DEI Hiring: Community Unit School District 300

Community Unit School District 300 in Illinois prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion in its hiring process. For example, a bank of interview questions obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal a focus on “Culturally Relevant Teaching” which includes questions such as:

• “Have you ever taken part in a conversation centered on race in an educational setting? If yes, describe that conversation and how did it make you feel? If no, how comfortable would you be talking about race and its impact on education?”
  
• “How do you create equity in the classroom?”
  
• “Is there an example of how you have demonstrated a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in a prior situation?”
  
• “How would you define diversity? How do you encourage people to honor the uniqueness of each individual? How do you challenge stereotypes and promote sensitivity and inclusion?”
  
• “How would you address racial tension among students in your classroom?”
  
• “Describe your experience or explain how you have been educated to understand the history of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans and other historically marginalized communities in the USA.”
  
• “At (enter school), we are committed to racial and gender equity. How would you create and maintain an inclusive learning environment for all of your students? In your response, please speak directly about how you would support your transgender students.”
  
• “When was the last time you shared your pronouns? Why do you think it is essential to share your pronouns?”
  
• “At (insert school), our White students have exceeded the performance of our Students of Color in the area of Reading/Math. According to ( ———— data), our White students are performing at the –th percentile, and our students of color are performing at the —th percentile on average. As a newly hired (insert subject) teacher, how do you plan to assist us in addressing this problem? How will you help us to rectify this discrepancy in student performance?”
  

The district states as part of its 2022-2027 Strategic Plan that it will “develop an overall plan to attract and retain diverse, high quality candidates.”

According to a 2022 equity audit “Needs Assessment,” the “Employment & Retainment” component states that the district has “implemented practices to attract and retain highly qualified, diverse teachers and administrators.” The audit claims that the district needs to “develop [sic] culturally responsive interviewing process” and that district staff “does not mirror” its student population.”

“Suggestions for Next Steps” include:

• “Develop hiring practices and professional development for recruitment and hiring of a more diverse workforce.”
• “Attracting African American teachers. Need to identify this practice. How do we look within and incentivize them to go back to school as well? Students who want to get into Education. Title II dollars? Train our own! Recruitment ideas are needed.”
• “The interview process has item banks of questions for candidates to get a pulse of cultural responsiveness and inclusion, however, this needs to expand on all staff instead of just teachers.”