How a DEI Rebrand Is Playing Out in K-12 Schools Education Week
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Should school district mission statements explicitly mention diversity, equity, and inclusion? If a district ensures that all students feel a sense of inclusion and belonging, does it matter how it brands that work? Do all districts need to examine how inequities play out within and outside of school buildings?
These are some of the questions district and state leaders and researchers are grappling with as national debates on the role of DEI initiatives in public education continue, and as DEI more generally sustains a barrage of political attacks that have led some universities to cut DEI jobs and corporations to downplay their embrace of DEI principles.
In public schools, at least 18 states have imposed bans or restrictions on instruction about race, gender, and other related topics. These efforts stem from a September 2020 executive order signed by then-President Donald Trump, which banned certain types of diversity training in federal agencies. President Joe Biden revoked the order, yet momentum for such prohibitions has continued in Republican-led states.
