Better Together: How Inclusive Design is Reshaping Assessment and Accountability
- Center for Innovation in Education
- Oct 1
- 2 min read
At the Center for Innovation in Education (CIE), we believe that major systems change sustains and scales when communities are co-creators of the work. Our latest research report, Better Together, offers a window into what that looks like in practice.
Authored by Jennifer Poon, Daniela DiGiacomo, Rita Harvey, Lauren Ho, and Karen Perry, and supported by EduDream, the report examines how Allen County Schools in Kentucky set out to redesign their systems of teaching, assessment, and accountability — not through top-down mandates, but through Inclusive Design. By practicing habits of inclusion, empathy, co-creation, and reciprocity, district leaders created new structures of learning and measurement that felt authentic to the community they serve.
What we studied
The research team set out to answer a simple but urgent question: How does community engagement through inclusive design in systems reform impact stakeholder trust, ownership, and engagement?
We combined multiple methods — surveys, interviews, focus groups, youth-led research, and an innovative narrative-capture tool called SenseMaker — and enlisted members of the Allen County community in the entire process from research design to data analysis. This approach reflects CIE’s belief that research itself can deepen accountability and drive change.
What we found
We surfaced several lessons that are relevant to any major reform effort:
Inclusive design builds trust and ownership. Stakeholders reported higher satisfaction and commitment when new voices — especially students and families — shaped decisions.
Systems change takes time but gains durability through broad buy-in. Teachers, families, and community partners became champions of the work when they experienced its impact.
Learner-centered reforms create visible shifts. Exhibitions of learning, portfolio defenses, and performance assessments made student growth tangible and fostered deeper community engagement.
Research strengthens local accountability. Community “Data Parties” and youth-led inquiry didn’t just capture findings; they reinforced shared accountability and momentum for reform.
Policy recommendations
From these findings, we offer several implications for education leaders and policymakers:
Use inclusive design processes to align reforms with community values.
Provide funding and time for deep, participatory systems change.
Prioritize learner-centered, hands-on, performance-based reforms.
Incentivize research that is collaborative, youth-led, and practice-embedded.
Why it matters
Across the country, states are questioning the top-down, compliance-driven accountability systems that have dominated education for the last 20 years. Allen County’s story offers a different path — one where accountability is built with communities rather than done to them. By engaging families, educators, students, and local leaders from the start, the district reframed accountability as a process of collaboration and trust-building.
Importantly, this local reform is part of a larger movement: Kentucky’s United We Learn initiative, which is rethinking assessment and accountability statewide. The lessons from Allen County show how state policy can create space for local innovation, and how inclusive design can help ensure those reforms take root.
In short: this work points to a future where accountability is not about compliance, but about communities and schools owning the journey of student success together.