Dive Brief:

• The Innovation Lab Network (ILN), founded in 2011 and endorsed by the Council of Chief State School Officers, brings together 12 states in order to collaborate on new ideas aimed at coming up with accountability metrics for districts that can potentially be scaled statewide later.
• After starting with participation from just six states, the network now includes California, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
• One primary goal of the group is to encourage fresh thinking, along the lines of having states consider what they would do if tasked with building systems of accountability and more within K-12 from the ground up, Education Week reports. 

Dive Insight:

Such bold thinking and cooperation can only deepen knowledge and help states involved in the network. Most recently, funding for the ILN has come from the Nellie Mae Education Fund, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Stupski Foundation. The Hewlett Foundation has also committed backing toward measuring what the ILN accomplishes. A few additional priorities of the network align with issues that many districts are now grappling with, including personalized learning, anytime/anywhere learning opportunities, and student agency.