reflection, agency, and other factors that are most important to the educational performance of HSE students.
Reimagine a more inclusive future
If we are committed to a more inclusive future in education, we must also envision a path that ensures HSE academics have the support they need to thrive. Doing so means we must actively seek out and embrace BIPOC solution providers as experts, given their expertise and proximity to the challenges of HSE students. Changes in practice can lift the veil.
Three practical recommendations for change
- Redefine readiness criteria for solution development: Assessments of solution provider readiness should include relevant and equitable criteria with a laser focus on sourcing diverse tools, curricula, and resources that support the HSE student population with intentionality.
- Reconceptualize the experience: Consider the cultural community knowledge and lived experience necessary to inform effective solutions for HSE communities that have historically been left out of educational R&D and district decision-making processes.
- Repave procurement pipelines: Allow for consideration of lesser-known educational BIPOC solution providers who have developed solutions that show promise in meeting the needs of HSE students, such as BIPOC and equity-focused educational BIPOC solution providers.
These three small pivots in practice will take a significant step toward creating an education system where all students can learn, grow, and thrive as their true selves with the support and resources they need. Breaking down barriers leaves room for solutions that reflect the growing diversity of the student body.
