Culturally Responsive Teaching

Learn more about how to use students’ customs, characteristics, experience, and perspectives as tools for better classroom instruction

Explainer

conceptual illustration of a classroom with colorful roots growing beneath the surface under the teacher and students
What Is Culturally Responsive Teaching?
Here's what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher and where critical race theory ties in—or not.
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. He shared anti-immigrant rhetoric targeting the Haitian immigrant community of Springfield, Ohio.
Alex Brandon/AP
English Learners Amid Political Attacks on Ohio Immigrants, How Schools Can Support Newcomers
Former President Trump's anti-immigrant rumors shed light on how an Ohio town's schools have helped newcomers.
Ileana Najarro, September 11, 2024
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5 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Equity & Diversity Opinion 13 Ways Educators Get Culturally Responsive Teaching Wrong
Some teachers believe adding a few culturally relevant texts or activities to the existing curricula is sufficient. It's not.
Larry Ferlazzo, August 28, 2024
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13 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Teaching Opinion Student Identity Is Complex. Here's How to Honor It
There are practices to help students, their families, and teachers develop a regard for themselves, each other, and the human experience.
Larry Ferlazzo, August 26, 2024
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10 min read
Workflow, Teamwork, Education concept. Team, people, colleagues in company, organization, administrative community. Corporate work, partnership and study.
Paper Trident/iStock
School & District Management Opinion 3 Steps for Culturally Competent Education Outside the Classroom
It’s not just all on teachers; the front office staff has a role to play in making schools more equitable.
Allyson Taylor, April 15, 2024
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5 min read
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Jordan Strauss/Invision via AP
Equity & Diversity Q&A The Lily Gladstone Effect: A Teacher Explains the Value of Indigenous Language Immersion
Students in the Browning public schools district in Montana engage in a Blackfoot language immersion program for all ages.
Ileana Najarro, March 6, 2024
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5 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
English Learners Opinion How to Connect With English-Language Newcomers. Teachers Share Their Favorite Lessons
Stock classrooms with books that reflect students’ lives, languages, and cultures and invite them into as yet unfamiliar worlds.
Larry Ferlazzo, February 6, 2024
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10 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Teaching Opinion Making Culturally Responsive Teaching Work: Zaretta Hammond Corrects 3 Big Misconceptions
The author and coach explains how to avoid several common mistakes in culturally responsive teaching.
Larry Ferlazzo, September 26, 2023
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10 min read
Collage of a young student reading a book.
Laura Baker/Education Week via Canva
Equity & Diversity Researchers Find Need for More High Quality, Culturally Relevant Curriculum
A new report from The Education Trust examines the limited complexity of representation in children's books deemed to be high quality.
Ileana Najarro, September 25, 2023
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5 min read
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Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week
Equity & Diversity Video A Native Community Revitalized a Language. Here’s How a School District Carries It On
Native students' well-being and grad rates improve when they're exposed to their cultural languages. How one district is making that happen.
Kaylee Domzalski, June 9, 2023
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4 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
Teaching Opinion The Big Questions Teachers Are Asking Themselves Right Now
Teachers have lots of questions, chief among them why there's such a mismatch between teacher-prep and school district needs.
Larry Ferlazzo, June 7, 2023
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12 min read
Image of a mother working on homework with her son.
Marco VDM/E+
Mathematics What Parents Say Would Make Math Class More Relevant
Parents agreed that their children would be more likely to succeed in math classes that are relevant and engaging.
Evie Blad, April 21, 2023
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3 min read
Photo of student reading.
E+ / Getty
Reading & Literacy Using a Curriculum Rich in Arts, History, and Science Led to Big Reading Improvements
Students taught using the approach outperformed those in other schools, a new study finds.
Sarah Schwartz, April 11, 2023
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6 min read
This May 8, 1964 file photo shows Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated.
This May 8, 1964 file photo shows Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kan. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated.
AP Photo
Equity & Diversity Educational Inequality: 4 Moments in History That Explain Where We Are Today
A new Columbia University report highlights how inequality was embedded in the creation of public education in the United States.
Ileana Najarro, March 20, 2023
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5 min read
Tue., March 07, 2023, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET
School & District Management Webinar How Culturally Responsive Leadership Leads to Student Success
Discover how to create a learning environment where all students feel valued and supported, and how to accelerate learning for English learners and students of color.
Register
March 7, 2023
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