To the Editor:
The Education Week opinion piece, “Let DEI Practices Die. Replace Them With Something Better” (June 5, 2025) describes how U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wants to replace diversity, equity, and inclusion with “individual student agency, enabled by strong families and schools.” Based on my experience as an educator and my research on creating safe, inclusive schools, there is a fatal flaw in promoting agency divorced from DEI.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of all efforts to foster agency and empowerment. Agency only flourishes where students feel included and can express their authentic social identities. Families become strong and empowered in equitable environments. Additionally, focusing on individual agency without collaboration suggests that students must pull themselves up by their bootstraps, which is nearly impossible on uneven playing fields. Efforts to create equitable and just spaces can continually be improved by strengthening understanding and acceptance.
In an inclusive environment, agency encompasses autonomy and cooperation. Research from the Stanford Integrated Schools Project shows that students perform better and feel confident and safe in their identities when schools: create caring communities teaching skills for getting along; foster positive student-teacher and peer-to-peer relationships; employ student-centered practices promoting agency, cooperation, and voice; and cultivate diversity as a resource for learning while communicating high expectations. Students thrive as they learn to appreciate commonalities and differences, engage in civil discourse, and resolve conflicts peacefully.
To achieve true agency and belonging for all, environments must affirm and include all student identities. Promoting agency apart from DEI undermines the work of educators who have been championing equitable schools for over 70 years, since the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. We can’t afford to let go of DEI. We must stand up for those principles and ideals that enable all students to feel safe and reach their highest potential.
Becki Cohn-Vargas
Author and Educator
El Sobrante, Calif.
