A Guide to Evidence-Based
Practices for Teaching All
Students Equitably
Culturally
Responsive
Teaching
About the Region X Equity Assistance Center
e Region X Equity Assistance Center (EAC) at Education Northwest helps schools and their communities
incorporate educational equity into policies, procedures, and classroom practices to ensure that all students receive
what they need to succeed academically. Our principal responsibilities are to provide and support planning,
implementation, and sustainability for equity initiatives at the request of school boards and other responsible
governmental agencies. We work with our stakeholders to increase family and community engagement, improve
student academic performance, and strengthen student engagement and school culture. We also provide assistance
with culturally responsive teaching, school safety, and compliance with the requirements of the federal Dear
Colleague Letters.
As one of 10 centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education, we provide training and technical assistance to
K–12 public schools within Region X at no cost or through a cost-share arrangement. Region X consists of Alaska,
Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Territory of American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Territory of Guam, Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap), Republic of the
Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau.
For more information or to request assistance, go to: http://educationnorthwest.org/equity-assistance-center/
Contact
Dr. Yvonne Ryans, Director, Region X Equity Assistance Center at Education Northwest
101 S.W. Main Street, Suite 500, Portland, Oregon 97204
Phone: 503.275.9481 (toll free: 800.547.6339)
Yvonne.Ryans@educationnorthwest.org
Discrimination Prohibited
No person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, national origin, sex, or disability, be excluded from
participation in, be denied the benets of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity
receiving federal nancial assistance, or be so treated on the basis of sex under most education programs or
activities receiving federal nancial assistance.
About This Publication
is publication is based on work supported wholly or in part by grant number S004D60006 and S004D990005
from the U.S. Department of Education. e content of this document does not necessarily reect the views of the
department or any other agency of the United States government. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this
publication in whole or in part with the acknowledgment of the Region X Equity Assistance Center at Education
Northwest as the source.
at Education Northwest
Equity
Assistance
Center
Region X
March 2016
Basha Krasno
Region X Equity Assistance Center
Education Northwest
A Guide to Evidence-Based Practices
for Teaching All Students Equitably
Culturally
Responsive
Teaching
Contents
Introduction .......................................1
Preparing Teachers to Be Culturally Responsive
...................2
Eective Teaching is Culturally Responsive
......................3
Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement
...................4
Teacher Skills and Student Success
..........................8
Teacher Caring and Community Building
......................9
Teachers Cultivating Cross-Cultural Communication
...............10
Considering Cultural Diversity when Designing Instruction
...........12
Teachers Recognizing Key Dimensions of Cultural Learning Diversity
......14
Teachers Creating an Equitable Classroom Climate
................16
Conclusion
.......................................18
Limitations
.......................................20
Appendix A: Educational Equity
...........................21
Appendix B: Considerations Beyond the Classroom
................23
References
.......................................25
1Culturally Responsive Teaching
Introduction
Students in the United States and its territories come
from a large and increasing number of racially,
ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse
families: diverse students made up 48 percent of
the population in 2011, up from 39 percent in 2001.
Teachers and school leaders, for the most part, do not
reect that diversity (U.S. Department of Education
Equity and Excellence Commission, 2013). In 2012,
84 percent of full-time public school teachers were
White, 7 percent were Black, 7 percent were Hispanic,
and fewer than 2 percent were Asian or Pacic
Islander (Aud et al., 2013).
e contrast in the demographic composition of
educators and their students is cause for concern
because research shows that students’ race, ethnicity,
and cultural background signicantly inuence
their achievement. (Harry & Klingner, 2006; Orosco
& Klingner, 2010; Skiba et al., 2011). ere is
extensive evidence from achievement test scores,
grade promotion rates, graduation rates, and other
common indicators of school success that students
from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
experience poorer educational outcomes than their
peers (Bennett et al., 2004; Conchas & Noguera, 2004;
Sanders, 2000). Additional factors such as poverty
and inadequate training or professional development
opportunities for teachers compound this negative
impact, as do systemic issues like biased assessment
practices and institutional racism.
According to Scott (2000), if the essential intention
of education is to positively impact students’ lives by
equipping them with critical knowledge and skills
through culturally relevant, expert practice, then
disparities in curriculum and instruction require that
school districts shi their priorities and policies. Scott
suggests that districts:
• Require each teacher to obtain proper certication,
training, and professional development
• Increase teacher motivation to recognize diverse
learners’ strengths, as well as their needs
• Decrease dependence on packaged instructional
materials and increase implementation of strategies
and techniques targeted to the needs of specic
student groups
• Integrate the use of technology into instructional
practice to bridge the generational divide
• Recruit and retain high-quality teachers for schools
in rural and remote areas
Addressing the unique needs of students from diverse
backgrounds is one of the major challenges facing
public education today because many teachers are
inadequately prepared with the relevant content
knowledge, experience, and training (Au, 2009;
Cummins, 2007). Inadequate preparation can create
a cultural gap between teachers and students (Gay,
2010; Ladson-Billings, 2009) that limits the ability of
educators to choose eective instructional practices
and curricular materials. Research on curriculum
and instructional practices has primarily focused on
White middle-class students, while virtually ignoring
the cultural and linguistic characteristics of diverse
learners (Orosco, 2010; Orosco & O’Connor, 2011).
A mandate for change requires that racially, ethnically,
culturally, and linguistically diverse students have
the opportunity to meet their learning challenges
with the strength and relevance found in their own
cultural frame of reference. erefore, teachers must
be prepared with a thorough understanding of the
specic cultures of the students they teach; how
that culture aects student learning behaviors; and
how they can change classroom interactions and
instruction to embrace the dierences.
2 © Education Northwest 2016
Preparing Teachers To Be Culturally Responsive
Because culture strongly inuences the attitudes,
values, and behaviors that students and teachers
bring to the instructional process, better teacher
preparation is a major factor in solving the problems
of underachievement. Reasonably, teachers can only
be held accountable for student outcomes if they are
adequately prepared to be culturally responsive to
their students’ learning styles and needs.
Seminal studies of culturally responsive teaching,
conducted over the course of the past 30–40 years
have provided the evidence base for many of the
innovative practices developed by Geneva Gay, Sonia
Nieto, and Gloria Ladson-Billings. ese “teachers
of teachers“ developed systems of instructional
delivery based on what the research told them about
racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically
diverse students. For them, cultural congruity had
to be deeply embedded in any teaching practice;
therefore, they recommended training teachers in
instructional techniques matched to the diverse
learning styles of their students. Gay (2002) made the
case for preparing teachers with culturally responsive
knowledge, attitudes, and skills during preservice
education programs to improve the school success of
diverse students. rough proper training, teachers
learn to bridge the gap between instructional delivery
and diverse learning styles and establish continuity
between how diverse students learn and communicate
and how the school approaches teaching and learning.
Villegas and Lucas (2002) encouraged teacher
educators to critically examine their programs and
systematically interweave throughout prospective
teachers’ coursework, learning experiences, and
eldwork the strategies that research has shown
better prepares them to work successfully with
diverse students. ese researchers posited that
helping prospective teachers develop the following six
characteristics would prepare them to be culturally
responsive.
1. Socio-cultural consciousness: A teacher’s
own way of thinking, behaving, and being are
inuenced by race, ethnicity, social class, and
language. Prospective teachers must critically
examine their own socio-cultural identities and
biases in the context of the inequalities culturally
diverse segments of society experience. ey must
recognize discrimination based on ethnicity, social
class, and skin color and inspect and confront any
negative attitudes they might have toward diverse
student groups.
2. Attitude: A teacher’s arming attitude toward
students from culturally diverse backgrounds
signicantly impacts student learning, belief in
themselves, and overall academic performance. By
respecting cultural dierences and using curricular
and instructional practices related to the cultures
of their students, schools and classrooms become
inclusive.
3. Commitment and skills: A teacher’s role as an
agent of change confronts barriers/obstacles to
those changes and develops skills for collaboration.
As agents of change, teachers assist schools in
becoming more equitable over time.
4. Constructivist views: A teacher’s contention
that all students are capable of learning requires
building scaolding between what students already
know through their own experiences and what they
need to learn. Constructivist teaching promotes
critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration,
and the recognition of multiple perspectives.
5. Knowledge of student’s life: A teacher’s learning
about a student’s past experiences, home and
community culture, and world in and out of school
helps build relationships by increasing the use of
these experiences in the context of teaching and
learning.
6. Culturally responsive teaching: A teacher’s use
of strategies that support a constructivist view of
knowledge, teaching, and learning assists students
in constructing knowledge, building on their
personal and cultural strengths, and examining
the curriculum from multiple perspectives, thus
creating an inclusive classroom environment.
3Culturally Responsive Teaching
Eective Teaching Is Culturally Responsive
Researchers at the Comprehensive Center for Teacher
Quality (Goe, Bell, & Little, 2008) concluded that
being an eective teacher means more than providing
subject-matter instruction or focusing on one
measure of student achievement. ey found that
cultural responsiveness is integral to the “essence”
of eective teaching and described ve qualities that
distinguish eective teachers:
1. Hold high expectations for all students and
help all students learn, as measured by value-
added or other test-based growth measures or by
alternative measures
2. Contribute to positive academic, attitudinal,
and social outcomes for students, such as regular
attendance, on-time promotion to the next grade,
on-time graduation, self-ecacy, and cooperative
behavior
3. Use diverse resources to plan and structure
engaging learning opportunities, monitor student
progress formatively, adapt instruction as needed,
and evaluate learning using multiple sources of
evidence
4. Contribute to the development of classrooms
and schools that value diversity and civic-
mindedness
5. Collaborate with colleagues, administrators,
parents, and education professionals to ensure
student success, particularly the success of high-
risk students or those with special needs
4 © Education Northwest 2016
Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement
Expectations play a critical role in student
achievement. Some students are more vulnerable
to low expectations because of societal biases and
stereotypes associated with their racial and/or
ethnic identity. ough educators do not intend
to communicate low expectations, there is well-
documented evidence that these societal beliefs have
a tangible, negative eect on the performance and
achievement of racially, ethnically, culturally, and
linguistically diverse students.
Over time, low expectations not only hinder learning
but also negatively aect students’ attitudes and
motivation, resulting in self-fullling prophecies. If
they are to eliminate persistent disparities in student
achievement, every educator must consciously
and consistently demonstrate the same specic,
observable, and measurable behaviors and practices
to all students, regardless of the students’ current
academic performance (Montgomery County Public
Schools, 2010).
Decades of research on the Teacher Expectations
Student Achievement (TESA) Interaction Model
have identied 27 specic, observable, and
measureable teacher behaviors that communicate
high expectations. ese behaviors provide equitable
response opportunities and eective feedback,
and help develop caring relationships. e 27
teacher behaviors were found to communicate high
expectations to all students regardless of their race,
ethnicity, or cultural or linguistic context (Los Angeles
County Oce of Education, 2002; Montgomery
County Public Schools, 2010).
TESA researchers have found that teachers
communicate high expectations by:
1. Welcoming students by name as they enter
the classroom. Making the eort to accurately
remember and correctly pronounce each student’s
name is a gesture of respect of both the student
and his or her culture. In many cultures, the giving
of names is loaded with symbolic signicance, and
to mispronounce that name is to diminish it and
its bearer (Ladson-Billings, 2009).
2. Using eye contact with high- and low-
achieving students. To be equitable in the
classroom, the teacher needs to be sensitive to
the cultural norms and interpretations of even
such simple behaviors as making eye contact and
the messages this gesture sends about teacher
expectations (Cooper, 1979).
3. Using proximity with high- and low-achieving
students equitably. Although it has been observed
that teachers unconsciously favor those student
perceived to be most like themselves in race, class,
and values, culturally relevant teaching means
consciously working to develop commonalities
among all students (Ladson-Billings, 2009).
4. Using body language, gestures, and
expressions to convey a message that
all students’ questions and opinions are
important. Nonverbal behavior can be the
most immediate part of a teacher’s overall
reward system, as well as one of the most subtly
motivating or discouraging forces available to
teachers in their interactions with students.
Students almost always notice nonverbal behavior,
especially when others are receiving it, while
it is oen unperceived by the teacher using it
(Marzano, 2007).
5. Arranging the classroom to accommodate
discussion. An inviting classroom uses the
arrangement of desks to enhance interpersonal
relationships between the teacher and student and
among students themselves. Students must be able
to relate in a positive way to their peers so that
they communicate with one another. is permits
a sense of connection and collaboration (Shade,
Oberg, & Kelly, 2004).
6. Ensuring bulletin boards, displays,
instructional materials, and other visuals in
the classroom reect students’ racial, ethnic,
and cultural backgrounds. e lack of relevant
and culturally appropriate pictures, posters, and
other instructional materials—as well as drab
and institutional colors on the walls—creates
an environment that is uninviting to learners.
e physical environment of schools reects the
expectations that educators have of the capabilities
of their students (Nieto, 2000).
5Culturally Responsive Teaching
7. Using a variety of visual aids and props to
support student learning. For children of color
and families of immigrants, initial assessment of
their acceptance in the school community depends
on whether or not they see pictures, symbols, or
other visual representations that remind them of
their homes, communities, and values. An inviting
classroom focuses on the use of color, physical
arrangement of space, lighting, and sound to attract
students to the learning process (Shade et al., 2004).
8. Learning, using, and displaying some words
in students’ heritage language. Cross-cultural
literacy awareness benets both students and
teachers in building a community of learners.
Students’ native literacy and native cultural
backgrounds should be considered rich resources
instead of obstacles (Schwarzer, Haywood, &
Lorenzen, 2003).
9. Modeling the use of graphic organizers. Graphic
organizers can be used to incorporate student
insights and knowledge. Some students respond
better to the inclusion of their social iconography,
such as music, decals, grati, and TV imagery. is
is particularly true for students learning English as
a second language or those who are more attuned
to aural and visual learning styles, rather than to
reading and writing. It is precisely those kinds of
representations that eective graphic organizers can
include (Hill, 2003).
10. Using class building and team building
activities to promote peer support for
academic achievement. Before launching
into collaborative learning tasks, students
should engage in team-building activities that
are designed to foster social cohesiveness. e
objective is to create a social-emotional climate
conducive to developing a sense of solidarity
and intimacy among group members. is
enables students to feel comfortable in future
group activities that may require them to express
personal viewpoints, disagree with others, and
reach consensus in an open (nondefensive) fashion
(Cuseo, 2000).
11. Using random response strategies.
Accomplished teachers of linguistically and
culturally diverse learners use a variety of
approaches that allow students to confront,
explore, and understand important and
challenging concepts, topics, and issues in
meaningful ways. Using random response
strategies creates a caring, inclusive, safe, and
linguistically and culturally rich community of
learning where students take intellectual risks
and work both independently and collaboratively
(Trumball & Pachero, 2005).
12. Using cooperative learning structures. Much
information about dierent cultural and ethnic
heritages cannot be attained through reading
books. Only by knowing, working with, and
personally interacting with members of diverse
groups can students really learn to value diversity,
utilize it for creative problem-solving, and develop
an ability to work eectively with diverse peers
(Johnson & Johnson, 2000).
13. Structuring heterogeneous and cooperative
groups for learning. Because cooperative learning
groups encourage positive social interaction
among students of diverse racial and ethnic
backgrounds, they have great potential to facilitate
building cross-ethnic friendships and to reduce
racial stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice.
When students work cooperatively, they have the
opportunity to judge each other on merits rather
than stereotypes (McLemore & Romo, 1998).
14. Using probing and clarifying techniques
to assist students to answer. Questions that
probe should reect dierent levels of cognitive
complexity; techniques should vary from
rephrasing the question, to asking a related
question, to giving a hint, clue, or prompt, to using
scaolded questions (Pierce & O’Malley, 1992).
15. Acknowledging all students’ comments,
responses, questions, and contributions.
Dierential treatment has been tied to race.
Students of color, especially those who are poor and
live in urban areas, bear the brunt of dierential
teacher behaviors—even receiving praise that is less
supportive of student learning. Acknowledgement
of all student responses should be arming,
correcting, or probing (Shade et al., 2004).
6 © Education Northwest 2016
16. Seeking multiple perspectives. Educators need
to be explicit in structuring opportunities for
students to hear varying perspectives. Validate all
perspectives with responses such as: “at’s one
idea. Does anyone else have another?” “at was
one way to solve the problem. Who did it another
way?” or “Who has an alternative view?” (Wiggins
& McTighe, 2005).
17. Using multiple approaches to consistently
monitor students’ understanding of
instruction, directions, procedures, processes,
questions, and content. Teachers should strive
to have a wide repertoire of ways to assess student
learning—ways that will be good matches to
students’ learning styles. ey also need a variety
of ways to teach and to assess how all students
think, problem solve, communicate, and work
with others (Saphier & Gower, 1997).
18. Identifying students’ current knowledge before
instruction. A culturally responsive, student-
centered curriculum is rich and meaningful
because it takes into consideration the experiences,
realities, and interests of the students. All lessons
must be relevant to the students’ lives. Key
to teaching a diverse population is the belief
that all students come to school equipped and
prepared with basic experiences and fundamental
knowledge (Shade, Kelly, & Oberg, 1997).
19. Using students’ real life experiences to connect
school learning to students’ lives. Strengthening
student motivation is the major reason to make
classroom connections to students’ lives: all
learners are much more interested in information
that relates to their personal situations. Teachers
can recognize the students’ world outside the
classroom by posting a poem, quote, joke, song, or
picture every day that demonstrates an awareness
of and respect for students’ backgrounds. ey can
also engage students in content-based projects,
surveys, free-writing exercises, and storytelling
that enable students to directly connect school
with their communities (Landsman, 2006).
7Culturally Responsive Teaching
20. Using “wait time” to give students time to
think before they respond to your question.
A period of silence following a teacher’s question
provides students with an uninterrupted period
of time to think about what has been asked and to
formulate a response. Pausing aer the response
before arming, correcting, or probing gives
other students time to consider their reactions,
responses, and extensions (Stahl, 1994).
21. Asking students for feedback on the
eectiveness of instruction. Teachers solicit and
use student feedback to alter and improve their
teaching. Individual discussions with students
help teachers modify instructional practice to
meet student needs by adapting materials, varying
cues, changing the sequence of instruction,
adjusting timing and transitions from one activity
to another, or developing more appropriate
expectations (Bellon, Bellon, & Blank, 1992).
22. Providing students with the criteria and
standards for successful task completion.
By providing anonymous samples of strong
student performances, teachers can eectively
communicate to students the criteria for
successfully fullling a learning goal.
Collaboratively examining a variety of successful
products with peers and with teacher guidance
helps students begin to create a mental model of
what success looks like in terms of the learning
goal or standard (Stiggins & Chappuis, 2005).
23. Giving students eective, specic oral and
written feedback that prompts improved
performance. Immediate feedback helps students
begin to ask relevant questions about the work,
make decisions, and learn to self-evaluate during
the process rather than aer they have submitted
their work for grading. While students are engaged
in various stages of completing their assignment,
teachers are free to conference individually with
students and to work with small groups. During
this time, students have the opportunity to learn
from each other how to develop and revise text
(Cole, 1995).
24. Providing multiple opportunities to use
eective feedback to revise and resubmit work
for evaluation against the standard. e re-
teach and reassess policy creates an environment
of learning that promotes eort and persistence.
Giving students the opportunity to master a skill
over time and with repeated attempts can change
their ideas about how and why they succeed in
class. If we oer our students the opportunity to
try again and really work with them to achieve,
their perceptions of how and why they achieve
might change from a belief in innate ability to the
importance of persistence and eort (Guthrie,
2008).
25. Explaining and modeling positive self-
talk. When the teacher explains to students
the importance of positive self-talk and shares
personal examples of how positive self-talk leads
to positive outcomes, the students are asked
to reconsider the nature of intelligence. ey
begin to think of their minds as muscles that get
strengthened and expanded—becoming smarter
with hard work. is diminishes the fear that
their academic diculties reect an unalterable
limitation (Aronson, 2004).
26. Asking higher order questions equitably of
high- and low-achieving students. Classroom
questioning has an extremely important role in
equitable classroom practice. Posing questions
during lesson instruction is more eective in
producing achievement gains than instruction
carried out without questioning students. Students
will perform better on test items previously
asked as recitation questions than on items they
have not been exposed to before. Oral questions
posed during classroom recitations are more
eective in fostering learning than are written
questions. Questions focused on student attention
to salient elements in the lesson result in better
comprehension (Cotton, 1998).
27. Providing individual help to high- and low-
achieving students. One-on-one meetings are
the ultimate condence builders for students and
are especially eective as follow-ups to instruction
when students practice a strategy. A teacher’s
undivided attention to each child conveys caring
about their learning and interest in helping them
understand and improve.
8 © Education Northwest 2016
Teacher Skills and Student Success
Other researchers have found evidence of particular,
high-quality teaching skills that are successful with
all students. Although researchers have used dierent
terms in describing these skills, they have consistently
identied the same ones. Figure 1 summarizes
the skills identied by researchers Delpit (2006),
Ladson-Billings (1995), and Sleeter (2008) in three
seminal studies (as described by Skrla, McKenzie, &
Scheurich, 2009).
Figure 1: Research-based, high-quality skills for teaching all students equitably
Delpit Ladson-Billings Sleeter
See students’ brilliance: Do not teach
less content to poor, urban children
but instead, teach more!
Believe that students are capable of
academic success.
Hold high expectations for students’
learning, regardless of how they are
doing now.
Ensure that all students gain access
to “basic skills”—the conventions and
strategies that are essential to success
in American society.
See teaching pedagogy as art—
unpredictable, always in the process of
becoming.
Engage students academically by
building on what they know and what
interests them.
Demand critical thinking, regardless
of the methodology or instructional
program being used.
See yourself as a member of your
students’ community.
Relate to students’ families and
communities and regard them in
culturally accurate ways.
Provide the emotional ego strength to
challenge racist societal views of the
competence and worthiness of the
children and their families.
See teaching as a way to give back to
the community.
Envision students as constructive
participants in a multicultural
democracy.
Recognize and build on children’s
strengths.
Believe in a Freirean notion of “teaching
as mining” or pulling knowledge out.
Use familiar metaphors, analogies, and
experiences from the children’s world
to connect what children already know
to school knowledge.
Maintain fluid teacher/student
relationships.
Create a sense of family and caring in
the service of academic achievement.
Demonstrate connectedness with all of
the students.
Monitor and assess children’s needs,
and then address them with a wealth
of diverse strategies.
Develop a community of learners.
Honor and respect the children’s home
culture.
Encourage students to learn
collaboratively and be responsible for
one another.
Foster a sense of children’s connection
to community—to something greater
than themselves.
Believe knowledge is not static but
meant to be shared, recycled, and
constructed.
Source: Skrla, McKenzie, & Scheurich, 2009
To be particularly successful in teaching all students
equitably, Ladson-Billings (1995) also emphasized the
importance of:
• Believing knowledge must be viewed critically
• Being passionate about knowledge and learning
• Scaolding, or building bridges, to facilitate
learning
• Ensuring that assessment is multifaceted and
incorporates multiple forms of excellence
9Culturally Responsive Teaching
Teacher Caring and Community Building
A critical component of culturally responsive
teaching is creating equitable classroom climates that
are equally conducive to learning for all students.
Instructional practices are as important as—if not more
important than—multicultural curriculum designs in
implementing culturally responsive teaching. However,
culturally responsive instructional practices are not
simply technical processes of applying any “best
practices.” Teachers need to know how to use cultural
scaolding in teaching diverse students to help them
use their own cultures and experiences to expand their
intellectual horizons and academic achievement.
In culturally responsive teaching, the teacher redesigns
teaching and learning so that students work with each
other and with their teacher as partners to improve
their achievement. Teachers have to care so much about
diverse students and their achievement that they accept
nothing less than high-level success from them and
work diligently to accomplish it. is is a very dierent
conception of caring than the oen-cited notion
of “gentle nurturing and altruistic concern,” which
research has shown can lead to benign neglect under
the guise of letting students make their own way and
move at their own pace (Foster, 1997; Kleinfeld, 1975).
Culturally responsive caring is action oriented in that it
demonstrates high expectations and uses imaginative
strategies to ensure academic success for racially,
ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse students.
Culturally responsive caring is a moral imperative, a
social responsibility, and a pedagogical necessity. It
requires that teachers use their knowledge and strategic
thinking to decide how to act in the best interests
of their students. is is “what binds individuals to
their society, to their communities, and to each other”
(Webb, Wilson, Corbett, & Mordecai, 1993, pp. 33–34).
To build a genuine community of learners, teachers
must believe in the intellectual potential of all students
and unequivocally accept responsibility to facilitate its
realization without ignoring, demeaning, or neglecting
students’ ethnic and cultural identities. Academic
success for diverse students is built on a base of
cultural validation and strength. Some students grow
up in cultural environments where the welfare of the
group takes precedence over the individual and where
individuals are taught to pool their resources to solve
problems. It is not that individuals and their needs are
neglected; they are addressed within the context of
group functioning. When the group succeeds or falters,
so do its individual members.
ese ethics and styles of working are quite dierent
from the typical ones used in schools, which give
priority to the individual and working independently.
Culturally responsive teachers understand how
conicts between dierent work styles may interfere
with academic eorts and outcomes, and they
understand how to design more communal learning
environments.
e positive benets of building communities of
cooperative learners have been validated by Escalanté
and Dirmann (1990) in high school mathematics
for Latinos; by Sheets (1995) in high school Spanish
language and literature with low-achieving Latinos;
by Fullilove and Treisman (1990) in rst-year college
calculus with African, Latino, and Chinese Americans;
and by arp and Gallimore (1988) in elementary
reading and language arts with Native Hawaiian
children.
And, contrary to the tendency in conventional teaching
to make dierent types of learning (cognitive, physical,
emotional) discrete, culturally responsive teaching
deals with them in concert. Personal, moral, social,
political, cultural, and academic knowledge and skills
are taught simultaneously. For example, students are
taught about their cultural heritages and positive
ethnic identity development along with math, science,
reading, critical thinking, and social activism. ey
also are taught about the heritages, cultures, and
contributions of other ethnic groups as they learn about
their own.
Culturally responsive teachers help students to
understand that knowledge has moral and political
elements and consequences, which obligate them to
take social action to promote freedom, equality, and
justice for everyone. e positive eects of teaching
such knowledge and skills simultaneously for African,
Asian, Latino, and Native American students are
documented by Escalanté and Dirmann (1990); Foster
(1995); Krater, Zeni, and Cason, (1994); Ladson-
Billings (1994); Sheets (1995); and arp and Gallimore
(1988).
10 © Education Northwest 2016
Teachers Cultivating Cross-Cultural
Communication
Porter and Samovar (1991) explained that culture
inuences “what we talk about; how we talk about it;
what we see, attend to, or ignore; how we think; and
what we think about” (p. 21). Montagu and Watson
(1979) added that communication is the “ground of
meeting and the foundation of community” (p. vii)
among human beings. Without this “meeting” and
“community” in the classroom, learning is dicult to
accomplish for some students. In fact, determining
what ethnically, racially, culturally, and linguistically
diverse students know and can do, and also what they
are capable of knowing and doing, is oen a function
of how well teachers can communicate with them.
Intellectual thought is culturally encoded (Cazden,
John, & Hymes, 1985), meaning that students express
themselves in ways that are strongly inuenced by
their cultural socialization. To teach diverse students
more eectively, teachers need to decipher their codes
of communication by thoroughly understanding
the interactive relationships among individuals
and groups in the areas of culture, ethnicity,
communication, and learning.
Culturally responsive teachers not only understand
the linguistic structures of their students but also
the contextual factors, cultural nuances, discourse
features, logic and rhythm, delivery, vocabulary
usage, role relationships of speakers and listeners,
intonation, gestures, and body movements.
Research reported by Cazden and colleagues
(1985), Kochman (1981), and Smitherman (1994)
indicated that the cultural markers and nuances
embedded in the communicative behaviors of highly
ethnically aliated Latinos, Native Americans,
Asians, and African Americans are dicult to
recognize, understand, accept, and respond to
without corresponding cultural knowledge of these
ethnic groups. ere are several other more specic
components of the communication styles of ethnic
groups that should be part of the preparation for and
practice of culturally responsive teaching.
In mainstream schooling and culture, a passive-
receptive style of communication and participation
predominates, but many racially and ethnically
diverse learners use an active-participatory style.
For example, in mainstream communication the
speaker plays the active role and the listener is passive.
Students are expected to listen quietly while teachers
talk and to talk only at prescribed times when granted
permission by the teacher. eir participation is
usually solicited by teachers’ asking convergent
questions that are posed to specic individuals and
require factual, “right answer” responses. is pattern
is generally repeated from one student to the next
(Goodlad, 1984; Philips, 1983).
In contrast, the communicative styles of most racially
and ethnically diverse groups are more active,
participatory, dialectic, and multimodal. Speakers
expect listeners to engage with them as they speak
by providing prompts, feedback, and commentary.
e roles of speaker and listener are uid and
interchangeable. Among African Americans, this
interactive communicative style is referred to as “call-
response” (Baber, 1987; Smitherman, 1977); for Native
Hawaiians, it is called “talk-story” (Au, 1993; Au &
Kawakami, 1994). Among White American females,
the somewhat similar practice of “talking along with
the speaker” to show involvement, support, and
conrmation is described as “rapport talk” (Tannen,
1990).
“Communal communication styles” can be
problematic in the classroom for both teachers and
students. Uninformed and unappreciative teachers
consider them rude, distractive, and inappropriate
and take actions to squelch them. Students who are
told not to use them may be, in eect, intellectually
silenced. Because they are denied use of their
natural ways of talking, their thinking, intellectual
engagement, expectations, and academic eorts are
diminished.
Ethnic groups engage in tasks and organize their
ideas dierently. In school, students are taught to
be very direct, precise, deductive, and linear in
communication. at is, they are expected to stick
to the point when talking and writing, avoid using
too many embellishments, stay focused on the task,
and build a logical case from the evidence to the
conclusion, from the parts to the whole. When issues
are debated and information is presented, students are
expected to be objective, dispassionate, and explicit
in reporting carefully sequential facts. e quality of
their communication is determined by the clarity of
11Culturally Responsive Teaching
the descriptive information they provide, the absence
of extraneous detail, and how easily the listener (or
reader) can follow the logic and relationship of the
ideas (Kochman, 1981). Researchers and scholars call
this communicative style “topic-centered” (Au, 1993;
Michaels 1981, 1984).
Many African Americans, Asians, Latinos, and Native
Americans use a dierent approach to organizing and
transmitting ideas: they use topic chaining in their
communication. eir approach is highly contextual,
and they devote time to setting a social stage prior
to the performance of an academic task. is is
accomplished by the speakers’ (or writers’) providing
a lot of background information; being passionately
and personally involved with the content; using
innuendo, symbolism, and metaphor to convey their
ideas; weaving many dierent threads or issues into a
single story; and embedding their story with feelings
of intensity, advocacy, evaluation, and aesthetics.
ere also is the tendency among these diverse
ethnic groups to make the work conversational
(Au, 1993; Fox, 1994; Kochman, 1981; Smitherman,
1994). To the mainstream teacher, their thinking
appears circular and their communication sounds
like storytelling. To someone who is unfamiliar
with it, this communication style “sounds rambling,
disjointed, and as if the speaker never ends a
thought before going on to something else” (Gay,
2000, p. 96). ese (and other) dierences in ethnic
communication styles have many implications
for culturally responsive teaching. Understanding
them is necessary to avoid violating the cultural
values of ethnically diverse students in instructional
communications and to better assess their intellectual
abilities, needs, and competencies. Ethnically diverse
students need to learn style and code-shiing
skills so that they can communicate in dierent
ways with dierent people in dierent settings for
dierent purposes. Competency in multicultural
communication is an important goal and component
of culturally responsive teaching.
12 © Education Northwest 2016
Considering Cultural Diversity when
Designing Instruction
Gay described culturally responsive teaching as the
use of diverse students’ cultural knowledge, prior
experiences, frames of reference, and performance
styles to make learning encounters more relevant and
eective for them. Gay’s experience shows that when
academic knowledge and skills are taught within the
lived experiences and frames of reference of students,
they are more personally meaningful, have higher
interest appeal, and are learned more easily and
thoroughly (Gay, 2010).
Fostering high expectations for the achievement of
all students requires teaching and learning to happen
in a “culturally supported, learner-centered context,
whereby the strengths students bring to school are
identied, nurtured, and utilized to promote student
achievement” (Richards, Brown, & Forde, 2004).
Research bears out that the academic achievement
of diverse students improves when they are taught
through their own cultural and experiential lters
(Au & Kawakami, 1994; Foster, 1995; Gay, 2000, 2002;
Hollins, 1996; Kleinfeld, 1975; Ladson-Billings, 1994,
1995). Culturally responsive teaching deals as much
with using multicultural instructional strategies as
with adding multicultural content to the curriculum
(Hollins, King, & Hayman, 1994; King, Hollins, &
Hayman, 1997; Pai, 1990; Smith, 1998).
Matching instruction with learning style requires
that the teacher’s knowledge of cultural diversity goes
beyond mere awareness of, respect for, and general
recognition of the fact that diverse groups have
dierent values or express similar values in various
ways. Teachers must acquire detailed, research-based
information about the cultural particularities of
specic groups they teach. ere are many teachers
and teacher educators who think that their subjects
(particularly math and science) are incompatible
with culturally responsive teaching practice or that
using these practices creates too much of a conceptual
13Culturally Responsive Teaching
and substantive stretch for their subjects to maintain
disciplinary integrity. is is simply not true. ere is
a place for cultural diversity in every subject taught in
schools (Ladson-Billings, 1995).
Pre-eminent teacher educators like Gay, Nieto, Freire,
and Ladson-Billings have spent years training teachers
across content areas to recognize and be responsive to
diverse students’ needs. Over the course of many years
observing teachers in their classrooms, these experts
report that teachers who use culturally responsive
teaching practices, regardless of the content they are
teaching, consistently demonstrate that they:
• value students’ cultural and linguistic resources and
view this knowledge as capital to build on rather
than as a barrier to learning;
• build on their students’ personal experiences and
interests as the basis for instructional connections
that facilitate student learning and development;
• apply interactive, collaborative teaching methods,
strategies, and ways of interacting that support
their students’ cultural, linguistic, and racial
experiences;
• integrate the interactive, collaborative teaching
methods with evidence-based practices.
(Harlin & Souto-Manning, 2009; Hersi & Watkinson,
2012; Nieto, Bode, Kang, & Raible, 2008; Santamaria,
2009)
Researchers have validated many of the culturally
responsive approaches that innovative teachers
have implemented to establish cultural matches,
intersections, or bridges between curricular
content, instructional practice, and student learning
style. Innovative teachers recognize that cultural
characteristics provide the criteria for determining
how instructional strategies should be modied. For
example, topic-chaining communication, a circular
communication style that omits explanations about
the relationships between topics, is very conducive
to a storytelling teaching style. Cooperative group
learning arrangements and peer coaching t well with
the communal cultural systems of African Americans,
Asians, Native Americans, and Latino groups (Gay,
2000; Spring, 1995).
Autobiographical case studies and ction can
crystallize ethnic identity and aliation issues across
geographic, generational, and temporal boundaries.
Motion and movement, music, frequently changing
tasks and formats, novelty, and dramatic elements
in teaching improve the academic performance of
African Americans (Allen & Boykin, 1992; Allen &
Butler, 1996; Boykin, 1982; Guttentag & Ross, 1972;
Hanley, 1999).
Culturally responsive teachers understand that while
learning styles explain how individual students
engage in the process of learning, they are not
the basis for judging students’ intellectual ability.
Like all cultural phenomena, learning styles are
complex, multidimensional, and dynamic, and there
is room for individuals to move around within the
characteristics of particular learning styles. Students
can also be taught to cross learning styles although
core structures and specic patterns are discernible in
particular groups (Shade, 1989).
Researchers have validated
many of the culturally
responsive approaches
that innovative teachers
have implemented to
establish cultural matches,
intersections, or bridges
between curricular
content, instructional
practice, and student
learning style. Innovative
teachers recognize that
cultural characteristics
provide the criteria
for determining how
instructional strategies
should be modied.
14 © Education Northwest 2016
Teachers Recognizing Key Dimensions of
Cultural Learning Diversity
Culturally responsive teachers learn to recognize the
internal structure of ethnic learning styles, which
include at least eight key dimensions (congured
dierently for various groups):
• Preferred content
• Ways of working through learning tasks
• Techniques for organizing and conveying ideas and
thoughts
• Physical and social settings for task performance
• Structural arrangements of work, study, and
performance space
• Perceptual stimulation for receiving, processing, and
demonstrating comprehension and competence
• Motivations, incentives, and rewards for learning
• Interpersonal interactional styles
(Gay, 2010)
According to Gay (2010, 2013), these dimensions
provide dierent points of entry and emphasis for
matching instruction to the learning styles of students
from various groups. To respond most eectively to
them, teachers need to know how the dimensions
are congured for dierent student groups, as well
as the patterns of variance that exist within the
congurations. Another powerful way to establish
cultural congruity in teaching is by integrating ethnic
and cultural diversity into the most fundamental and
high-status aspects of the instructional process on a
habitual basis. An examination of school curricula
and measures of student achievement indicates that
the school subjects or skills with the highest stakes
and status are math, science, reading, and writing.
Further analysis of teaching behaviors reveals that
a high percentage of instructional time is devoted
to giving examples, scenarios, and vignettes to
demonstrate how information, principles, concepts,
15Culturally Responsive Teaching
and skills operate in practice. ese make up the
pedagogical bridges that connect prior knowledge
with new knowledge, the known with the unknown,
and abstractions with lived realities. Teachers need to
develop rich repertoires of multicultural instructional
examples to use in teaching diverse students (Gay,
2010).
e process begins with understanding the role and
prominence of examples in the instructional process,
knowing the cultures and experiences of dierent
ethnic groups, harvesting teaching examples from
these critical sources, and learning how to apply
multicultural examples in teaching other knowledge
and skills—for instance, using illustrations of ethnic
architecture, fabric designs, and recipes in teaching
geometric principles, mathematical operations, and
propositional thought. Another example is using
diverse literature in teaching the concept of genre
and reading skills such as comprehension, inferential
thinking, vocabulary building, and translation (Gay,
2010).
Research indicates that culturally relevant examples
have positive eects on the academic achievement of
racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse
students. Boggs, Watson-Gegeo, and McMillen (1985)
and arp and Gallimore (1988) demonstrated
these eects for Native Hawaiians; Foster (1989),
Lee (1993), and Moses and Cobb (2001) for African
Americans; García (1999) for Latinos and limited-
English speakers; and Lipka (1998) for Alaska Natives.
Lipka and his colleague Mohatt’s research and practice
using cultural examples to teach math and science to
Yup’ik students in Alaska underscore the importance
and benets of these strategies for improving
school achievement. ey noted that “important
connections between an aboriginal system of numbers
and measurements and the hunting and gathering
context from which it derived can be used as a
bridge to the decontextualized abstract system oen
used in teaching mathematics and science, . . . can
demystify how mathematics and science are derived
. . . [and] visualize . . . ways in which everyday tasks
and knowledge can be a basis for learning in formal
schooling” (Lipka, 1998, p. 176).
Demmert and Towner (2003) further dened
culturally based education programs for American
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
students as the recognition and use of heritage
languages; pedagogy that stresses traditional cultural
characteristics and adult-child interactions; pedagogy
in which teaching strategies are congruent with
the traditional culture, as well as contemporary
ways of knowing and learning; curriculum based
on traditional culture that places the education of
young children in a contemporary context; strong
Native community participation in the planning and
operation of school activities; and knowledge and use
of the social and political mores of the community.
Research indicates
that culturally relevant
examples have positive
eects on the academic
achievement of racially,
ethnically, culturally,
and linguistically
diverse students. Boggs,
Watson-Gegeo, and
McMillen (1985) and
Tharp and Gallimore
(1988) demonstrated
these eects for Native
Hawaiians; Foster (1989),
Lee (1993), and Moses and
Cobb (2001) for African
Americans; García (1999)
for Latinos and limited-
English speakers; and
Lipka (1998) for Alaska
Natives.
16 © Education Northwest 2016
Teachers Creating an Equitable Classroom Climate
Teachers must be intentional about eliminating bias
and creating a culturally responsive classroom climate.
Each of us has biases that inuence how we talk and
relate to students and colleagues. Research suggests
six strategies that teachers should implement to create
an environment in which all children have equitable
opportunities to learn (Morrison, Robbins, & Rose,
2008; New York University, 2008).
Teachers acknowledge their own biases and
inequitable actions when they:
• Participate in professional development on
harassment and equity issues.
• Treat others with respect regardless of their race,
national origin, sex, or disability.
• Improve their communication skills by listening
and adjusting to the communication style of others,
continually checking for understanding, respecting
dierences, and using language that builds trust
and positive relationships.
• Remember that dierences in communication style
can lead to misunderstandings. In some cultures, a
“thumb’s up” sign means everything is okay, but in
others it is a rude sexual sign.
• Are honest if they are unfamiliar with another
culture.
• Pay attention to how others respond to what they
do and say. Ask if there are times when others may
view their behavior as disrespectful or harassing.
• Do not assume that others enjoy comments about
their appearance, hearing sexually or racially
oriented jokes, or welcome being touched without
their permission. Remember that students may not
tell them if they are oended or feel harassed by
what they say or do.
Teachers make an eort to learn about their
students’ cultural backgrounds when they:
• Plan classroom activities that help students learn
more about their cultural backgrounds.
• Include activities such as family history projects,
selecting readings about the cultures of students in
their classroom.
• Ask families or community members for
information about the cultural background of
students.
• Plan family nights or cultural events that encourage
discussion and learning about others in their
school.
Teachers examine curriculum and learning
materials for bias when they ask:
• Does the curriculum provide for a balanced study
of world cultures?
• Does the curriculum teach students about the
contributions of men and women from dierent
cultural backgrounds? Do classroom learning
activities promote appreciation for non-European
cultures?
• Does the curriculum include information about
the past and present experiences of people from
dierent cultural backgrounds? Of both women
and men?
• Are issues and perspectives of minority groups
included?
• Do textbooks and course materials avoid sexual,
racial, and cultural stereotypes?
• Are opportunities to explore the perspectives of
individuals from dierent backgrounds included?
• If the curriculum contains biased information or
stereotypes, is this pointed out and are students
provided with more accurate information?
• Do classroom displays and instructional materials
include positive representations of diverse
international and domestic cultures?
Teachers build caring, cooperative classroom
environments when they:
• Immediately confront any biased or discriminatory
behavior in the classroom or school.
• Create a safe, comfortable classroom environment
in which students feel comfortable talking about
harassment.
• Teach students how to treat each other with
respect.
17Culturally Responsive Teaching
Teachers build relationships with families and
communities when they:
• Create a representative team of school
administrators, teachers, school counselors,
parents, and students to guide and implement
approaches to prevent harassment.
• Build partnerships with community members,
youth organizations, and other service providers.
• Invite local community groups to make
presentations and conduct workshops for teachers
and students.
• Create and distribute a directory of diverse local
consultants throughout the district.
• Develop strong linkages with families and
community members. For example, producing a
handbook for parents may help reduce concern
for their child and build support for your school’s
harassment prevention program.
Teachers identify curricular bias by looking for
these practices:
• Invisibility—Overlooking certain groups that
implies they are less valuable or important.
• Stereotyping—Limiting the opportunities for a
certain group based on rigid perceptions of their
ability or potential.
• Imbalance or selectivity—Providing one
viewpoint or selective information that leads to
misinterpretation or an incomplete understanding
of an event, situation, or group of people.
• Fragmentation or isolation—Placing information
about people of color, women, or other protected
groups in a box or chapter that is separate from the
main body of text.
• Linguistic bias—Using masculine words such as
he and mankind exclusively, or using patronizing
terms such as needy or less fortunate to describe a
group of people.
18 © Education Northwest 2016
Conclusion
e best practices for culturally responsive teaching
described in this paper are based on research ndings,
theoretical claims, practical experiences, and personal
stories of educators researching and working with
underachieving African American, Asian, Latino,
and Native American students. A wide variety of
techniques for incorporating culturally diverse
contributions, experiences, and perspectives into
classroom teaching can be extracted from the work of
scholars like Gay, Nieto, Freire, and Ladson-Billings.
What all the models and incentives have in common
are the tried and true practices that research has
shown to be eective with all students.
Morrison, Robbins, and Rose (2008) synthesized
the research into a list of best practices that eective
culturally responsive teachers use to support their
students. e researchers organized the best practices
into the following categories:
• Modeling, scaolding, and clarication of
challenging curriculum
• Using student strengths as starting points and
building on their funds of knowledge
• Investing in and taking personal responsibility for
students’ success
• Creating and nurturing cooperative environments
• Having high behavioral expectations
• Reshaping the prescribed curriculum
• Encouraging relationships among schools and
communities
• Promoting critical literacy
• Engaging students in social justice work
• Making explicit the power dynamics of mainstream
society
• Sharing power in the classroom
Researchers have also recommended specic activities
as culturally responsive best practices for teaching
racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse
students. Synthesized from the work of Banks and
Banks, 2004; Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Nieto,
1999, these specic activities include:
Acknowledge students’ dierences as well as their
commonalities. While it is important for teachers to
note the shared values and practices of their students,
it is equally incumbent upon teachers to recognize
the individual dierences of students. Certainly,
culture and language may contribute to behaviors
and attitudes exhibited by students. For example,
some cultures forbid children to engage in direct eye
contact with adults; thus, when these children refuse
to look at the teacher, they are not being deant but
practicing their culture. However, for teachers to
ascribe particular characteristics to a student solely
because of their ethnic or racial group demonstrates
just as much prejudice as expecting all students to
conform to mainstream cultural practices. Moreover,
because each student is unique, learning needs will be
dierent. Recognizing these distinctions enhances the
ability of the teacher to address the individual needs
of the students. e key is to respond to each student
based on their identied strengths and weaknesses,
and not on preconceived notions about the student’s
group aliation.
Validate students’ cultural identity in classroom
practices and instructional materials. Teachers
should, to the extent possible, use textbooks, design
bulletin boards, and implement classroom activities
that are culturally supportive of their students. When
the school-assigned textbooks and other instructional
materials perpetuate stereotypes (e.g., African
Americans portrayed as athletes) or fail to adequately
represent diverse groups (e.g., books contain no
images or perspectives of Native Americans, Latinos,
or other non-European individuals), teachers must
supplement instruction with resources rich in
diversity and sensitive in their portrayal of people
from dierent backgrounds. By using images and
practices familiar to students, teachers can capitalize
on the strengths students bring to school. e more
students experience familiar practices in instruction
and are allowed to think dierently, the more they
feel included and the higher their probability of
success. For example, in some communities, members
work together in a supportive manner to accomplish
many tasks in their daily lives. Reecting these home
practices in an instructional approach, such as the use
of cooperative learning (Putnam, 1998), increases the
likelihood of success for these students.
19Culturally Responsive Teaching
Educate students about the diversity of the world
around them. As the “village” in which students
live becomes more global, they are challenged to
interact with people from various backgrounds. When
students are ignorant about the dierences in other
groups, there is a greater probability of conicts.
Particularly in the classroom where student diversity
is increasing, students need skills to relate to each
other positively, regardless of cultural and linguistic
dierences. Teachers need to provide students with
learning opportunities (e.g., have students interview
individuals from other cultures; link students to email
pals from other communities and cultures) so that
they might become more culturally knowledgeable
and competent when encountering others who are
dierent. Furthermore, students will develop an
appreciation for other groups when they learn of the
contributions of dierent peoples to the advancement
of the human race. A word of caution, this requires
teachers to conduct active research and planning
so that they don’t inadvertently reinforce cultural
stereotypes.
Promote equity and mutual respect among
students. In a classroom of diverse cultures,
languages, and abilities, it is imperative that all
students feel fairly treated and respected. When
students are subjected to unfair discrimination
because of their dierences, they can feel unworthy,
frustrated, or angry, which oen results in low
achievement. Teachers need to establish and
maintain standards of behavior that require
respectful treatment of all in the classroom. Teachers
can be role models, demonstrating fairness and
reminding students that dierence is normal.
Further, teachers need to monitor what types of
behaviors and communication styles are rewarded
and praised. Oentimes these behaviors and ways of
communicating are aligned with cultural practices.
ey must take care not to penalize a student’s
behavior just because of a cultural dierence.
Assess students’ ability and achievement
validly. e assessment of students’ abilities and
achievement must be as accurate and complete as
possible for eective instructional programming
to occur. is can only be accomplished when the
assessment instruments and procedures are valid for
the population being assessed. In today’s schools,
students have dierent cultures and languages that
might predispose them to dierent communication
practices and even dierent test-taking skills. Hence,
assessment instruments should be varied and suited
to the population being tested. When this does not
occur, invalid judgments about students’ abilities or
achievement are likely to result. Further, tests that
are not sensitive to students’ cultural and linguistic
backgrounds will oen merely indicate what the
students don’t know (about the mainstream culture
and language) and very little about what they do
know. us, the opportunity to build on what students
know is lost.
Foster a positive interrelationship among
students, their families, the community, and
school. When students come to school they bring
knowledge shaped by their families and community;
they return home with new knowledge fostered by the
school and its practitioners. Students’ performance
in school will likely be aected by the ability of the
teacher to negotiate this home-community-school
relationship eectively. When teachers tap into the
resources of the community by inviting parents and
other community members into the classroom as
respected partners in the teaching-learning process,
this interrelationship is positively reinforced. To
further strengthen their bond with students and
the community, teachers might even participate
20 © Education Northwest 2016
in community events where possible. Moreover,
everyone benets when there is evidence of mutual
respect and value for the contributions all can make to
educate the whole student.
Motivate students to become active participants
in their learning. Culturally responsive teachers
encourage students to become active learners who
regulate their own learning through reection and
evaluation. Students who are actively engaged in
their own learning ask questions rather than accept
information uncritically. Students who self-regulate
the development of their knowledge set goals,
evaluate their own performance, utilize feedback, and
tailor their learning strategies. By examining their
learning patterns, these students may come to realize
that reviewing materials with visual aids enhances
retention, or that studying with a partner helps them
process information better. It is important, therefore,
that teachers structure a classroom environment
conducive to inquiry-based learning that allows
students to pose questions to themselves, to each
other, and to the teacher.
Encourage students to think critically. A major goal
of teaching is to help students become independent
thinkers so that they might learn to make responsible
decisions. Critical thinking requires students to
analyze (i.e., examine constituent parts or elements)
and synthesize (i.e., collect and summarize)
information and to view situations from multiple
perspectives. When teachers provide opportunities for
students to engage in this kind of reasoning, students
learn how to think “outside the box.” More important,
these students learn to think for themselves. Students
are less likely to accept stereotypes and to formulate
opinions based on ignorance. To foster these skills,
teachers might devise “what if” scenarios, requiring
students to think about specic situations from
dierent viewpoints.
Challenge students to strive for excellence as
dened by their potential. All students have the
potential to learn, regardless of their cultural or
linguistic background, ability or disability. Many
students oen stop trying because of a history of
failure. Others, disenchanted with a low-level or
irrelevant curriculum, work just enough to get by.
Teachers have a responsibility to continually motivate
all students by reminding them that they are capable
and by providing them with a challenging and
meaningful curriculum. Low teacher expectations
will yield low student performance. It is important to
engage students in activities that demonstrate how
much they can learn when provided with appropriate
assistance. As students progress, teachers need to
continually “raise the bar,” giving students just the
right amount of assistance to take them one step
higher, thereby helping students strive to fulll their
potential.
Assist students in becoming socially and politically
conscious. Teachers must prepare students to
participate meaningfully and responsibly not only
in the classroom but also in society. Meaningful
and responsible participation requires everyone to
critically examine societal policies and practices
and to work to correct injustices. Students must be
taught that if the world is to be a better place where
everyone is treated fairly, then they have to work to
make it so. is is their responsibility as citizens of
their country and inhabitants of the earth. To foster
this consciousness, teachers might have students
write group or individual letters to politicians and
newspaper editors voicing their concerns about
specic social issues. Students might also participate
in food or clothing drives to help people who are less
fortunate.
Limitations
Although the literature has identied what culturally
responsive practices look like, there is a lack of
experimental and quasi-experimental research
that ties culturally responsive practices to student
outcomes (see Demmert & Towner, 2003; Savage et
al., 2011). ere are some programs, however, that
suggest culturally responsive practices have an impact.
One example cited by Demmert and Towner (2003)
is the Kamehameha Early Childhood Education
Program and research from the Kamehameha
Schools (Hawaii). Other nonexperimental research
shows positive outcomes when culturally responsive
practices are used (see, for example, the Alaska
Rural Systemic Initiative). e lack of experimental
studies points more to the diculty in conducting
such studies in public schools than to the validity of
culturally responsive practices.
21Culturally Responsive Teaching
Appendix A: Educational Equity
The goal of equitable education is not
to help students learn to adapt to the
dominant culture of the school. Instead,
the goal should be to help students
develop a positive self-image and to learn
how to embrace dierences in others
(Ladson-Billings, 1995).
Equity is the social, academic, and legal responsibility
of every school. Equitable school practices aord
all students the opportunity to achieve educational
excellence. Court rulings mandate that the needs and
rights of every student must be accommodated, yet
persistent problems of bias, prejudice, discrimination,
intolerance, harassment, and complacency still bring
inequitable educational opportunities and outcomes.
Providing an equitable educational experience for
all children means recognizing and addressing
inequitable power structures; recognizing and
optimizing the learning style of each child; adapting
teaching strategies to meet diering learning needs;
and maximizing the strengths that each student brings
to the classroom because of the dierences in student
socioeconomic circumstances, gender, language,
culture, and race.
Besides focusing on matters of culture and identity,
educators must address the deeply ingrained
inequities of today’s schools by asking themselves
profoundly troubling questions related to equity,
access, and social justice. ese questions oen go
unanswered or even unasked but the answers tell us a
great deal about what we value because the questions
examine the sociopolitical context of education and
school policies and practices. Who is taking calculus
and other academically challenging courses? Are
programs for students who are bilingual or in special
education placed in the basement or in classrooms
farthest away from the school entrance? Who is
teaching the children; for example, are highly eective
teachers teaching children in low-income districts?
How much are children worth: Do we value some
children over others? Until we confront these broader
issues and do something about them, we will only be
partially successful in educating young people for the
challenging future (Nieto, 2000).
e classroom teacher has the primary responsibility
of providing each student with an opportunity to
learn to their fullest potential. A skilled teacher
accomplishes this by teaching each student how to
learn and pursue lifelong learning, apply what they
learn to acquire greater awareness of themselves
and others, and develop attitudes and skills that
make them responsible and contributing citizens. A
culturally responsive teacher creates a supportive,
responsive, and enriched learning environment that
allows every student to feel comfortable examining
their attitudes and sharing their ideas.
e instructional dimension of culturally responsive
pedagogy includes materials, strategies, and activities
that form the basis of instruction. When the tools
of instruction (i.e., books, teaching methods,
and activities) are incompatible with—or worse,
marginalize—the students’ cultural experiences,
there is likely a disconnection from school (Irvine,
2001). For some students this rejection of school may
22 © Education Northwest 2016
take the form of simply underachieving; for others,
rejection could range from not performing at all to
dropping out of school completely.
Culturally responsive pedagogy recognizes and uses
the students’ culture and language in instruction,
and ultimately respects the students’ personal
and community identities. Using a constructivist
instructional approach to learning encourages
learners to construct knowledge using their strengths,
both personal and cultural. It emphasizes the unique
strengths of each learner and contends that each
student has the capacity to succeed in scholastic
endeavors.
e Region X Equity Assistance Center identies
seven key components that are essential to
educational equity and eective school practices.
ese are:
1. Access: Ensure each student has an equal
opportunity to participate in all aspects of the
educational process, including learning facilities,
resources, and extracurricular and curricular
programs.
2. Instruction: Use instructional practices that
promote positive images of diverse groups.
3. Materials: Review textbooks, audiovisuals, and
other materials to minimize bias in content,
graphics, pictures, and language.
4. Assessment: Consider dierences in students’
learning styles and cultural backgrounds when
assessing students and align culturally responsive
assessment results with school curricula,
instruction, and systemic improvement goals.
5. Interactions: Adjust the ways you relate to
students to ensure that you respect their cultural
backgrounds.
6. Attitudes: Examine and acknowledge your own
biases or prejudices that may be unintentional but
could result in treating students dierently because
of their race, sex, ability, ethnicity, or other factors.
7. Language: Monitor language for subtle or overt
biases that can create stereotypes or prejudicial
attitudes.
23Culturally Responsive Teaching
Appendix B: Considerations Beyond the Classroom
School Culture
e National School Climate Council denes school
climate as “the quality and character of school life”
that is based on “patterns of students’, parents’,
and school personnel’s experience of school life
and reects norms, goals, values, interpersonal
relationships, teaching and learning practices, and
organizational structures.” Key aspects of a positive
school climate include safety (social, emotional,
and physical), respect, and engagement. For a
culturally responsive school climate, respecting and
valuing students’ home culture is key, as well as fully
integrating students’ culture and language into the
curriculum (Klump & McNeir, 2005).
Two important equity issues involving school
climate are discipline disparity and harassment/
bullying. According to a 2012 report by the U.S.
Department of Education Oce for Civil Rights,
African American, Hispanic, and American Indian
students are disciplined more oen than their White
classmates “who commit similar infractions and
who have similar discipline histories”(p. 29). Racial
disparities in school discipline also exist in Northwest
states, but the pattern of disparity varies. For example,
Montana and Idaho were shown to have the smallest
suspension gap between African American and White
students, but were among eight states in the nation
with the highest suspension rates for Native American
students (Losen & Gillespie, 2012).
Disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion
for students of color result in a substantial loss of
instructional time. A summary of the literature
(Nishioka, 2012) discusses school or classroom
characteristics that are associated with lower
suspension rates for students of color. Leaders of
the U.S. Department of Education (2014a, 2014b)
have issued new guidance on how school leaders can
ensure that discipline policies are draed and applied
in a manner that does not discriminate against racial
or ethnic groups.
Family Involvement and Engagement
Decades of research consistently links family
involvement and engagement to higher student
achievement, better attitudes toward school, lower
dropout rates, and increased community support
(Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Weiss, Bouard, Bridglall,
& Gordon, 2009). Despite these ndings, schools have
struggled to engage eectively with diverse families,
an issue that speaks more to the mismatch between
school and home cultures than to the families’ interest
in being involved. If schools want to engage with
diverse families successfully, they need to reevaluate
traditional models of engagement that are beyond
fundraising and newsletters and include families
in the ways they wish to be involved (Brewster &
Railsback, 2003; Ferguson, 2008).
A literature review by SEDL (Ferguson, 2008) found
several crosscutting practices that schools should do
to foster school-family connections:
• Create a welcoming environment that fosters
family-school relationships and transcends context,
culture, and language
• Identify misconceptions that teachers and families
hold about the motivation, practices, or beliefs of
each other that lead to mistrust
• Direct resources and programmatic eorts to
help families adopt eective strategies to support
student learning
• Understand the eect of home context on student
performance, including home culture, parenting
practices, home crises, or signicant events
• Create structures—policy, leadership, procedures,
processes, and aligned resources—that encourage
family involvement
• Understand the eect that beliefs, self-ecacy,
knowledge, perceived abilities, and previous
experience have on the roles families create and use
to support their children’s education
Ultimately, for culturally responsive involvement,
schools need to consider families as partners in their
children’s education. For this to occur, the partnership
needs to be built on a foundation of mutual respect
and trust.
24 © Education Northwest 2016
District Funding
Data on district funding across the country have
conrmed that high-poverty schools receive less
money than more auent schools within the
same district and across districts (Bireda & Chait,
2011; Hall & Ushomirsky, 2010; U.S. Department
of Education Equity and Excellence Commission,
2013). Although research is not conclusive about the
correlation between funding disparities and student
achievement, there is “broad agreement about the
clear need for additional resources to deliver rigorous
academic standards to students living in high-poverty
districts” (U.S. Department of Education Equity and
Excellence Commission, 2013, p. 18). School and
district leaders need to understand how to allocate
resources to meet the most pressing needs of their
district. An ECS Education Leadership Policy Toolkit
(Anthes et al., n.d.) provides some guidelines for
doing this.
Lack of access to eective teachers and of high-quality
curriculum and coursework are two ways resources
are distributed inequitably. For example, data from
a biennial survey of 7,000 districts with 72,000
schools showed that 3,000 of these schools didn’t oer
Algebra II classes. Distribution of eective teachers
is another major issue. Schools that primarily serve
Black students are twice as likely to have teachers with
only one or two years of experience, as compared
with schools in the same district with mostly
White students. is impacts student achievement
as indicated in a recent brief from the Institute of
Education Sciences (Max & Glazerman, 2014). e
brief analyzed three studies and found that on average,
disadvantaged students receive less eective teaching
in a given year than nondisadvantaged students.
is average disparity in teaching eectiveness “was
equivalent to about four weeks of learning for reading
and two weeks for math” (p. 1).
25Culturally Responsive Teaching
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