State leaders can consider ways to lift burdens and smooth the path to innovation by prioritizing the conditions and resources needed at the district and school levels. This could include granting a greater degree of freedom from compliance levers and limiting constraints. Providing the infrastructure to test innovations at the local level allows leaders to explore ideas, demonstrate what’s possible, and use that to inform transformation.
These efforts should also account for the ways that local policy and practice, in addition to state regulations, can inhibit innovation. By creating (or incentivizing the use of) policies that provide flexibility from both state and local rules, states can ensure schools have meaningful opportunities to innovate.
Key Actions
- Expand, codify, and leverage system-wide policy flexibilities that invite and enable collaboration and innovation to move beyond current system paradigm limitations while also signaling a state’s commitment to a culture of trust and risk-taking.
- Establish or expand statutory innovation programs, pilots, zones, or state-wide districts that integrate R&D that aligns with and informs the state’s research agenda.
- Establish a statutory state-wide innovation network (see “Establish Networks“).
Bright Spots: Learn From Other States
Discover how states across the country are empowering local leaders to innovate and test evidence-based solutions.
Virginia: Lab Schools as Engines of Innovation
Through the Virginia College Partnership Laboratory Fund, the state is empowering local leaders and universities to design and test new learning models that connect K–12 education to workforce needs. Managed by Old Dominion University’s Center for Educational Innovation and Opportunity, the Lab Schools Network supports educators in piloting, evaluating, and scaling innovative approaches. By pairing flexible funding with evidence-based improvement, Virginia is turning local design into statewide systems learning.
Texas: Incentivizing Local Innovation at Scale
Through its System of Great Schools initiative and SB 1882 partnerships, Texas empowers districts to rethink how schools are designed, governed, and supported. Local leaders have the flexibility to launch new models, partner with nonprofits or higher education institutions, and expand high-quality options for families. By aligning funding incentives with performance and innovation, Texas is turning policy levers into engines for local, evidence-based transformation.
New Hampshire: Sustaining Innovation Through Local Ownership
New Hampshire’s Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE) initiative invited districts to design and pilot performance-based assessments as part of the state’s accountability system. By coupling flexibility with intensive capacity-building, the state helped educators develop locally driven models for measuring student learning. Even after state leadership changes ended PACE as a formal assessment program, many districts continue the work, proof that investing in local ownership makes innovation durable.
North Dakota: Cultivating Local Innovation through Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
Through its Innovative Education Program (SB 2186) and Personalized, Competency-Based Learning (ND PCBL) initiative, North Dakota empowers local educators to design, test, and scale new learning models. Supported by the Department of Public Instruction, districts pilot evidence-based approaches that emphasize mastery, learner agency, and community relevance. By coupling policy flexibility with structured learning networks, North Dakota is building statewide capacity for evidence-based improvement and systems transformation.