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The picture shows a ladder to explain the differences between some terms. Imagine climbing stairs to understand these ideas better. First, being culturally sensitive means realizing that people have different backgrounds without saying one is better than another. Next, being culturally relevant is like making strong connections between what you learn in school and where you come from. Then, being culturally responsive means that schools can change a bit to fit what students need. Lastly, being culturally sustaining is like adding on and using your background as a really important part of learning. The pictures with an eye, a chain link, a toggle, and a plus sign help show these steps.

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Creating Culturally Responsive Assessment | Center for Assessment

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Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds. Images Creating Culturally Responsive Assessment | Center for Assessment www.nciea.org Images may be subject to copyright.

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OTP aims to support students in their journey to success by working closely with local schools and community organizations. The program focuses on creating mentors at high school and college levels, as well as attracting, retaining, assisting, and ensuring the graduation of high-quality teacher candidates. The initiative kicks off by providing training to high school juniors and seniors. They are given the chance to enroll in dual-credit courses covering subjects like introduction to education and culturally responsive practices.

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Culturally and linguistically-diverse students make up a third of the student population in Oregon public schools. However, the majority of Oregon public school teachers are predominantly white females. Based on research, which shows that students of color achieve higher academic success when exposed to culturally and linguistically diverse teacher and teachers trained in culturally responsive [...]

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This resource answers the question we all want to know. What is it? Culturally responsive teaching helps create learning environments that validate and reflect the diversity, identities, and experiences of all students.

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At a glance

Culturally responsive teaching is a rich, intentional approach woven into every aspect of student learning.

It focuses on the assets students bring to the classroom rather than what students can't do.

It raises expectations and makes learning relevant for all students.

Culturally responsive teaching is a research-based approach to teaching. It connects students' cultures, languages, and life experiences with what they learn in school. These connections help students access rigorous curriculum and develop higher-level academic skills.

Our brains are wired to make connections. It's easier for our brains to learn and store information when we have a hook to hang it on. That hook is background knowledge. Students bring this knowledge to the classroom every day.

But for students of color, English language learners (ELLs), and other underserved student populations, those assets are often overlooked. When that happens, educators miss the chance to use them to support learning. (See recent work by Zaretta Hammond for the neuroscience behind this.)

Culturally responsive teaching values and reflects the assets of all students. By doing that, it raises academic expectations for all learners. It also sends the message that multiculturalism is an asset.

Dive deeper

The benefits of culturally responsive teaching

How culturally responsive teaching, UDL, and SEL work together

For educators: Culturally responsive teaching in the classroom

For educators: How to partner with families

Lydia Breiseth (director of Colorín Colorado), Shivohn García, PhD (senior director of the Impact team at Understood), and Shaquala Butler (Understood Teacher Fellow) contributed to this article.

About the author

About the author

Educators Team at Understood is made up of passionate writers, editors, educators, and subject matter experts who have worked in classrooms and with students who learn and think differently.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Karla Vigil, MAT is the chief executive officer and co-founder of the Equity Institute.

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Culturally responsive teaching helps create learning environments that validate and reflect the diversity, identities, and experiences of all students. Learn more.

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This website talks about a special online tool made by Professor Gretchen McAllister at Northern Arizona University. It's called the Jabulani School Simulation (JASS). The purpose is to help teachers in training learn about diversity by creating virtual classrooms. In this simulation, student teachers go online, apply for teaching jobs, and handle virtual students with different backgrounds. It's a bit like a video game, where as you get better, you learn more about each virtual student and face real challenges that teachers might encounter. The website explains how this tool helps teachers understand and handle diversity in the classroom.

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Posted by Heather Tate on May 12, 2020

As classroom populations become more diverse, the differences in students' backgrounds have increased the challenge that teachers face to create and deliver effective educational experiences. Research shows that student teachers may master the theory regarding diversity, but often don't have the opportunity to apply that theory during their student teaching experiences. As a result, they may not develop the culturally responsive skills needed to effectively serve children from diverse socio-economic, racial, ethnic, linguistic and ability/disability backgrounds.

To address this need, Gretchen McAllister, an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University, has created an online simulation environment-the Jabulani School Simulation (JASS)-designed to enable education faculty to create customized classroom simulations for their student teachers to gain hands-on experience with diversity issues. The digital interface simulates teaching in schools by providing online profiles of fictitious students and scenarios to help prepare teachers-in-training for real-life situations regarding children and families of diverse backgrounds.

Through JASS, teacher candidates go online to apply for a teaching job, get hired and receive their own classes of virtual students. They are tasked with getting to know the students in their classrooms and develop appropriate learning environments, including plans to specifically support their Jabulani students and families.

McAllister says the platform works much like a video game; as participants "level up" in their competencies, they are rewarded with more information that provides deeper insight into an individual student's background and circumstances. The challenges presented through the simulation are based on research revealing real-life challenges facing teachers and students.

"Through the simulation, teachers will learn to see an educational concept through multiple lenses. For example, a Hopi student's relationship to the concept of corn and the growing process may be different from a Caucasian child's," said McAllister.

"Or we could develop a scenario, for example, in which a second grader has two dads-one stays at home and one works in construction-and the other kids are curious about this. What could the teacher do to prepare the classroom in subtle ways? What kind of books and pictures are they using to normalize the classroom? Are they in a virtual school that bans LGBTQ literature? How will they work with the principal and the families? Simulating these cases gives teachers a visceral experience and helps build confidence to be more prepared in a real setting."

McAllister says she discovered the need for such diversity training about 10 years ago. "I was frustrated with the consistent problem of children of color not performing well in schools. I thought, 'What if we simulate some of these activities to teach new teachers to help these children feel more comfortable in the learning environment?' We need to create some space for a community of learners to try and figure this out together, and simulations have been known to help with that."

The online platform is a series of virtual experiences to help teachers practice their thinking, she says. "Our future teachers will be student teaching during a semester and will have their own classrooms. But with JASS, they will be set up with profiles of children in their classroom. Those virtual students will provide a learning context for our future teachers to discuss and consider how to best serve them. Jabulani is a place for learning and growth where teacher candidates can make mistakes."
Turning JASS into a commercially viable product
Meanwhile, Eck Doerry, a professor in NAU's School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, is helping turn McAllister's virtual Jabulani School into a product that can help teachers everywhere better understand the complexity of today's classrooms and earn diversity training certification. The product that NAU hopes to bring to market provides two components: a virtual classroom database of students and a series of problem-based learning modules.

"Through JASS, we have the intellectual property," says McAllister. "What we are looking for now is the funding to have an educational module with a prototype platform up and running."

"There are teachers in practice and colleges of education that need certification in diversity management," says Doerry. "Why not turn Jabulani into a classroom marketplace, make it like the Amazon Marketplace of diversity training. Essentially, you have your clients, who are teachers and students in education, and a teacher training program. They could sign up at this site and pay their tuition. Teachers who achieve this level of training could become Jabulani certified across the nation."

Doerry sees a future where a core of certified Jabulani instructors could be connected with the students going through the curricula and get paid as consultants.

McAllister is hoping to create a community of teachers to serve as mentors and students who will become teachers to help all children have good experiences in this school.

McAllister and Doerry are working with the NAU Innovations team-the university's technology transfer arm-to commercialize the simulation as intellectual property. The project is currently in a piloting phase.

If you are a member of NAU faculty or stuff, or an NAU student developing any type of technology that may qualify as intellectual property, contact NAU Innovations at nauinnovations@nau.edu or call 928-523-4620 to discuss how you can protect your intellectual property and possibly develop it for commercialization. Learn more on the NAU Innovations website.

Bonnie Stevens and Kerry Bennett
Office of the Vice President for Research
(928) 523-5556 | kerry.bennett@nau.edu

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NAU researchers develop online simulation | Research

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Gretchen McAllister has created an online simulation environment to enable education faculty to create customized classroom simulations

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Culturally Responsive Teaching: 4 Misconceptions

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Culturally Responsive Teaching: 4 Misconceptions

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This article is important because it talks about misunderstandings in teaching students from diverse backgrounds. As classrooms get more diverse, teachers need to know the best ways to teach students from different backgrounds. Zaretta Hammond, the author of "Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain," points out mistakes teachers might make. It explains the differences between multicultural education, social justice education, and culturally responsive teaching, saying the last one is about helping each student learn better. The article challenges ideas about addressing bias, the role of relationships, and the belief that teaching is just about using specific strategies.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching: 4 Misconceptions | Cult of Pedagogy

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In some cases, teachers think they’re practicing culturally responsive teaching, when in fact, they’re kind of not. Zaretta Hammond helps clear things up.

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Creating a Culturally Responsive Classroom

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Creating a Culturally Responsive Classroom

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This video is important because it talks about how we shouldn't expect students to forget who they are when they come to class. It's not fair. Instead, the video suggests that teachers should use technology to make lessons more relevant to students' cultures. By using tools like translation and live streaming, teachers can connect with families and make learning more interactive. The video also encourages teachers to think about their own cultural biases and learn from tough conversations with themselves. The main idea is that when we understand and include students' cultures, everyone can learn better and feel empowered.

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Creating a Culturally Responsive Classroom

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Knowing global education norms is vital for English Learner success. Teacher roles differ worldwide, affecting expectations for student participation. Culturally responsive teaching involves respecting diverse backgrounds and avoiding pressures that go against students' comfort zones.

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Gathering information from lots of studies about teaching that respects different cultures, New America figured out eight important skills for teachers who want to be culturally responsive (see Figure 1). It's not everything, but these connected skills show what research suggests is really important for doing culturally responsive teaching well, no matter what grade or subject you teach.

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This article underscores the significance of culturally responsive teaching in addressing historical biases and inequalities in education. It highlights the undervaluation of academic potential among students of color and stresses the need for teaching approaches that integrate cultural identities into learning. Despite the positive impact of such methods, legislative efforts to limit discussions on race, gender, and sexuality present challenges to equity initiatives. It is crucial for educators to explore the definition and characteristics of culturally responsive teaching, creating inclusive classrooms where students, especially those of color, feel a sense of belonging, enhancing engagement, and fostering academic success.

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For decades, researchers have found that teachers in public schools have undervalued the potential for academic success among students of color, setting low expectations for them and thinking of cultural differences as barriers rather than assets to learning.

In response, scholars developed teaching methods and practices-broadly known as asset-based pedagogies-that incorporate students' cultural identities and lived experiences into the classroom as tools for effective instruction. The terms for these approaches to teaching vary, from culturally responsive teaching and culturally sustaining pedagogy to the more foundational culturally relevant pedagogy. Though each term has its own components defined by different researchers over time, all these approaches to teaching center the knowledge of traditionally marginalized communities in classroom instruction. As a result, all students, and in particular students of color, are empowered to become lifelong learners and critical thinkers.

This explainer unpacks what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher, how all these research terms are related, and where other academic concepts such as critical race theory tie in-or not.

What is the definition of culturally responsive teaching?

Culturally responsive teaching means using students' customs, characteristics, experience, and perspectives as tools for better classroom instruction.

The term was coined by researcher Geneva Gay in 2000, who wrote that "when academic knowledge and skills are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference for students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal, and are learned more easily and thoroughly."

It's the kind of teaching that helps students of color see themselves and their communities as belonging in schools and other academic spaces, leading to more engagement and success.

What is culture, and why is it relevant to student learning?

Culture refers to the customs, languages, values, beliefs, and achievements of a group of people. Students' culture and lived experiences that influence how they understand and make sense of the world or themselves are an integral part of who they are as learners. As Emily Style, the former founding co-director of the National SEED Project (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), once wrote, "Half the curriculum walks in the door with the students."

While more than half of public school students are students of color, most schools are organized around the mainstream culture of white Americans. The culture that many students experience at home and in their communities is not always represented at school-or is represented in a stereotypical way.

Also, 80 percent of teachers are white. Research has found that teachers are just as likely to have racial biases as non-teachers, and those biases tend to influence the expectations they have for their students and their ways of managing their classrooms. For example, past research has found that white teachers have lower expectations for Black students than they do for white students, and those can turn into "self-fulfilling prophecies" when students internalize them or when teachers change their approach to students as a result of their mindsets.

One study found that white teachers were more likely to praise a poorly written essay if they thought it was written by a student of color than if they thought the essay was by a white student. Teachers' racial biases can also result in decreased access to advanced coursework and higher rates of suspensions.

When did culturally responsive teaching start?

Culturally responsive teaching stems from the framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, which was introduced by scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings in the 1990s. Ladson-Billings was tired of the commonly held narrative that Black children were deficient and deviant, and that there was something wrong with them. Instead, she wanted to find out what was right with Black children, their families, and their communities. To do so, she researched the practices of effective teachers of Black students.

For about two years, Ladson-Billings observed teachers who were identified by both principals and Black parents as being excellent. The teachers had different ways of teaching, but they all had high expectations for their students and fostered academic success. They also all valued and integrated themselves in the community from which their students came.

Ladson-Billings distilled the commonalities in those teachers' beliefs and practices into the framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, which she defined as a model that "not only addresses student achievement but also helps students to accept and affirm their cultural identity while developing critical perspectives that challenge inequities that schools (and other institutions) perpetuate."

There are three components of culturally relevant pedagogy:

student learning-prioritizing students' intellectual growth, including their ability to problem-solve;

cultural competence-creating an environment where students affirm and appreciate their culture of origin while also developing fluency in at least one other culture; and

critical consciousness-teaching students how to identify, analyze, and solve real-world problems, especially those that result in societal inequities against marginalized groups.

So, what are the characteristics of culturally responsive teaching?

Gay's research shows five essential components of culturally responsive teaching:

A strong knowledge base about cultural diversity. Teachers should understand different racial and ethnic groups' cultural values, traditions, and contributions to society, and incorporate that knowledge into their instruction.

Culturally relevant curricula. Teachers should include multiple perspectives in their instruction and make sure the images displayed in classrooms-such as on bulletin boards-represent a wide range of diversity. Teachers should also contextualize issues within race, class, ethnicity, and gender.

High expectations for all students. Teachers should help students achieve academic success while still validating their cultural identities.

An appreciation for different communication styles. Teachers should understand different communication styles and modify classroom interactions accordingly. For example, many communities of color have an active, participatory style of communication. A teacher who doesn't understand this cultural context might think a student is being rude and tell the student to be quiet. The student may then shut down.

The use of multicultural instructional examples. Teachers should connect students' prior knowledge and cultural experiences with new knowledge.

Doesn't that require teachers to reinforce stereotypes about students of color and even discriminate against white children?

In short, no. While the academic framework of culturally responsive teaching and other asset-based pedagogies emerged from how to best support students of color, it evolved into a teaching approach that serves all students, regardless of their racial background.

Sharroky Hollie, the director of the nonprofit Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning, works with teachers to practice what he calls cultural and linguistic responsiveness. In his work, he talks about the rings of culture, meaning the various aspects of students' identities that can impact how they interact with the world around them.

To Hollie, it's not just about thinking of ways to validate and incorporate a student's racial background into the classroom. It's not about thinking of students in a one-dimensional, stereotypical way. Culturally responsive teachers must also consider the student's gender, age, socio-economic status, whether they live in the suburbs or a rural area, and more.

"It's not as simplistic as we're trying to value our students of color," he said. "We're actually trying to value the rings of culture that they bring to our schools, regardless of their racial background."

For instance, in predominately white school districts, there are white students who, due to where they live or their family's socio-economic status, are underserved by their school district and could benefit from a culturally responsive approach to education, Hollie said.

What is culturally sustaining pedagogy, and how is it different than culturally relevant teaching?

Schools are still places where white norms are considered the default standard in the curricula, behavioral expectations, linguistic practices, and more. Culturally sustaining pedagogy says that students of color should not be expected to adhere to white middle-class norms, but their own cultural ways of being should be explored, honored, and nurtured by educators.

The framework builds on the work of Ladson-Billing and others but offers a "loving critique" that cultural relevance in the curriculum is not enough for students in today's world, given demographic shifts toward a more diverse society. Paris and Alim also argue that asset-based pedagogies, like culturally relevant teaching, traditionally haven't paid enough attention to young people's more fluid relationships with their identities.

Ladson-Billings has embraced the evolution of her foundational pedagogy, writing in 2014 that "culturally sustaining pedagogy uses culturally relevant pedagogy as the place where the beat drops." She also told Education Week that she is now paying close attention to how teenagers shape culture, an aspect that wasn't present in her original work.

It's important to remember that these asset-based pedagogies-culturally responsive, culturally relevant, and culturally sustainable, among others-are not in conflict with each other. While their frameworks vary, they all have the same goal of dismantling a deficit approach to educating students of color and focusing instead on their strengths, assets, and communities in the classroom.

What does the research say about the effectiveness of these teaching frameworks?

A 2016 synthesis of decades of research on culturally responsive teaching and related frameworks found that engaging in culturally affirming practices across subject matters, including mathematics and science, led to positive increases in students' understanding and engagement with academic skills and concepts.  For instance, students in high school math class could learn about statistics by assessing the probabilities of racial profiling cases in various neighborhoods or using other datasets applicable to their communities that bring up questions about justice and injustice.

Culturally responsive teaching and similar approaches to teaching also increased students' motivation, interest in content, and the perception of themselves as capable students, among other benefits, the study found. Brittany Aronson, an associate professor in educational leadership at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a co-author of the study, said, whenever teachers drew direct connections between classroom lessons and students' experiences outside of school, students could see greater value in the academic content as it applies to the real world. Such work helps students see themselves as knowledge producers and researchers.

Overall, teaching that makes school relevant to students helps them succeed both in terms of quantitative measures such as high test scores, and more qualitative measures such as becoming life-long learners able to ask critical questions about the world around them, both in and out of school, Aronson said.

What are some examples of culturally responsive teaching?

Teachers who practice culturally responsive teaching have a classroom full of books featuring characters and images that represent a variety of ages, genders, ethnicities, and other types of diversity. They share the achievements and expertise of people from different ethnic groups in every subject area. They include multiple perspectives when discussing historical and contemporary events, including those from oppressed groups who are often left out of the narrative. And they encourage students to draw on their prior knowledge and cultural experiences to make connections to the academic content.

Culturally responsive teaching also must have an element of critical consciousness, where students are empowered to critique and analyze societal inequities. For example, Teddi Beam-Conroy, an associate teaching professor at the University of Washington, was teaching the Declaration of Independence to a class of 5th graders. When they got to the line that said, "All men are created equal," Beam-Conroy asked her students, "Who were the men who were considered equal at that point?" To illustrate the point, she asked everyone to stand up-and then told them to sit down if they didn't identify as male, if they didn't identify as white, or if their parents rented instead of owned a home.

That exercise opened the door to a conversation about how Americans weren't all equal in the late 18th century. Beam-Conroy's students discussed when women and African Americans got the right to vote-and what implications that has had on the composition of U.S. Congress or the Supreme Court. The critical consciousness piece is "examining how historically, power has been distributed and guarded among particular folks who make the laws," Beam-Conroy said. "Fifth graders can understand that."

Culturally responsive teaching can also involve a deeper reimagining of classroom codes of conduct. For instance, in some students' culture, talking while someone else talks shows how invested and engaged they are in the conversation, said Hollie with the Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning. Culturally responsive teachers find ways to incorporate that verbal overlap into their lesson rather than seeing it as rude or worthy of discipline.

What isn't culturally responsive teaching?

Researchers note that some educators say they're practicing culturally responsive teaching, but it's an overly simplified version. For example, for some teachers, a multicultural school potluck meal or adding diverse books to their classroom library sufficiently counts as affirming students' culture in education. But culturally responsive teaching is deeper, more critical work.

"There's a tendency to truncate culturally responsive teaching to be about a whole myriad of things-it's about relationships, it's about anti-racist education, it's about diverse books," said Zaretta Hammond, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. "It's like that old parable of the king who asks nine blind men to describe an elephant. Each one grabs a different part of the elephant. 'Oh, it's flat and wide'-he's got the ear. 'No, it's like a rope'-he's got the tail. No one has the whole picture."

Too often, she said, white progressive educators view culturally responsive teaching as an add-on to their regular instruction instead of a fundamental shift in their pedagogy. For example, a teacher might think students of color just need to see themselves in order to feel motivated and do the work, so she'll incorporate diverse books into her classroom or syllabus-but not change anything to the content or her way of instruction.

Another common misconception is that culturally responsive teaching is a way of addressing student trauma, which is a deficit-based ideology that assumes the universal experience of people of color is one of trauma, Hammond said.

How widespread is culturally responsive teaching?

Most teacher-preparation programs have also incorporated culturally responsive teaching into their courses. And some school districts, including New York City and Baltimore City, have adopted a culturally responsive and/or sustaining approach to education.

Still, experts say it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how many teachers have adopted these asset-based pedagogies because some may use only certain tenets. For instance, helping students develop a critical consciousness is often ignored.

What does all of this have to do with critical race theory?

Critical race theory, broadly speaking, is an academic concept with the core idea that race is a social construct, and racism is not only the product of individual bias or prejudice but is also embedded in policies and systems, such as a legal system-or as some scholars such as Ladson-Billings propose, an educational system.

Aspiring K-12 teachers in graduate level courses may study aspects of critical race theory to better understand how school systems are designed in ways that don't serve the needs of students of color. But critical race theory is not taught as a guide for classroom instruction, nor is it typically used as a culturally relevant or culturally responsive lesson plan for kids and teens, said Aronson with Miami University.

Asset-based pedagogies, like culturally relevant or culturally responsive teaching, are not the same thing as critical race theory. They have different theoretical bases and different goals. However, there might be some commonalities-for example, the questions students are encouraged to ask about social systems, including education, may ring close to the consciousness critical race theory is meant to evoke.

In an interview with Education Week, Ladson-Billings stressed that culturally relevant teaching, as she defined it, has nothing to do with critical race theory. But opponents to critical race theory have glossed over those nuances, she said, adding that deliberative public debate is hard when people don't know what they're talking about.

"The attack on anything that allows more participation and moves us toward equity is going full force," she said.

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Here's what it means to be a culturally responsive teacher and where critical race theory ties in-or not.

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If you're an educator, and you're not tapping into your students' interests, you're missing a crucial link to support their personal growth. Let me share insights from Jeffrey Dessources that highlight the significance of cultural responsiveness in student development. Jeffrey Dessources, a dynamic public educator and author of five books, including the latest 'Trill Motivation,' brings a fresh perspective to leadership and motivation. In this TEDx talk, he sheds light on the importance of cultural responsiveness. Hailing from a Haitian background, Dessources has lectured at prestigious universities like Columbia and Princeton, and his influence extends globally.

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TrillEDU:  Culturally Responsive Pedagogy...  | Jeffrey Dessources | TEDxNewJerseyCityUniversity