Neetu Arnold DEI Corrupts Education Research The Department of Education directed money to research projects that promised to recruit minorities.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/dei-corrupts-education-research

Government agencies should choose which research projects to fund based on merit, not ideology. But my investigation into U.S. Department of Education grants reveals that administrators prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) when evaluating grant applications. In some cases, reviewers considered the racial make-up of research personnel when assessing applicants’ qualifications.

These applications were directed to the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program, through which the department allocates research funds to schools and other nonprofits to develop inventive solutions to educational problems. The EIR program had a $284 million budget for new awards in fiscal year 2023.

The federal government’s diversity obsession has distorted EIR’s priorities. As a result, American taxpayers are funding projects that promote equity in AP Computer Science, so-called “restorative justice” initiatives for misbehaving students, and “culturally responsive” teaching. EIR has embedded racial considerations into the grant-evaluation process. It does so by assessing applicants’ “Quality of Project Personnel” (QPP), a 10-point evaluation category that accounts for almost 10 percent of an applicant’s total score. The department uses this category, which first appeared in grant evaluation documents in 2022, to measure whether prospective grant recipients would “encourage[] applications for employment from persons who are members of groups that have traditionally been underrepresented based on race, color, national origin, gender, age, or disability.” The department notes, almost as an afterthought, that “the Secretary [also] considers the qualifications, including relevant training and experience, of key project personnel.”