Aspiring Toward Inside Innovation: Community Co-Design for Equity in School Districts

Outline

This session mirrors the Equity Policy Learning Lab I designed as Director of Racial Equity Initiatives at Chicago Public Schools. Participants experience how equity work moves from theory to collective authorship through hands-on, community co-design.

Framing and Context (10 min)
I open by introducing the Community Co-Design for Equity Framework and the policy learning lab model that informed it—emphasizing how empathy interviews, audits, and inclusive partnerships reshaped policy in a major urban district. Participants reflect on one decision in their own system that could better include community voice.

Empathy Interviews and Community Epistemology (10 min)
Participants engage in peer empathy interviews using a short protocol adapted from CPS’s Inclusive Partnership process. This helps surface lived experiences and local wisdom as sources of data and design insight.

Equity Policy Audit (20 min)
In small groups, participants use a condensed version of the Equity Policy Rubric Workbook to identify who benefits, who is burdened, and where opportunity differences exist in a sample school policy. Groups propose redesign ideas that model participatory democracy and shared accountability.

Systems Application and Synthesis (15 min)
We connect insights from the activity to targeted universalism and systemic redesign. Participants identify one structural change they can influence in their own context and share commitments in a rapid gallery walk.

Closing Reflection (5 min)
The group co-authors a closing statement by completing the prompt “Equity lives when we…”—capturing the essence of shared power and continuous improvement.

Engagement Process:
Participants interact every 5–10 minutes through pair interviews, small-group analysis, and reflection. The session uses collective learning, peer facilitation, and real policy tools to model co-design in action.

Outcomes

After this session, participants will be able to:

Apply the Community Co-Design for Equity Framework to analyze and redesign school policies through an equity lens.

Conduct a brief equity audit using empathy interviews and community-rooted inquiry.

Identify accountability mechanisms that turn equity from intention to practice.

Model participatory democracy through shared decision-making and distributed leadership.

Translate co-design principles into actionable strategies for advancing equity in their own contexts.

Supporting research

Grounded in research from:

Freire Institute – Pedagogy of the Oppressed (critical pedagogy and participatory learning)

Othering & Belonging Institute – Targeted Universalism Framework

Participatory Budgeting Project & Brookings Institution – civic participation and school-based democracy

WA Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction – Funds of Knowledge and community epistemology

Public Policy Design Blog (UK Cabinet Office) – Co-Design and Inclusive Governance

UCLA Community School & UW–Madison CALL – distributed equity leadership and shared governance