District Redesign Network
Redesigning systems to transform student experience
One of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone.
bell hooks
Program Overview
NEP’s District Redesign Network is a national network of U.S. school districts seeking to deeply understand their own equity landscape in order to redesign their school system to improve learning conditions and experiences for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and LGBTQIA+ students.
From 2019 to 2023, NEP led multiple networks of school districts, both regional and national, as a partner in the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network. Building on the lessons and impact of those networks, this new District Equity Leadership Impact Network will require school district partners to demonstrate
a commitment to implementing a set of changes known to create conditions for equitable whole child learning (Essential Actions); and
a commitment to identify and interrogate the system dynamics, underlying assumptions, and mental models that have hindered equitable outcomes in the past and present, so that a new way forwards with student experience at the center of their system, becomes possible.
Focus on Student Experience
Research shows that the experiences and social interactions students have every day in their classrooms and school community impact their academic learning, as well their overall development and wellbeing. The Science of Learning and Development confirms that a student’s ability to learn is strongly intertwined with their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs. Unfortunately, the quality of relationships, opportunities, and resources, afforded to young people in our schools continues to be patterned by race, class, gender, and other social categories.
Educators have enormous power to shape learning contexts and influence students’ experiences of school. In this District Network, diverse, cross-role and function teams (which include students) will be supported to create a culture of learning and action to ensure that every young person has access to the conditions they need to feel connected, engaged in learning, and experience academic and social emotional growth.
Together, we can create schools that center all students’ brilliance and ensure their success and flourishing.
Participating districts will:
Assess the current state of student experience and learning using multiple forms of data and informed by diverse perspectives throughout your system
Complete a systems landscape analysis to learn about how the current system is contributing to existing patterns, including structural barriers and constraints impeding some groups to thrive
Increase system leadership and organizational capacity to design, lead and manage student-centered change efforts by engaging and elevating student experience and learning data to inform systemic changes.
Generate demand and collective commitment by acting on a district’s publicly stated commitments (strategic/equity plans) to improve the experiences, learning and wellbeing of students - especially those situated farthest from opportunity.
Form a district-level, cross-role and function redesign team to lead, guide, and catalyze learning and change efforts to increase well-being, learning, and healthy development throughout the system.
Learn to learn: decide on a direction for learning and action, begin to test interventions using a Liberatory Design approach (nudges and safe-to-fail probes) and monitor and adapt interventions based on feedback and data.
Identify and create internal structures needed to support ongoing inquiry collaboration and change work.
Learn from and collaborate with districts engaged in redesign from across the country.
Image Description: Header reads National Equity Project District Redesign Network. Four colored boxes represent Summer 2023 through Year 3. The word “Coaching” with a white arrow across all years represents continuous coaching throughout the program. The boxes contain the following text:
Summer 2023: Recruitment, application, onboarding (Black box)
Districts complete interest form and engage NEP staff (June)
Application review, district interviews & site visits (June)
District selection (July)
Onboarding coaching begins (July-August)
Year 1: Landscape Analysis to determine design path. (Orange box)
4 Virtual National Convenings
2 regional cross-district problem solving site visits
In-person coaching & consulting focused on building a learning and leadership partnership with district leads.
Leaders internalize and apply Leading for Equity tools and metrics to assess district and site level equity systems.
Year 2: Learn and apply Leading for Equity competencies & practices. (Dark orange box)
In-person, multi-day, Leading For Equity retreat
Regional in-person, 1-day convening
Virtual end of year convening
District Team Meetups
Cross-district site visits/ district partnerships (regional)
Leaders seek to shift adult and student learning conditions.
Year 3: Use Liberatory Design to test and prototype approaches to redesign a district system. (Turquoise box)
In-person, multi-day Liberatory Design retreat
Regional in-person, 1-day convening
Virtual end of year convening
District Team Meetups
Cross-district site visits
Leaders present key learnings and their district redesign innovation.
Why a Network? Why now?
Changing school systems is arduous work; there is much to change. Many of us find ourselves burning the candle at both ends, hoping that our work will make a positive impact for children and families. And far too often, we find that despite our best efforts, inequitable experiences and outcomes remain largely the same.
We recognize that leading for equity and the work of change can be isolating. As a member of this Network, you will be in a community of like-minded individuals who are also committed to achieving greater equity. You will join a cohort of districts committed to learning and leading for equity and changing student experiences, who share a vision for change and commitment to reflecting, learning and taking action together.
The District Equity Leadership Impact Network is part of the BELE Network, an innovative national ecosystem that includes partnerships between the National Equity Project, the UChicago Consortium for School Research, Project for Education Research that Scales (PERTS) and the Collaborative for Social, Emotional and Academic Learning (CASEL) and is supported by our philanthropic partners at the Raikes Foundation.
If your school district is interested in joining a future cohort, please sign up for our newsletter and select “Joining a School District Network.”