Diversity

Education news, analysis, and opinion around school diversity, including racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity, as well as coverage of gender diversity and LGBTQ issues
Students arrive for classes at Taylor Allderdice High School in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Jan. 23, 2024.
Students arrive for classes at Taylor Allderdice High School in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Jan. 23, 2024. As part of a recent court settlement, Pennsylvania will no longer require school districts to follow its set of guidelines that sought to confront racial and cultural biases in education.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
States A State Changed Anti-Bias Guidelines for Teachers After a Lawsuit. Will Others?
The lawsuit filed by a conservative law firm took issue with state guidelines on examining biases and diversifying curriculum.
Brooke Schultz, November 21, 2024
5 min read
A picture of a gavel on a target.
Bill Oxford/Getty
Law & Courts Top Affirmative Action Foe Has New Target: Scholarships for Aspiring Minority Teachers
The legal activist behind the U.S. Supreme Court college admissions decision has now sued over an Illinois minority scholarship program.
Mark Walsh, October 23, 2024
3 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Equity & Diversity Opinion The Fight Over DEI Continues. Can We Find Common Ground?
Polarizing discussion topics in education can spark a vicious cycle of blame. Is it possible to come to a mutual understanding?
Rick Hess, October 16, 2024
7 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Equity & Diversity Opinion How Can Educators Strike a Healthy Balance on Diversity and Inclusion?
DEI advocates and opponents both have good points—and both can go too far.
Rick Hess, October 15, 2024
6 min read
School social worker Melva Mullins embraces a student in her office at Garnet-Patterson S.T.A.Y. High School in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27, 2024, after the student confided in Mullins about some heavy topics.
School social worker Melva Mullins embraces a student in her office at Garnet-Patterson S.T.A.Y. High School in the District of Columbia on Sept. 27, 2024, after the student confided in Mullins about some heavy topics.
Maansi Srivastava for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Why It's Important to Recruit More School Counselors of Color
Many students of color say they want to talk to someone who looks like them.
Brooke Schultz, September 30, 2024
5 min read
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kali9/E+
School & District Management This State Is Bucking Gender and Race Trends in School Leadership
A 12-year study in one state shows a major uptick in the diversity of school leaders.
Olina Banerji, September 30, 2024
8 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Teaching Opinion 14 Things Schools Should Stop Doing Now
Instead of cramming more and more into schooling, consider how the paradox of "less is more" could benefit students and teachers.
Larry Ferlazzo, September 9, 2024
11 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Equity & Diversity Opinion 13 Ways Educators Get Culturally Responsive Teaching Wrong
Some teachers believe adding a few culturally relevant texts or activities to the existing curricula is sufficient. It's not.
Larry Ferlazzo, August 28, 2024
13 min read
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iStock/Getty
Equity & Diversity How 9 Leaders Think About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Their Schools
District and school leaders share their take on DEI and what it means for all students to experience inclusion and belonging.
6 min read
Tyler Wright teaches 4th grade math at Stono Park Elementary School in Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 18, 2022. Charleston County, like other places across the country, is working to increase the number of Black male teachers in the classroom.
Tyler Wright teaches 4th grade math at Stono Park Elementary School in Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 18, 2022. Charleston County, like other places across the country, is working to increase the number of Black male teachers in the classroom.
Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP
Teaching Profession The State of Teaching Black Teachers Have the Highest Morale. Why?
Black teachers view the job more positively, exclusive survey data show. How can schools hold onto them?
Madeline Will, May 22, 2024
8 min read
Ahenewa El-Amin speaks with students during her AP African American Studies class at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Ky., on March 19, 2024.
Ahenewa El-Amin speaks with students during her AP African American Studies class at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Ky., on March 19, 2024. State leaders in Kentucky are pushing the message of making sure all students feel they belong in school including by offering ethnic studies courses.
Jaclyn Borowski/Education Week
Equity & Diversity How a DEI Rebrand Is Playing Out in K-12 Schools
School districts continue to advance DEI initiatives, though the focus is more on general inclusion and belonging for all.
9 min read
First-graders listen to teacher Dwane Davis at Milwaukee Math and Science Academy, a charter school in Milwaukee on Oct. 20, 2017. Charter schools are among the nation's most segregated, an Associated Press analysis finds — an outcome at odds, critics say, with their goal of offering a better alternative to failing traditional public schools.
First-graders listen to teacher Dwane Davis at Milwaukee Math and Science Academy, a charter school in Milwaukee on Oct. 20, 2017. Charter schools are among the nation's most segregated, an Associated Press analysis finds—an outcome at odds, critics say, with their goal of offering a better alternative to failing traditional public schools.
Carrie Antlfinger/AP
School & District Management What the Research Says A New Way for Educators to Think About School Segregation
Seventy years after the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board, Stanford researchers find racial, economic isolation spiking in schools.
Sarah D. Sparks, May 6, 2024
4 min read
Teaching Opinion 'We Need Help': Teaching Amid Turbulence (Video)
None of her experiences as a Black woman or her professional training prepared her for this moment, explains a high school teacher.
Mercedes Harvey-Flowers, April 17, 2024
3 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Policy & Politics Opinion What Do Leading Edu-Scholars Think About DEI, Reading, and Research?
An informal survey of the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholars reveals vast differences in their perspectives.
Rick Hess, April 1, 2024
3 min read