By Betsy Hill and Roger Stark
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) represent three closely connected values many organizations adopt to support people of different races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders and sexual orientations. In business, DEI is linked to stronger financial performance: diverse leadership teams often spark better decision-making, foster innovation, improve customer insight, attract top talent, and enhance reputation. Those benefits explain why DEI is widely considered sound practice in companies—and increasingly a priority in education.
Applying DEI to K–12 public schools raises unique challenges. Unlike companies that can recruit a diverse workforce, public schools largely reflect the demographics of their communities. Student populations often vary in race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status based on geography, and schools have limited control over those factors. Other forms of diversity—like gender—tend to be more evenly distributed. Still, schools focus on DEI to support each student’s needs and to address long-standing disparities in achievement, access to advanced coursework, and feelings of belonging.
Cognitive Diversity
One central but sometimes overlooked dimension of diversity in education is cognitive diversity, often discussed as neurodiversity—the many ways brains perceive, process and respond to the world. Recognizing that there is no single “correct” way for a brain to work is essential: students differ in how they take in information, remember it, and apply it.
Although the popular idea of rigid learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) has been discredited, differences in cognitive skills are real and meaningful. Cognitive skills are the mental processes we use to attend to information, hold it in working memory, plan and organize, and switch between tasks. Every student has cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Identifying those strengths and weaknesses—one student’s pattern might favor strong visual reasoning while another struggles with working memory—helps educators support learning in ways that go beyond simplistic “learning style” labels.
Of all forms of diversity relevant to schooling, students’ cognitive profiles arguably matter most because they form the foundation for learning and for many life tasks. Understanding cognitive diversity allows educators to tailor instruction and provide supports that give students genuine access to rigorous curriculum and classroom participation.
Cognitive Skills and Equity
Equity means that identity should not determine access to educational opportunities. Yet in practice, measures of student identity—socioeconomic status, special education classification, English learner status—correlate with lower achievement, lower participation in advanced courses, and reduced representation in gifted programs. Rather than eliminating programs that appear inequitable, another approach is to address the underlying cognitive gaps that limit access.
An instructive example comes from a low-income school in South Carolina. Under a new state rule requiring objective screening with a standardized cognitive abilities test (CogAT) for gifted eligibility, not a single student from that school qualified in the first year. A policy intended to apply the same standard to everyone had the unintended consequence of reducing access for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The school responded not by abolishing the gifted program but by offering comprehensive cognitive training to its second graders.
Research shows poverty can negatively affect cognitive development, but cognitive skills can also improve substantially with targeted, integrated training. After implementing cognitive training, students at the South Carolina school raised their CogAT scores enough that many qualified for gifted services—at a rate slightly higher than the district average. This outcome illustrates how equity can be advanced by strengthening students’ cognitive capacity so they can benefit from demanding instruction and pursue advanced coursework.
Inclusion
Inclusion in K–12 education means integrating students with physical, behavioral or learning differences into general education classrooms as fully as possible and providing the supports they need to succeed alongside peers. Typical accommodations might include aides, curriculum adjustments, or compensatory strategies. Yet persistent achievement gaps for students with disabilities show that simply placing students in inclusive settings does not guarantee success.
Cognitive assessment and training can make inclusion more effective. When students participate in structured cognitive skill development, each learner works on the specific skills they most need. In mixed-ability classrooms, this individualized approach often reveals surprising strengths: a student who has long been labeled “low achiever” may demonstrate skill in an area where a traditionally high-performing peer struggles. Emphasizing cognitive strengths helps shift the school culture from focusing on deficits to recognizing each student’s unique capabilities.
Teaching about diversity is important, but true appreciation of diversity grows from experience and capability. You cannot simply explain how to hold more information in mind or shift attention more smoothly; these are developed through practice, much like building physical strength at a gym. Similarly, fostering respect for differences is more effective when students see the practical advantages of diverse perspectives and capabilities within their classrooms. By assessing and developing cognitive skills, schools have a concrete way to advance diversity, equity and inclusion—helping students access high-quality instruction, participate fully in class, and feel valued for their strengths.
About the authors
Betsy Hill is President of BrainWare Learning Company, an organization that applies neuroscience to build learning capacity and help parents and educators unlock children’s learning potential. An experienced educator, she has studied neuroscience and education with leaders in the field and has served in academic governance and MBA teaching roles. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and an MBA from Northwestern University, and co-authored the book Your Child Learns Differently, Now What?
Roger Stark is Co-founder and CEO of BrainWare Learning Company. He has worked to make cognitive literacy training and assessment accessible and affordable, leading development of online tools designed to improve cognitive skills through clinically informed practice. He is co-author of the book Your Child Learns Differently, Now What?
References
1. McKinsey & Company, “What is diversity, equity and inclusion?”
2. Child Mind Institute, discussion of neurodiversity.
3. American Psychological Association, statement on the myth of learning styles.
4. We Are Teachers, explanation of inclusion in education.