Consultants in the Classroom: Making Big Money in K-12 Schools

Investigations

Total Amount: $123,679,015.83

Number of School Districts and Public Education Entities: 303

Number of Students in School Districts: 6,073,007

Number of States: 40

Number of Consultants: 41

Number of Public Records Requests: 336

Top 10 Consultants Identified:

  1. Amplify – $70,513,543.64
  2. Panorama Education – $14,819,411.32
  3. Performance Fact – $7,157,362.38
  4. The Leadership Academy – $4,768,586.76
  5. CASEL – $4,133,287.80
  6. NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools – $3,720,713.00
  7. Kingmakers of Oakland – $3,140,941.00
  8. Second Step – $3,118,425.26
  9. QuaverEd – $2,948,733.60
  10. International Institute of Restorative Practices Graduate School – $1,655,210.50

*These numbers are based on consultants that Defending Education investigated since 2021 and are not exhaustive. There are thousands of school districts throughout the country that have hired hundreds of DEI consultants not listed in this report. This report should be taken as a small sample of how school districts spend taxpayer dollars. Defending Education submitted over 300 public records requests to school districts to receive these records and investigated even more. For many of the school districts listed, the total amount spent on consultants is likely more. Defending Education did not consider records that were vague or unclear that would boost the total amount higher. The records used by Defending Education include contracts, purchase orders, invoices, and financial records maintained by school districts.

*Some of the consultants listed may have included DEI commitment statements pursuant to state contracting or other law at the time of issuance. We have no way of knowing which organizations those might me.

Summary

Defending Education discovered that the school districts and public education entities listed below paid over $123 million to consultants for their services dating back over a decade. While not all purchases were specifically for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consulting, these companies and individuals have made statements over the past few years ensuring that DEI initiatives will be integrated into their products. Take Amplify as an example. The company has existed for over twenty years but has now promised to integrate DEI in services offered to schools and educators.

Contracts and invoices with consultants are often posted online by school districts and are easily accessible to everyone. However, this is not the case for all school districts. Defending Education submitted 336 public records requests to districts as well as local and statewide governments to discover how much was spent on consultants.

NOTE: This report does not include the $21 million that school districts paid to DEI consultants in Defending Education’s Consultant Report Card published in 2021. The districts listed in this report were investigated by Defending Education in the years since then. For a complete tally of Defending Education’s findings, the original $21 million from the Consultant Report Card can be added to the $123 million of this report.

Consultants

Panorama Education – $14,819,411.32

Panorama Education is a company that provides professional development and surveys for staff, students, and families. The company claims to offer services “from administering surveys and equipping educators with tools for student support, to providing hands-on coaching and professional development.” These surveys often include questions that ask the race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity of students.

Panorama Education previously promoted an “Equity and Inclusion Survey” for students that has since been removed from the company’s website. The goal of this survey was to “help schools and districts track the progress of equity initiatives through the lens of students and staff, identify areas for celebration and improvement, inform professional development, and signal the importance of equity and inclusion to the community.”

Total: $14,819,411.32

  • Birmingham City Schools (Alabama)
  • Huntsville City Schools (Alabama)
  • Selma City Schools (Alabama)
  • Alvord Unified School District (California)
  • Beaumont Unified School District (California)
  • Berryessa Union School District (California)
  • Brawley Union High School District (California)
  • Brea Olinda Unified School District (California)
  • Calexico Unified School District (California)
  • Campbell Union School District (California)
  • Capistrano Unified School District (California)
  • Central Unified School District (California)
  • Chowchilla Union High School District (California)
  • Coalinga-Huron Unified School District (California)
  • Corona-Norco Unified School District (California)
  • Desert Sands Unified School District (California)
  • El Centro Elementary School District (California)
  • Fallbrook Union Elementary School District (California)
  • Fullerton Joint Union High School District (California)
  • Hayward Unified School District (California)
  • Perris Elementary School District (California)
  • Rialto Unified School District (California)
  • Santa Rosa City Schools (California)
  • Silver Valley Unified School District (California)
  • Colorado Springs School District 11 (Colorado)
  • Poudre School District (Colorado)
  • Atlanta Public Schools (Georgia)
  • Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (Georgia)
  • Community Consolidated School District 21 (Illinois)
  • Glenbrook High School District 225 (Illinois)
  • Hinsdale Township High School District 86 (Illinois)
  • Morton School District 709 (Illinois)
  • Naperville Community Unit School District 203 (Illinois)
  • Rockford Public Schools (Illinois)
  • Township High School District 211 (Illinois)
  • Indianapolis Public Schools (Indiana)
  • Perry Township Schools (Indiana)
  • Ames Community School District (Iowa)
  • Anamosa Community School District (Iowa)
  • Ankeny Community School District (Iowa)
  • Howard County Public School System (Maryland)
  • Arlington Public Schools (Massachusetts)
  • Old Rochester Regional School District (Massachusetts)
  • Walpole Public Schools (Massachusetts)
  • Lee’s Summit R-7 School District (Missouri)
  • North Kansas City Schools (Missouri)
  • Raytown C-2 School District (Missouri)
  • Ritenour School District (Missouri)
  • Grand Island Public Schools (Nebraska)
  • Clark County School District (Nevada)
  • Elizabeth Public Schools (New Jersey)
  • Albuquerque Public Schools (New Mexico)
  • Yonkers Public Schools (New York)
  • Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (North Carolina)
  • Durham Public Schools (North Carolina)
  • Pender County Schools (North Carolina)
  • Boardman Local School District (Ohio)
  • Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools (Ohio)
  • Shaker Heights City School District (Ohio)
  • Edmond Public Schools (Oklahoma)
  • Warwick Public Schools (Rhode Island)
  • Beaufort County School District (South Carolina)
  • Charleston County School District (South Carolina)
  • Memphis Shelby County Schools (Tennessee)
  • Sevier County School System (Tennessee)
  • Wilson County Schools (Tennessee)
  • Dallas Independent School District (Texas)
  • Virginia Beach City Public Schools (Virginia)
  • Stanwood-Camano School District (Washington)

Character Strong – $563,310.42

Character Strong is a company that provides social emotional learning (SEL) professional development and curricula to school districts. SEL is a style of teaching that imbeds race and gender ideology into what had previously been neutral student curricula. The company claims to “provide digital Pre-K through 12th-grade SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and Character Education Curricula with engaging multi-tiered curricula.” The company’s professional development is intended to “empower educators and foster effective school leadership focused on the Whole Child.”

Character Strong previously promoted an “Equity Commitment” online that has since been removed from the company’s website. The company stated in this commitment that it would be “focusing on recruiting potential CS employees, vendors, and contractors from diverse spaces around the country in order to bring more voices into the development of our work” and “maintaining an accountability chart instead of an organization chart to promote less hierarchical decision making.”

For teachers, equity initiatives included “developing tools like the Equity Training to deepen personal awareness, better understand our biases, and build skills that help people better serve the entire school community.” Character Strong also stated that the company would be “recognizing land acknowledgments” and “personal pronouns.”

Total: $563,310.42

  • Anoka-Hennepin Schools (Minnesota)
  • Armstrong School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Carlisle Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Conestoga Valley School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Watertown School District (South Dakota)
  • Pearland Independent School District (Texas)
  • Kettle Falls School District (Washington)
  • Renton School District (Washington)
  • Big Horn County School District #1 (Wyoming)

Amplify – $70,513,543.64

Amplify is a company that provides professional development and curricula to school districts. The company was founded in 2000 and claims to create “K–12 core and supplemental curriculum, assessment, and intervention programs for today’s students.” In recent years, the company has embraced DEI ideology.

Amplify previously promoted a “DEIA statement” online that has since been removed from the company’s website. The company explained in this statement that its goal was to “make education, and thereby the world, more equitable and accessible.” Amplify intended to “help teachers support their students in constructing, questioning, expanding, and strengthening knowledge of where they come from and who they are becoming.”

On a partner website, Amplify claimed to be “committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the culture we build, the people we hire, and the products and services we provide for educators and students.” The company’s professional development was created to “help teachers ensure that all students have access to high-quality, culturally diverse materials.”

Total: $70,513,543.64

Second Step – $3,118,425.26

Second Step is a program operated by the nonprofit Committee for Children. Second Step provides SEL professional development and curricula to school districts. The organization claims to “prioritize key outcomes such as academic achievement, a positive school climate, and student mental health, while also addressing issues like chronic absenteeism, school safety, and educator well-being.”

Second Step previously promoted “Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias Resources” with a “focus on transformative social-emotional learning” online that has since been removed from the organization’s website. The organization stated on this page that it was “committed to addressing racial injustice and helping you drive real change in your school communities.”

Second Step claimed that its resources “will help you implement social-emotional learning (SEL) in a way that builds on students’ cultural assets, critically examines systems of power, and develops better ways of teaching, learning, and being.” Two of the resources that Second Step offered were called “Talking to Kids About Racial Identity” and “Starting in the Classroom.”

Total: $3,118,425.26

  • Barstow Unified School District (California)
  • Bassett Unified School District (California)
  • Belmont-Redwood Shores School District (California)
  • Beverly Hills Unified School District (California)
  • Irvine Unified School District (California)
  • San Francisco Unified School District (California)
  • Windsor Public Schools (Connecticut)
  • Fulton County Schools (Georgia)
  • Liberty Tech Charter School (Georgia)
  • Troup County School System (Georgia)
  • West Des Moines Community Schools (Iowa)
  • Wichita Public Schools (Kansas)
  • Oxford School District (Mississippi)
  • Columbia Public Schools (Missouri)
  • Kirkwood School District (Missouri)
  • Omaha Public Schools (Nebraska)
  • New Hanover County Schools (North Carolina)
  • Wake County Public School System (North Carolina)
  • Bismarck Public Schools (North Dakota)
  • West Chester Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Flandreau Public Schools (South Dakota)
  • Corpus Christi Independent School District (Texas)
  • Milwaukee Public Schools (Wisconsin)
  • Laramie County School District 1 (Wyoming)

Ajusted Equity Solutions – $1,051,182.66

Ajusted Equity Solutions is part of the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute created by Muhammad Khalifa. He is a political activist who serves as a professor at Ohio State University. The university describes him as a “leading expert on equity audits for school districts” who has written about how “schools can become liberatory spaces for youth.” His company provides professional development and equity audits to school districts.

The Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute claims to help schools challenge “Whiteness and hegemonic epistemologies in school,” use “equity audits to measure student inclusiveness, policy, and practice,” and serve as “advocate and social activist for community-based causes in both the school and neighborhood community.” The phrase “culturally responsive” is often used to describe a method of teaching that prioritizes the race and ethnicity of students.

Total: $1,051,182.66

The Leadership Academy – $4,768,586.76

The Leadership Academy is a company that provides professional development for principals and school administrators. The company previously operated under the name “NYU Leadership Academy.” The company claims to have “supported thousands of leaders in more than 430 school systems and educational organizations across 41 states and Washington, D.C.”

The Leadership Academy previously supported DEI initiatives but has since removed those pages from the company’s website. The company had a position titled “Executive Director of Curriculum Development & Equity.” This position was held by Mary Rice-Boothe. The company promoted her book Leading Within Systems of Inequity in Education: A Liberation Guide for Leaders of Color. The Leadership Academy stated that this book “will help leaders of color to succeed within white spaces while working to dismantle those spaces for a new system where they – and students – thrive.”

Total: $4,768,586.76

Performance Fact – $7,157,362.38

Performance Fact is a company that provides professional development and strategic planning to school districts. Mutiu Fagbayi created the company in 1997. He publicly stated that achieving equity requires providing unequal opportunities: “To have an equity-centered organization, we have to have the courage and the willingness to be purposely unequal when it comes to opportunities and access.”

Performance Fact claims to help schools “clarify shared vision, goals, and strategy,” “harness and disseminate the wisdom of successful practitioners and organizations,” and “build the foundation for a healthy, equitable performance-oriented culture.”

Total: $7,157,362.38

  • Alameda County Office of Education (California)
  • Davis Joint Unified School District (California)
  • Esparto Unified School District (California)
  • Fresno Unified School District (California)
  • Inglewood Unified School District (California)
  • Modesto City Schools (California)
  • Oakland Unified School District (California)
  • Patterson Unified School District (California)
  • Salida Union School District (California)
  • San Bernardino City Unified School District (California)
  • Sequoia Union High School District (California)
  • Sunnyvale Elementary School District (California)
  • Washington Unified School District (California)
  • West Contra Costa Unified School District (California)
  • Yolo County Office of Education (California)
  • School District U-46 (Illinois)
  • Oak Park Elementary School District 97 (Illinois)
  • Kansas City Public Schools (Missouri)
  • Washoe County School District (Nevada)
  • Long Branch Public Schools (New Jersey)
  • Princeton Public Schools (New Jersey)
  • East Ramapo Central School District (New York)
  • Uniondale Union Free School District (New York)
  • Centennial School District (Oregon)
  • Hillsboro School District (Oregon)
  • Armstrong School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Big Beaver Falls Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Downingtown Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • ELCO School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Freedom Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Harrisburg School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 (Pennsylvania)
  • Mohawk Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Pottstown School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Reading School District (Pennsylvania)
  • State College Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Wyomissing Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Southwest Independent School District (Texas)
  • Fairfax County Public Schools (Virginia)
  • Bethel School District (Washington)
  • Bremerton School District (Washington)
  • Federal Way Public Schools (Washington)
  • La Conner School District (Washington)
  • North Kitsap School District (Washington)
  • Northshore School District (Washington)
  • North Thurston Public Schools (Washington)
  • Stanwood-Camano School District (Washington)
  • Sumner Bonney Lake School District (Washington)
  • Vashon Island School District (Washington)
  • Yakima School District (Washington)
  • Muskego-Norway School District (Wisconsin)

CASEL – $4,133,287.80

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is the company responsible for helping grow SEL into the powerhouse in schools that it is today. CASEL was founded in 1994 and claims to be “leading a growing movement to make SEL an integral part of education.” In order to advance SEL, the company states that it conducts “academic research,” provides resources to school districts through “partnerships,” and supports legislation to implement SEL into schools.

CASEL still promotes DEI on the company’s website. On July 1, 2020, CASEL promoted “racial justice” in discussing its roadmap for reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. In explaining the importance of the reopening process for schools, the organization stated that “this moment called on all members of our school communities to deepen our social and emotional competencies and create equitable learning environments where all students and adults process, heal, and thrive.” CASEL also published a video in 2020 titled “SEL As a Lever for Equity and Social Justice.”

Total: $4,133,287.80

  • El Dorado County Office of Education (California)
  • Elk Grove Unified School District (California)
  • Mt. Diablo Unified School District (California)
  • San Diego County Office of Education (California)
  • San Ramon Valley Unified School District (California)
  • Denver Public Schools (Colorado)
  • Batavia Public School District 101 (Illinois)
  • East Baton Rouge Parish School System (Louisiana)
  • Baltimore City Public Schools (Maryland)
  • Minneapolis Public Schools (Minnesota)
  • Washoe County School District (Nevada)
  • Greece Central School District (New York)
  • Guilford County Schools (North Carolina)
  • Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (North Carolina)
  • Cleveland Metropolitan School District (Ohio)
  • Lakewood City Schools (Ohio)
  • Marion City Schools (Ohio)
  • Ohio Department of Education (Ohio)
  • Warren City Schools (Ohio)
  • Portland Public Schools (Oregon)
  • Austin Independent School District (Texas)
  • Dallas Independent School District (Texas)
  • El Paso Independent School District (Texas)
  • Charlottesville City Schools (Virginia)

NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools – $3,720,713.00

The NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools is a program within New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The group provides consulting to school districts and education departments on “racial justice in education” with a “commitment to promoting educational equity and confronting anti-Black racism and white supremacy.”

The group openly claims that “white people have internalized messages, attitudes, and beliefs about white supremacy, regardless of their intentions or awareness, and often act to perpetuate racial hierarchies in our schools and communities.” The university program also states that it focuses on “driving equity in school settings – especially when confronting issues of race, gender, gender identity, national origin, socioeconomic status, and other identities historically marginalized in educational spaces.”

In 2022 and 2023, the group reached 10,760 teachers and 9,245 students as well as providing 1,338 presentations and training sessions.

Total: $3,720,713.00

  • Northern Humboldt Union High School District (California)
  • Dover-Sherborn School District (Massachusetts)
  • New York State Department of Education (New York)
  • Port Washington Union Free School District (New York)
  • Rondout Valley Central School District (New York)

PATHS Program – $367,591.19

The PATHS Program is a company that provides school districts with SEL curricula. The company claims that the goal of its service is to create “Self-awareness & Emotional Regulation,” “Moral Reasoning & Decision-Making,” “Engagement with Role Models,” and “Community Involvement & Service Learning.”

PATHS Program previously explained in a page now removed from the company’s website that its service “provides comprehensive research-based, culturally relevant, engaging social emotional learning curriculum and training worldwide.” The phrase “culturally relevant” is often used to describe a method of teaching that includes the race and ethnicity of students as part of the lessons taught in classrooms. The company also explains that its SEL program aligns with CASEL’s framework.

Total: $367,591.19

  • Indian Prairie School District #204 (Illinois)
  • Everett Public Schools (Massachusetts)
  • Oxford School District (Mississippi)
  • Cleveland Metropolitan School District (Ohio)
  • Allegheny Valley School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Pittston Area School District (Pennsylvania)

US² Consulting – $495,340.64

US² Consulting is a company that provides strategic planning, equity audits, and professional development to school districts. Megan Fuciarelli founded the company. Her profile on the company’s website states that she has “dedicated her entire professional career to navigating social justice issues and supporting people/teams in being inclusive” and that “embedded within her narrative are many stories of oppression and privilege.”

US² Consulting previously had a blog that was removed from the company’s website titled “Overcoming Heterosexism through Celebration” that promoted a “focus on discussions about heterosexism during the month of June to reflect upon our own biases.”

In another blog titled “What is Ethnocentrism? Looking beyond the dominant culture” that was also removed, the consulting firm appeared to attack the idea of people being “Christian” and “heterosexual.” When discussing education in schools, US² Consulting explained in the blog: “Understanding that the formation of what is predominantly seen as the dominant American culture (White, Christian, Upper-Middle Class, Suburban, Heterosexual, English-speaking) was crafted intentionally by those in power can help us understand the root of our own personal biases.”

Total: $495,340.64

  • Farmington Public Schools (Michigan)
  • Bernards Township School District (New Jersey)
  • Livingston Public Schools (New Jersey)
  • Millburn Township Public Schools (New Jersey)
  • New Providence School District (New Jersey)
  • Watchung Hills Regional High School District (New Jersey)

Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium – $256,880.00

The Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium (LESMCC) is a consultant group that openly provides curricula with content promoting Critical Race Theory (CRT) and ethnic studies to school districts. The organization explains that its goal is “equipping Black, Chicanx/Latinx, Asian American, American Indian/Native American and low-income youth with skills to participate in community advancement, social justice, and transformative change.”

The LESMCC explains that a guiding principle for ethnic studies is to “critique empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society.” Another principle is to “challenge imperialist/colonial hegemonic beliefs and practices on ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized levels.”

Total: $256,880.00

  • Castro Valley Unified School District (California)
  • Hayward Unified School District (California)
  • Napa Valley Unified School District (California)

QuaverEd – $2,948,733.60

QuaverEd is a company that provides school districts with professional development, health, and SEL curricula. The company claims to serve “over 10 million students in over 28,000 schools, in all 50 states and 44 countries.”

QuaverEd previously promoted “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)” online that has since been removed from the company’s website. The company stated that it believed “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are critical to ensuring a welcoming and safe environment for children in school so that learning can be achieved.” The company also explained that “we are committed to ensuring diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility across all our products.”

Total: $2,948,733.60

International Institute of Restorative Practices Graduate School – $1,655,210.50

The International Institute of Restorative Practices Graduate School is a private university in Pennsylvania that provides school districts with professional development and consulting. Restorative practices are a form of student discipline where reconciliation between the offender and the victim is the ultimate goal in place of exclusionary discipline. As a result, the response to a violent action in class is not a suspension or expulsion but to clear the classroom and have a restorative conference. The race and ethnicity of students will often be taken into consideration in restorative practices.

At the university’s 2015 IIRP World Conference, a breakout session titled “Racism Stops with Me: How White Folks Can Use Healing Circles to End Racism” included a handout with sample questions. This handout asked questions such as “What’s your earliest memory of becoming aware of your own white identity?” and “What privileges do you have that others do not?”

Total: $1,655,210.50

  • Conejo Valley Unified School District (California)
  • Fremont Unified School District (California)
  • Hartford Public Schools (Connecticut)
  • Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky)
  • Columbus City Schools (Ohio)

Racial Equity Institute – $1,344,312.00

The Racial Equity Institute is a consulting group that provides professional development to school districts. The organization claims that the professional development “is designed to help participants understand racism as a systemic and structural issue rather than solely a matter of individual bias.” Key topics in the professional development include “exploring implicit bias and strategies to address it,” “understanding markedness theory and institutional power structures,” and “racial identity and its relationship to institutional culture.”

Total: $1,344,312.00

Center for Black Educator Development – $957,365.00

The Center for Black Educator Development is an organization that provides school districts with services such as professional development and programs targeting groups of people based on their race and ethnicity. The organization states that it is dedicated to “rebuilding the national black teaching pipeline to achieve educational equity and racial justice.”

The Center for Black Educator Development has a goal of “adding one million teachers of color and thirty-thousand leaders of color to the education workforce over the next decade.” The organization created a letter explicitly urging the Biden administration to prioritize this goal.

Total: $957,365.00

  • School District of Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)

We Are – $3,038.00

We Are is a nonprofit organization that claims to provide “anti-racism training for children, families, and educators.” The organization has Ronda Taylor Bullock listed as the “lead curator” and “executive director.” Her profile states that her “research interests are critical race theory, whiteness studies, white children’s racial identity construction, and anti-racism.” Her husband Daniel Kelvin Bullock serves as the “deputy director.” His research interests “include culturally responsive teaching, social studies education, project based learning, critical race theory, and anti-racism.”

Total: $3,038.00

  • Wake County Public School System (North Carolina)

AmazeWorks – $261,825.00

AmazeWorks is a Minnesota-based company that provides school districts with professional development and curricula embedded with gender ideology and LGBTQ activism. The company claims that it uses “anti-bias education theory as a model for identity development, appreciating differences, and understanding bias, prejudice, and stereotypes” to help school districts “create the conditions for belonging.” The company promotes a “Land and Labor Acknowledgment” online as well.

AmazeWorks offers “PRIDE resources” for children as young as toddlers online. In a document titled “Understanding Gender Diversity,” the organization provides caregivers with lessons to help “guide conversations with children on gender diversity, including gender identity and expression.” The lessons include books like My Princess Boy and When Aidan Became a Brother. AmazeWorks describes My Princess Boy as a story “about a little boy who loves the color pink, sparkly things, and being a princess.” The company describes When Aidan Became a Brother as about a girl who transitioned to being a boy. Both books are aimed at children as young as 4 years old.

Total: $261,825.00

Education Northwest – $206,546.00

Education Northwest is a nonprofit organization that provides school districts with professional development and curricula. The organization claims to “partner with public, private, and community-based organizations across the United States to conduct research and evaluations, build organizational capacity, provide professional development, and design learning experiences that promote improved student outcomes.”

Education Northwest was founded in 1966 but has embraced DEI in recent years. The organization’s professional development has allegedly “expanded educators’ understanding of culturally responsive data literacy practices and supported them in identifying actionable strategies to improve student performance and promote equitable outcomes.” This professional development includes “templates for completing a diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility program reflection, an analysis of student enrollment data, a root cause analysis, and a data equity action plan.”

The nonprofit additionally promotes an “Equity Model of Youth Mentoring” that is guided “by the values of centering the pursuit of social justice and recognizing structural oppression.” Education Northwest claims that “formal mentoring relationships can support the well-being of minoritized young people—if they are built on a strengths-based approach that prioritizes healing-centered engagement and uplifts community cultural wealth.”

Total: $206,546.00

  • Lower Merion School District (Pennsylvania)

Insight Education Group – $66,500.00

Insight Education Group is a company that provides school districts with strategic planning and professional development. The company claims to reach over 20 states, 250,000 teachers, and 4 million students.

Insight Education Group previously promoted DEI initiatives online but has since removed equity references from the company’s website. The company promoted an “Insight Equity Framework” that supported “districts through an equity audit process that examines organizational structures, resource allocation, culture, recruitment/retention, professional learning, and teaching/curriculum.” Insight Education Group introduced an “Equity Toolkit” that also promoted equity audits and schools adopting a “social justice framework.”

Total: $66,500.00

  • Santa Barbara Unified School District (California)

Jesse Tijerina – $11,000.00

Jesse Tijerina is an equity consultant for schools who is employed at the Thompson School District in Colorado as the “Director of State and Federal Programs.” He notably provided professional development for staff at the Summit School District in Colorado to help the district “get from woke to work.” He attacked the idea of “whiteness” during this professional development by asking the question: “We’ll speak a little bit to that later on but the question is when do we give in to the convenience of whiteness?”

Total: $11,000.00

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education’s Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence and Equity – $403,275.00

The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education opened its Coalition for Educational Equity in 2004. This group’s goal is to “ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to access high-level, meaningful, and engaging learning experiences, while actively eliminating institutional barriers in district and school policy and practice that limit or deny this access.” The group operates at least two equity consortia out of the graduate school, which are the Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence and Equity (DVCEE) and the New Jersey Consortia for Excellence Through Equity (NJCEE).

The DVCEE partners with numerous schools districts throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware. The group provides equity reviews to school districts to help them achieve DEI goals. Defending Education found that the DVCEE used the Abington School District in Pennsylvania as a financial intermediary for other school districts.

The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education has notably changed the name of the “Coalition for Educational Equity” to the “Coalition for Educational Excellence.” The university has also changed the DVCEE’s name to “Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence.” These changes are likely a result of President Donald Trump’s executive orders prohibiting DEI in schools. However, the goal of this program appears to be the same.

Total: $403,275.00

  • Brandywine School District (Delaware)
  • Christina School District (Delaware)
  • Delaware Department of Education (Delaware)
  • Milford School District (Delaware)
  • Red Clay Consolidated School District (Delaware)
  • Rancocas Valley Regional High School (New Jersey)
  • Abington School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Boyertown Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Centennial School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Cheltenham School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Chester County Intermediate Unit (Pennsylvania)
  • Chichester School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Colonial School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Delaware County Intermediate Unit (Pennsylvania)
  • Downingtown Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Garnet Valley School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Great Valley School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Hatboro-Horsham School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Interboro School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Lower Merion School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Lower Moreland Township School District (Pennsylvania)
  • New Hope-Solebury School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Norristown Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • North Penn School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Phoenixville Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Radnor Township School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Ridley School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Rose Tree Media School District (Pennsylvania)
  • School District of Haverford Township (Pennsylvania)
  • School District of Springfield Township (Pennsylvania)
  • Southeast Delco School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Spring-Ford Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Tredyffrin/Easttown School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Upper Merion Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • West Chester Area School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Wissahickon School District (Pennsylvania)

Kingmakers of Oakland – $3,140,941.00

Kingmakers of Oakland is a company that provides school districts with professional development and curricula that promote racial equity. The company states that “teachers who lack cultural competency are less likely to engage, encourage and empower black students” and that “curriculum based on white narratives create negative internal identity for black Students.”

Kingmakers of Oakland claims that its curriculum is designed “to dismantle the toxic ecosystem sculpted by white dominant and individualistic culture hindering the prosperity of our Kings and adults.” Kingmakers of Oakland has a “Team Playbook” that explains the company’s goals. Listed in this document are “Core Values” that include “Collective Will” and “African-Centered,” which shapes a “positive Black identity within a racist educational context.”

Total: $3,140,941.00

  • Oakland Unified School District (California)
  • San Francisco Unified School District (California)
  • Gwinnett County Public Schools (Georgia)

Hey Wes – $44,950.83

Hey Wes is a consulting company that previously went by the name Q-inclusion. The company offers “queer and trans consulting work” to school districts. The company was founded by Wes Chernin Kinrose who is a self-described “award winning transgender speaker, consultant, educator, and speech-language pathologist.” Kinrose’s professional development for teachers includes discussions of gender identity, “cis privilege,” and the “Wheel of Power/Privilege.”

Total: $44,950.83

  • West Contra Costa Unified School District (California)
  • Columbus City Schools (Ohio)
  • Portland Public Schools (Oregon)
  • Salem-Keizer School District (Oregon)
  • Camas School District (Washington)

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – $37,175.00

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is an organization originally founded in 1913 to combat antisemitism. In recent years, the ADL has partnered with school districts to promote DEI initiatives in professional development and curricula in an attempt to influence students. Much of this work is accomplished through the ADL’s “No Place for Hate” program. The ADL advocates through this program for schools “to move beyond kindness to social justice.” The ADL created the “Pyramid of Hate” frequently used in schools to teach that genocide can be a result of allowing perceived microaggressions to occur.

Total: $37,175.00

  • Manchester Essex Regional School District (Massachusetts)
  • Clark County School District (Nevada)

Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence – $151,800.00

The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence is a program within Yale University that provides professional development on SEL to school districts. The description for the program explains that the goal “is to design effective approaches for supporting school communities in understanding the value of emotions, teaching the skills of emotional intelligence, and building and sustaining positive emotional climates in homes, schools, and workplaces.” The program receives funding through “foundation and federal grants, corporate support, training revenue, and philanthropists.”

Total: $151,800.00

  • Manchester Essex Regional School District (Massachusetts)
  • Valley Stream 13 School District (New York)
  • Gresham-Barlow School District (Oregon)

Henry Turner – $17,000.00

Henry Turner serves as the principal of Newton North High School in Massachusetts. He also operates his own consulting business where he provides school districts with professional development on racial equity and white privilege. His training includes asking staff to “describe whiteness and the role the culture plays to uphold systemic racism.” The district Newton Public Schools is known for openly promoting DEI and gender ideology to staff and students.

Total: $17,000.00

  • Marblehead Public Schools (Massachusetts)
  • Plymouth Public Schools (Massachusetts)

Teachers21 at William James College – $40,500.00

Teachers21 is a program at William James College that is now known as the Center for Behavioral Health, Equity, and Leadership in Schools (BHELS). The program openly acknowledges that it “provides school districts, leaders, and educators with the skills, resources, and support to drive and implement systemic transformation.” BHELS provides school districts with professional development that includes promoting equity and gender ideology.

Total: $40,500.00

  • Old Rochester Regional School District (Massachusetts)

Beloved Community – $150,000.00

Beloved Community is a company that provides school districts with services such as equity audits, consulting, and online courses that focus on “centering racial equity and belongingness for educators.” The company claims to help clients “further their collaborative journey for racial and economic equity, and by centering our most marginalized populations as we advance towards the beloved community.” The goal of Beloved Community’s equity audit is to measure how clients are “performing on diversity, equity, and inclusion to help build a plan that prioritizes the areas that will result in long-term, sustainable change.”

Total: $150,000.00

SSIS CoLab – $69,112.50

SSIS CoLab is a company that provides school districts with curricula, surveys, and tools to measure SEL development in students. The company uses CASEL as a guiding framework for its services. SSIS CoLab claims that its products are “content aligned and designed to help educators advance understanding and development of children’s SEL skills in five competency areas: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship skills, and Responsible Decision Making.”

Total: $69,112.50

  • Durango School District 9-R (Colorado)

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’s Gender and Sex Development Program – $700.00

The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’s Gender and Sex Development Program provides school districts with professional development promoting gender ideology. The hospital program provides services to children as they “progress through gender identity development.” Services include providing families “with education, exceptional and affirming clinical care, support, and ongoing consultation to ensure that children and families flourish safely in an environment that is both nurturing and affirming.” The hospital promotes a study that claims irreversible “gender-affirming hormones improve mental health in transgender and nonbinary youth.”

Total: $700.00

  • Evanston/Skokie School District 65 (Illinois)

Woke Kindergarten – $250,000.00

Woke Kindergarten is a company that provides professional development and curricula for school districts. The company previously claimed that it “is a global, abolitionist early childhood ecosystem &
visionary creative portal supporting children, families, educators and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-Black and queer and trans liberation.”

Woke Kindergarten promoted anti-Israel content in curricula discussing protests and the idea to “Free Palestine.” The company also provided resources to school districts “as a way to disrupt whiteness, white dominant/settler colonial narratives and anti-blackness.”

Total: $250,000.00

  • Hayward Unified School District (California)

Herring Seminars – $139,449.77

Herring Seminars provides school districts with professional development and consulting in order to “create inclusive cultures where people and potential flourish.” The company previously stated online that it was “dedicated to helping organizations build diverse and inclusive workspaces that serve as incubators for professional growth for all people” with positive “outcomes via Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work.”

The company’s professional development includes educating participants “on LGBTQUIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual) related issues that often arise in school communities in order to better equip themselves to support students and colleagues who may be bullied, harassed or feel isolated.” Another area of focus for professional development is on “systems of privilege and oppression.”

Total: $139,449.77

  • Avonworth School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Crawford Central School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Deer Lakes School District (Pennsylvania)

Fly Five – $232,139.59

Fly Five is a company that provides school districts with SEL curricula. Fly Five previously promoted DEI as an important part of its curricula online but has since removed those references from the company’s website. The company stated that SEL curricula should be designed so that students will learn to “fight for equal rights in our society” and to “contribute to the welfare of society overall and abstain from behaving unethically.” The company designed its curricula with characters that “represent a wide range of differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, diverse family structures, socioeconomic status, age, physical and/or mental capabilities, and religious beliefs.”

Total: $232,139.59

  • Old Rochester Regional School District (Massachusetts)
  • Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools (Ohio)

Jose Gonzalez – $3,000.00

Jose Gonzalez is a history teacher at the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona who provides DEI consulting to other school districts. In 2011, he was part of a lawsuit to overturn a ban on teaching ethnic studies in Arizona. He has been described as anchoring “his instruction by implementing a Xican@ Critical Race Pedagogy, simultaneously interweaving a humanizing pedagogy which at its core is grounded in Indigenous epistemologies.”

Total: $3,000.00

  • Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District (Wisconsin)

The Winters Group/Inclusion Innovates – $17,700.00

The Winters Group and Inclusion Innovates formed a partnership to promote DEI with Kevin Carter serving as both the president to Inclusion Innovates and principal strategist to The Winters Group. The Winters Group provides equity audits and professional development to school districts. Inclusion Innovates provides school districts with assessments of “intercultural competence” and professional development. The two organizations work together to help school districts “foster equity and inclusion” and provide school districts with DEI development plans.

Total: $17,700.00

Solution Tree – $362,446.97

Solution Tree is a company that provides school districts with professional development and curricula. The company openly promotes DEI with resources for educators, such as “The Antiracist School Leader,” “Raising Equity Through SEL,” “Leading Through an Equity Lens,” and “Beyond Implicit and Explicit Bias.” Solution Tree states that the company “has a catalog of more than 500 titles, hundreds of videos and online courses and is the creator of Global PD, an online tool that facilitates the work of professional learning communities for more than 20,000 educators.”

Total: $362,446.97

Courageous Conversation – $73,160.00

Courageous Conversation is a company that provides professional development and consulting for “racial equity leaders around the world.” The company explains that “we believe that courageous conversations about race have the power to change things in the world that prevent governments, organizations and people from achieving their best outcomes.” The company’s professional development helps districts “address persistent racial disparities intentionally, explicitly, and comprehensively.”

Courageous Conversation states that it “is critical that we address racial issues in order to uncover personal and institutional biases that prevent all people, and especially people of color, from reaching their fullest potential.” The company was created to “understand and discuss race explicitly.”

Total: $73,160.00

  • San Ramon Valley Unified School District (California)
  • Chicago Public Schools (Illinois)

Educators Thriving – $58,500.00

Educators Thriving is a company that provides school districts with professional development to “learn concrete, evidence-based strategies to help them avoid and manage most common pitfalls of the educator experience: overwhelm, personal neglect, adult conflict, unexpected challenges, and isolation.” Educators Thriving uses language often associated with SEL teaching, such as explaining that the company was created to “change the way school systems support those on the front lines of this work.”

Total: $58,500.00

  • New Haven Public Schools (Connecticut)

Joanne Boaler – $40,000.00

Joanne Boaler is a mathematics professor at Stanford University who provides professional development to school districts. Stanford University explains that her areas of expertise include “how equity is promoted in mathematics classrooms” and how teachers can move “towards equitable and effective teaching environments.” She has written books such as What’s Math Got to Do with It?: How Teachers and Parents Can Transform Mathematics Learning and Inspire Success and Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics.

Boaler is the cofounder of Stanford University’s YouCubed program. This program offers professional development and curricula to teachers in an effort to “explore the powerful idea of mathematical freedom and changing math for students.” When writing for Time, Boaler stated that the problem with math was “performance culture in our schools.” She praised math teachers who “replace grading with constructive written comments” in the article.

Total: $40,000.00

Culture7Coaching – $27,000.00

Culture7Coaching is a company that provides school districts with professional development. The company was founded by Michael Eatman who serves as the “head coach.” The company explains that leadership requires “combining emotional intelligence, cultural competence, and conflict engagement.” The company then states that “developing Cultural Competence helps you to develop the skill sets necessary to navigate inter-cultural conflict towards positive ends.”

Total: $27,000.00

  • Manchester Essex Regional School District (Massachusetts)