Should school district mission statements explicitly mention diversity, equity, and inclusion? If a district is committed to ensuring that all students feel inclusive and included, is it important to brand how it works? Should every school district examine how inequities occur inside and outside of school buildings?
These are some of the questions local and state leaders and researchers are grappling with as the national debate continues over the role of DEI initiatives in public education and as DEI continues the barrage of political attacks led by some universities more generally. To cut DEI jobs Companies neglecting to embrace DEI principles.
In public schools in at least 18 states. Education on race, gender, and other related topics was banned or restricted. The effort stems from a September 2020 executive order signed by then-President Donald Trump banning certain types of diversity training in federal agencies. President Joe Biden has reversed the order, but momentum for the ban continues in Republican-led states.
A 2023 analysis of more than 1,300 mission statements from across the country found the Pew Research Center. Only 34% of these documents directly referenced DEI.
Of all the topics in this statement, DEI proved to be the most politically divisive. In Democratic voting districts, 56% of precincts mentioned DEI efforts in their mission statements, while in Republican voting districts, only 26% mentioned DEI efforts.
This complex political environment has led some local and state leaders to focus less on explicitly mentioning DEI and more on promoting and supporting activities focused on inclusion and belonging for all students.
But Decoteau Irby, an associate professor of education policy studies and qualitative researcher at the University of Illinois, said that even under rebranding, education leaders must think carefully about the work involved in ensuring that schools actually meet the ideals of inclusion and belonging. Chicago.
“In a perfect world, inclusion would actually be about changing the conditions of the school, the learning environment, so that when students walk into the building, they know they belong there. You will exemplify your sense of belonging as well as an individual by: There are a variety of educational resources and opportunities out there,” Irby said.
Education leaders in Illinois and Kentucky offer some insight into how one can participate while keeping this overall effort as broadly palatable as possible.
Why Mission Statement Terminology Matters
Lake Forest, Illinois District Superintendent Matthew Montgomery and a group of fellow district leaders and community members spent several weeks reviewing an updated draft of the district's mission statement earlier this year.
They examined “every word,” Montgomery said.
There were more than a dozen iterations, trying out different words and phrases to get the district's statement right, and avoiding potential political trigger words that could “distract from the intent and mission” of the exercise.
Ultimately, what the group arrived at, and what the school board on Chicago's north side approved, was a statement that included political buzzwords like “diversity,” “inequality” and “inclusion.” It's an approach that members believe will appeal to everyone, regardless of political persuasion.
Statement – 8 sentences total— The district “supports the importance of creating an inclusive environment for all students and staff,” and says an inclusive environment “encourages the identification, appreciation and exploration of diverse identities and diverse perspectives.”
“We understand that good, exemplary school districts foster cultures of inclusion where the lives and needs of all students are validated, recognized, valued, and central to the educational experiences provided,” the statement said. “[The district] We know that every student has amazing learning abilities. Our responsibility is to create an environment that maximizes each student’s potential for growth.’”
The focus is not on explicitly addressing specific historically marginalized student groups. Rather, it aims to be inclusive of the views and experiences of all students, Montgomery said.
“There’s nothing here to suggest that every student is doing something bad,” said Erin Lenart, a local high school principal who led the effort to create the statement. “What we are saying is that we embrace your ideas and views as long as they are not ultimately limited to other people,” she said. If you tell someone that, they can’t really argue with it.”
Focusing too much on including one group of students can unintentionally leave other groups feeling marginalized or excluded, Lenart said.
“Any time you enter a world that makes people feel alienated, it sort of defeats some of the goals you’re trying to achieve,” Lenart said.
The work of developing a vision statement for the district is just one part of a larger mission to fully integrate all voices, perspectives, and lived experiences in guiding the work of our schools. But it is symbolic of what district leaders hope to achieve. That is, a district that does not exclude anyone and does work that reflects all students and community members, even if they disagree with each other.
“It’s not necessarily a statement that needs to be approved, that’s not what it’s for, but it’s a good way to make sure that we’re actually meeting what we’re saying to see, hear and value every student in this building,” Lenart said.
Now that the statement has been written and approved, the real work of putting it into action begins, Montgomery said.
Every time you enter a world that makes many people feel left out, you are defeating the purpose of what you are trying to accomplish.
Erin Lenart, Lake Forest (Ill.) High School Principal
Montgomery said this will include frequent, ongoing and respectful communication with the community. We remain focused on our shared vision for student success. And you get used to the tension, knowing that it's not always easy.
“If we tell you that these are our values and that you will be seen, heard, and evaluated, how do we find a way to make them feel real to every student?” he said
State leadership can be an example to the district
When Thomas S. Tucker was hired as deputy commissioner and chief equity officer for the Kentucky Department of Education in 2020, he was tasked with developing an office that would advance the goals set in the State Board of Education's 2019 Anti-Racism and Equity Resolution.
His first order of business was to challenge himself and others to think about the purposes of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
He and his team defined it as follows: “Regardless of our political beliefs, no matter what political faction we represent, we want our children to have a sense of belonging.”
“We’re not just talking about ethnicity. We did not mention the ambiguous term ‘race’. It covers all aspects of life as an American: respecting one's religion, ideas, and practices. Respect your sexual orientation. Respect your military or veteran status. To respect an individual’s socioeconomic status,” Tucker said.
Similar to the Lake Forest region, a broader conceptualization of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) has helped Kentucky departments withstand political battles in a politically conservative state, Tucker said. The state is now one of 18 states that have enacted laws limiting how teachers can teach about race after the Republican-led Legislature passed it in 2022 over Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto. It has been done.
About 17 school districts in the state have hired DEIB officers over the past few years, some before Tucker started in 2020. Now his team brings these executives together to share ideas about developing and fostering DEIB initiatives across the state.
These tasks include: Build an equity dashboard where school and district leaders can view achievement data aggregated by student population to uncover inequities. Encourage educators to use problem-solving analysis tools To address those inequalities; We offer the Kentucky Academy for Educational Equity, where school and district staff can use online modules to learn more about their self-perception and the perceptions of others about how the education system works to find solutions to inequities. Distribute grants to help schools build infrastructure for social-emotional learning.
Tucker's team also reviews graduation requirements to allow students to personalize their curriculum in the second half of high school. This structure makes it easier for students to take courses such as Advanced Placement African American Studies. For graduation credit.
Regardless of our political beliefs or what political force we represent, we want our children to have a sense of belonging.
Thomas S. Tucker, Kentucky Department of Education Deputy Director and Chief Asset Officer
One challenge Tucker faces is helping students realize that school districts, where students primarily belong to one racial or ethnic group, must participate in helping all students belong.
“A lot of people think that when you do this work, you’re only dealing with the area of racial segregation, and that’s affirmative action work,” Tucker said.
But predominantly white schools may still face situations where they disproportionately suspend students with disabilities or deny low-income students the same educational opportunities as their higher-income counterparts, he added.
“The more people we get at the table, the more people will see that this isn’t just something that benefits people of color,” Tucker said. “This is about improving and saving the lives of all young people.”
True inclusion and belonging take effort
Irby, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, understands why local and state leaders are moving toward a more general branding of DEI work with a focus on inclusivity and belonging.
One of the reasons discussions about DEI tend to focus on racial and ethnic-based inequities is because “a primary goal of educational institutions in particular is to increase the quality, access, and learning opportunities of students who have historically been denied access to an education.” . Opportunities that we know from research provide them with high educational outcomes,” Irby said.
Historically, students of color have been among the marginalized.
But DEI’s work transcends race and ethnicity, Irby said. Ultimately, what matters is how willing a school system is to put in the effort necessary to implement change.
For example, a school could modify its policy to increase the number of black and Hispanic students taking AP courses. But if AP history courses only focus on European and Western history, this doesn't necessarily foster a true sense of belonging and inclusion in these students, Irby said.
Schools can recognize the importance of making students with disabilities feel included by ensuring that students who use wheelchairs can physically access school buildings as easily as their peers.
And for LGBTQ+ students, Irby added, allowing students to use the bathroom where they feel most comfortable is a more concrete way to foster a sense of belonging. Of course, with 11 states, this is complicated. Passed a bill banning transgender people from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity in K-12 schools.
School districts may face political backlash over measures to create a sense of belonging, but Irby said the hopeful thing she found through her research is that many school districts across the country, including predominantly white ones, are making systemic changes that benefit all students. is willing to bring it.