We Can't Teach What We Don't Know

For author Gary Howard, the issues and passions that sparked the writing of the First Edition of this now classic work are as intense today as they were then. In the Third Edition, Howard reviews the progress we have made in the interim (for example, the first Black president in the White House), as well as the lack of progress (the gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the epidemic of Black youth killed by police, and the persistence of race-based educational disparities). Making a case for the “fierce urgency of now,” this new edition deepens the discussion of race and social justice in education with new and updated material. Aligned with our nation’s ever more diverse student population, it speaks to what good teachers know, what they do, and how they embrace culturally responsive teaching. This essential text is widely used in teacher preparation courses and for in-service professional development.

New for the Third Edition:

• A revised Introduction that places the book in the context of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 march on Washington.
• An updated analysis of White social dominance, bringing in Critical Race Theory and reflecting on the racist reaction to the election of our first Black President.
• More detail to the White Identity Orientations model, bringing in the personal life experiences of several contemporary White racial-justice activists.
• A new section, “The Whiteness of School Reform,” demonstrating how White social dominance drives much of the corporate school reform movement.
• A richer discussion of the seven principles for Culturally Responsive Teaching, drawing lessons from the author’s transformative work with school districts throughout the country.
• An expanded Reflection and Discussion Guide authored by two educators who have been using the book in professional development sessions for many years.

Gary R. Howard is president and founder of the REACH Center for Multicultural Education in Seattle, Washington. He travels widely throughout the United States delivering keynote speeches and workshops addressing issues of race, justice, educational reform, and social transformation.

"This third edition of We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools, does an excellent job of providing a road map for white teachers to explore, discover, and critique the historical legacies of their identities."

—Teachers College Record

"The book provides ample opportunities for White teachers to reflect on their own racial identities and consider the role of race in the classroom."

—Multicultural Education Review

“This Third Edition of We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know deepens the critically conscious framework it provides to support the development of especially White, middle-class teachers becoming highly effective, culturally relevant, and responsive educators to all students, especially those in the most poorly resourced schools. It also conveys, with the appropriate utter urgency, the need for teacher education to recruit and retain highly race-conscious teachers of color.”
—Christine Clark, professor and senior scholar in multicultural education; founding vice president for diversity and inclusion, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)

"While we continue the work that must be done, more teachers need to read this book, more schools need to make sure it is in their libraries, and more colleges of education need to include it as mandatory reading. One book cannot change the world, but as this book has demonstrated since it was first published, it can begin the process."
—From the Foreword by Sonia Nieto, professor emerita, Language, Literacy, and Culture, College of Education, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

"Gary Howard’s greatest gifts to me as a White educator are how he challenges me to see the subtle inequities I otherwise might struggle to see, and his commitment to doing so with humility and integrity: always the bridge, never the judge. What excites me about this new edition of We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know is how, as Howard expands his own sphere of influence beyond schools and into school reform policy, he invites me, as a reader, along for the ride, helping me expand my own sphere of influence—always the bridge."
—Paul Gorski, founder of EdChange; associate professor of Integrative Studies at George Mason University

Critical Acclaim for We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know!

"Offers a healing vision for the future of education in pluralistic nations."
—Rethinking Schools

"An indispensable resource for anyone struggling to understand the role that Whites play in multicultural education."
—Teaching Tolerance

"This work clearly deserves the enthusiastic praise it receives from major multicultural thinkers such as James Banks, Sonia Nieto, and Christine Sleeter."
—Journal of Moral Education

“A wake-up call for those suffering from apathy and a confirmation for those who want to continue to serve as change agents in American society."
—Journal of Negro Education

"An excellent guide for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of how to lead and live in an increasingly multicultural, multiracial world."
—The Diversity Factor