Grades and diplomas should tell a student and his family that the student can read, write, and do the math expected of them as they advance from one grade level to another and when they graduate from high school. If a district wants more students to get higher grades and obtain their diplomas, it should help students do the real work necessary to earn them.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies have become embedded in American education despite President Trump’s efforts to eliminate them and some schools’ attempts to rebrand them. A 2025 investigation found that nearly 24,000 schools in 46 states and the District of Columbia were implementing DEI through policies, strategic plans, or practices, affecting more than 14.6 million students.
Equity in education has come to mean something very different from equal opportunity. Rather than giving every student the same opportunity to succeed based on merit and hard work, equity increasingly focuses on producing equal outcomes, even when doing so means changing grading, discipline, curriculum, and academic expectations.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
The Equity Epidemic Is Hurting America’s Students
Lance Izumi
Grades and diplomas should tell a student and his family that the student can read, write, and do the math expected of them as they advance from one grade level to another and when they graduate from high school. If a district wants more students to get higher grades and obtain their diplomas, it should help students do the real work necessary to earn them.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies have become embedded in American education despite President Trump’s efforts to eliminate them and some schools’ attempts to rebrand them. A 2025 investigation found that nearly 24,000 schools in 46 states and the District of Columbia were implementing DEI through policies, strategic plans, or practices, affecting more than 14.6 million students.
Equity in education has come to mean something very different from equal opportunity. Rather than giving every student the same opportunity to succeed based on merit and hard work, equity increasingly focuses on producing equal outcomes, even when doing so means changing grading, discipline, curriculum, and academic expectations.
Read more here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.