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