Independent schools justify their focus on DEI by proclaiming they are just “preparing students for a world that doesn’t look like their schools.”
But the world is changing, and the culture is shifting.
Recent Executive Orders and other actions from the White House have taken steps to:
2. End Biden’s Title IX rewrite. The Department of Education has released a “dear colleague” letter to every school in the country, stating that the social experiment of “trans-inclusive” facilities, sports, bathrooms, and scholarships is done. “Sex under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is back to being interpreted as male and female, as it always was. Any school or college that doesn’t comply with the directive could lose federal funding.
3. Defend Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restore Biological Truth to the Federal Government. To learn more, read the latest from Abigail Shrier: How the Gender Fever Finally Broke: Loving, naive parents believed medical science was above politics and beyond question. Now, with the stroke of a pen, a destructive ideology has been eliminated.
5. End the “Book Ban Hoax.”
How should independent schools prepare their students for this changing world?
NAIS ensures quality and accountability in independent school accreditation through ICAISA, which upholds Guiding Principles for accrediting associations. ICAISA's criteria define key operational standards, including “that accreditation is a lever for change to foster inclusive communities that uplift diversity, equity, and justice for all.”
Accreditation has been used to coerce schools to become agents of social change by compelling DEI and fealty to race, gender, and climate.
It is time to change the accreditation core standards.
In principle, ICAISA necessitates viewpoint diversity. In fact, the ICAISA Teaching & Learning Core Standards (CS6) states, “The School’s program aligns with its mission and is congruent with the principles of academic integrity, permitting and encouraging freedom of inquiry, diversity of viewpoints, and independent and critical thinking.”
In practice, NAIS and many schools fail to uphold this standard. The DEI requirements in the Essential Commitments to Strategic Thinking and Action (EC5: Promote Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice) directly conflict with the commitment to “freedom of inquiry, diversity of viewpoints, and independent and critical thinking.”
But there is an opportunity to seize the moment and course correct. According to EC4: Evaluate and Adapt the Accreditation Standards and Process, ICAISA expects member associations to “adapt its accreditation standards and process in order to a) promote school quality and sustainability, b) remain relevant in a changing world, and c) respond to the emerging needs of member schools.”
To remain relevant in a changing world, accreditors must adapt their standards and Boards of Trustees must hold them accountable, particularly when they compromise the school’s mission. This would require moving on from DEI, restoring biological truth, and being accountable for “permitting and encouraging freedom of inquiry, diversity of viewpoints, and independent and critical thinking.”
Many school heads, egged on by NAIS, have eroded their institutions' governance. It’s time for trustees to speak the truth and do their jobs.
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