Change in the Air: How Shifting Federal Guidance Related to DEI Influences Teachers' Use of Culturally Responsive...

Culturally responsive practices (CRPs) (i.e., practices that affirm students' cultural backgrounds) can reduce educational inequities, but these practices have yet to become normative within U.S. education. A national study of K-12 teachers conducted in late 2023 found that teachers' use of CRPs depended not only on their individual moral frameworks regarding diversity (i.e., endorsement of multiculturalism and colorblindness) but also on their communities' and administrators' support for efforts to increase equitable educational outcomes among students (i.e., equity work). Since 2023, federal guidance has shifted, and educational equity work is now discouraged. We conducted a second national survey of K-12 teachers (N = 980) in early 2025 to examine whether contextual influences on teachers' decisions regarding CRP use have also shifted in light of changes to federal guidance. While the 2023 study found that teachers with weaker multiculturalism beliefs were more likely to use CRPs when their administrators supported equity work, findings from the 2025 study revealed that administrator support only predicted greater CRP use when these teachers worked in politically liberal (but not conservative) communities. The shift suggests that recent federal policy changes have weakened the influence of district and school leadership on teachers' decisions to use CRPs, particularly among teachers who are not individually inclined to use these practices. This study offers timely insights into teachers' use of CRPs after new federal guidance on educational equity efforts and reaffirms that teachers' practices are not solely shaped by their personal beliefs, but are instead responsive to the broader contexts in which they work.