Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

“If you believe teaching should be culturally responsive but have had difficulty visualizing the path, you will find a treasure trove in Gloria Ladson-Billings’ book.”

—Illinois Reading Council Journal

“Brilliantly assembles many of the key writings that make Gloria Ladson-Billings the most important educational scholar since John Dewey. It should be a staple for every teacher education program in America.”

—Marc Lamont Hill, Temple University

For the first time, this volume provides a definitive collection of Gloria Ladson-Billings’s groundbreaking concept of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP).

After repeatedly confronting deficit perspectives that asked, “What’s wrong with those kids?," Ladson-Billings decided to ask a different question, one that fundamentally shifted the way we think about teaching and learning. Noting that “those kids” usually meant Black students, she posed a new question: “What is right with Black students and what happens in classrooms where teachers, parents, and students get it right?”

This compilation of Ladson-Billings’s published work on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy examines the theory, how it works in specific subject areas, and its role in teacher education. The final section looks toward the future, including what it means to re-mix CRP with elements of youth culture such as hip hop. This one-of-a-kind collection can be used as an introduction to CRP and as a retrospective of the idea as it evolved over time, helping a new generation to see the possibilities that exist in teaching and learning for all students.

Featured Essays:

1. Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

2. But That’s Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

3. Liberatory Consequences of Literacy: A Case of Culturally Relevant Instruction for African American Students

4. It Doesn’t Add Up: African American Students’ Mathematics Achievement

5. Crafting a Culturally Relevant Social Studies Approach

6. Fighting for Our Lives: Preparing Teachers to Teach African American Students

7. Is the Team All Right? Diversity and Teacher Education

8. It’s Not the Culture of Poverty, It’s the Poverty of Culture: The Problem With Teacher Education

9. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the Remix

10. Beyond Beats, Rhymes, & Beyoncé: Hip Hop, Hip Hop Education, and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Gloria Ladson-Billings is professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and president of the National Academy of Education (2018–2021). Her books include Critical Race Theory in Education: A Scholar's Journey and Teacher Educators as Critical Storytellers Effective Teachers as Windows and Mirrors.

“If you believe teaching should be culturally responsive but have had difficulty visualizing the path, you will find a treasure trove in Gloria Ladson-Billings’ book.”

—Illinois Reading Council Journal

“Any educational scholar writing on race and culture owes a huge conceptual, methodological, and practical debt to Gloria Ladson-Billings. This book brilliantly assembles many of the key writings that make her the most important educational scholar since John Dewey. Like a Dr. J. dunk or a Teddy Pendergrass record, each of these classic pieces has aged perfectly. But as always, GLB loves us too much to leave us where we are. Instead, she shepherds the field in new and exciting directions, inspiring yet another generation of Dreamkeepers as they help our children Cross Over to Canaan. This book should be a staple for every teacher education program in America.”
—Marc Lamont Hill, professor and the Steve Charles Chair in Media Cities and Solutions, Temple University

“The volume we need in this time and moment in our collective history, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy provides a much-needed opportunity for educators to revisit Gloria Ladson-Billings’ groundbreaking concept and to reaffirm a commitment to bettering teaching and teacher education in service to Black children and their communities.”
—Marcelle Haddix, Distinguished Dean’s Professor of Literacy, Race, and Justice, Syracuse University

Contents

Series Foreword vii

Introduction 1

PART I: THE THEORY OF CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY

1. Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 15

2. But That’s Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 45

PART II: CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY IN SPECIFIC SUBJECT AREAS

3. Liberatory Consequences of Literacy: A Case of Culturally Relevant Instruction for African American Students 59

4. It Doesn’t Add Up: African American Students’ Mathematics Achievement 76

5. Crafting a Culturally Relevant Social Studies Approach 91

PART III: CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY AND TEACHER EDUCATION

6. Fighting for Our Lives: Preparing Teachers to Teach African American Students 107

7. Is the Team All Right? Diversity and Teacher Education 120

8. It’s Not the Culture of Poverty, It’s the Poverty of Culture: The Problem With Teacher Education 129

PART IV: THE FUTURE OF CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY

9. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the Remix 139

10. Beyond Beats, Rhymes, & Beyoncé: Hip Hop, Hip Hop Education, and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 151

Postscript 165

Index 171

About the Author 182

Cover painting: Mr Jackson's Stars, by Jerry Jordan
Jerry Jordan's art can be found at http://artistjerryjordan.com/