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Abstract

In the midst of discussions about improving education, teacher education, equity, and diversity, little has been done to make pedagogy a central area of investigation. This article attempts to challenge notions about the intersection of culture and teaching that rely solely on microanalytic or macroanalytic perspectives. Rather, the article attempts to build on the work done in both of these areas and proposes a culturally relevant theory of education. By raising questions about the location of the researcher in pedagogical research, the article attempts to explicate the theoretical framework of the author in the nexus of collaborative and reflexive research. The pedagogical practices of eight exemplary teachers of African-American students serve as the investigative "site." Their practices and reflections on those practices provide a way to define and recognize culturally relevant pedagogy.
American Educational Research Association
Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Author(s): Gloria Ladson-Billings
Source:
American Educational Research Journal,
Vol. 32, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 465-491
Published by: American Educational Research Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1163320
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American Educational
Research
Journal
Fall
1995,
Vol.
32,
No.
3,
pp.
465-491
Toward a
Theory
of
Culturally
Relevant
Pedagogy
Gloria
Ladson-Billings
University of
Wisconsin-Madison
In the midst
of
discussions
about
improving
education,
teacher
education,
equity,
and
diversity,
little
has
been
done to make
pedagogy
a
central area
of
investigation.
This
article
attempts
to
challenge
notions about the intersec-
tion
of
culture
and
teaching
that
rely solely
on
microanalytic
or
macroana-
lytic
perspectives.
Rather,
the article
attempts
to
build
on the work
done in
both
of
these areas and
proposes
a
culturally
relevant
theory of
education.
By raising questions
about the location
of
the
researcher
in
pedagogical
research,
the
article
attempts
to
explicate
the
theoretical
framework
of
the
author
in the nexus
of
collaborative
and
reflexive
research.
Thepedagogical
practices
of
eight
exemplary
teachers
of African-American
students
serve
as
the
investigative
"site."
Their
practices
and
reflections
on
those
practices
provide
a
way
to
define
and
recognize
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
GLORIA
LADSON-BILLINGS
is
an
Associate
Professor in
the
Department
of
Curricu-
lum and
Instruction,
University
of
Wisconsin,
225
N.
Mills
St.,
Madison,
WI
53706.
Her
specializations
are
multicultural
education
and
social
studies.
Ladson-Billings
eacher education
programs
throughout
the
nation have
coupled
their
efforts at reform
with
revised
programs
committed
to social
justice
and
equity.
Thus,
their
focus
has become
the
preparation
of
prospective
teachers
in
ways
that
support
equitable
and
just
educational
experiences
for
all
stu-
dents.
Examples
of
such efforts
include work
in Alaska
(Kleinfeld, 1992;
Noordhoff, 1990;
Noordhoff &
Kleinfeld,
1991),
California
(King
&
Ladson-
Billings,
1990),
Illinois
(Beyer,
1991),
and Wisconsin
(Murrell, 1990,
1991).
Currently,
there are
debates
in
the educational research
literature
con-
cerning
both
locating
efforts at social reform
in schools
(Popkewitz,
1991)
and the
possibilities
of
"re-educating" typical
teacher candidates for
the
variety
of
student
populations
in
U. S.
public
schools
(Grant, 1989;
Haberman,
1991a,
1991b).
Rather than
looking
at
programmatic
reform,
this
article con-
siders educational
theorizing
about
teaching
itself
and
proposes
a
theory
of
culturally
focused
pedagogy
that
might
be
considered
in
the reformation of
teacher education.
Shulman's often cited
article,
"Knowledge
and
Teaching:
Foundations
of the New
Reform"
(1987),
considers
philosophical
and
psychological
per-
spectives,
underscored
by
case
knowledge
of
novice and
experienced
prac-
titioners.
Although
Shulman's work mentions the
importance
of
both the
knowledge
of
learners
and
their characteristics and
knowledge
of educational
contexts,
it
generally
minimizes the
culturally
based
analyses
of
teaching
that have
preceded
it.
In
this
article,
I
attempt
to
build
on
the
educational
anthropological
literature
and
suggest
a new
theoretical
perspective
to
address
the
specific
concerns of
educating
teachers for
success
with African-
American
students.
Teaching
and
Culture
For
more than
a
decade,
anthropologists
have
examined
ways
that
teaching
can
better match
the home
and
community
cultures of
students of
color who
have
previously
not had
academic success
in
schools. Au
andJordan
(1981,
p.
139)
termed
"culturally
appropriate"
the
pedagogy
of
teachers
in
a
Hawaiian
school
who
incorporated
aspects
of
students'
cultural
backgrounds
into their
reading
instruction.
By
permitting
students to
use
talk-story,
a
language
interaction
style
common
among
Native
Hawaiian
children,
teachers were
able to
help
students
achieve at
higher
than
predicted
levels on
standardized
reading
tests.
Mohatt and Erickson
(1981)
conducted
similar work
with
Native Ameri-
can
students. As
they
observed
teacher-student
interactions
and
participation
structures,
they
found
teachers
who
used
language
interaction
patterns
that
approximated
the
students'
home
cultural
patterns
were
more
successful in
improving
student
academic
performance.
Improved
student
achievement
also
was
evident
among
teachers who
used
what
they
termed,
"mixed forms"
(p.
117)-a
combination of
Native American
and
Anglo
language
interaction
patterns.
They
termed
this
instruction,
"culturally
congruent"
(p.
110).
466
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
Cazden
and
Leggett
(1981)
and Erickson
and
Mohatt
(1982)
used
the
term
"culturally
responsive" (p.
167)
to
describe
similar
language
interactions
of
teachers
with
linguistically
diverse
and
Native American
students,
respec-
tively.
Later,
Jordan
(1985,
p.
110)
and
Vogt,
Jordan,
and
Tharp
(1987,
p.
281)
began using
the term
"culturally
compatible"
to
explain
the
success
of
classroom
teachers with Hawaiian
children.
By
observing
the students in their
home/community
environment,
teach-
ers were able to
include
aspects
of the
students'
cultural
environment in
the
organization
and
instruction of the
classroom. More
specifically,
Jordan
(1985)
discusses cultural
compatibility
in
this
way:
Educational
practices
must
match
with
the
children's
culture in
ways
which
ensure the
generation
of
academically important
behaviors.
It
does not mean that all
school
practices
need be
completely
congruent
with natal
cultural
practices,
in
the sense of
exactly
or
even
closely
matching
or
agreeing
with
them.
The
point
of
cultural
compatibility
is that the natal
culture
is used as a
guide
in
the
selection of
educational
program
elements so
that
academically
desired
behaviors
are
pro-
duced
and
undesired
behaviors are
avoided.
(p.110)
These studies have
several
common
features. Each
locates
the
source
of
student failure
and
subsequent
achievement
within
the
nexus
of
speech
and
language
interaction
patterns
of
the
teacher
and
the
students.
Each
suggests
that
student
"success"
is
represented
in
achievement within
the
current
social
structures
extant
in
schools.
Thus,
the
goal
of
education
becomes how to
"fit"
students
constructed as
"other"
by
virtue of
their
race/
ethnicity,
language,
or
social
class into a
hierarchical
structure
that
is
defined
as a
meritocracy.
However,
it
is
unclear
how
these
conceptions
do
more
than
reproduce
the
current
inequities.
Singer
(1988)
suggests
that
"cultural
congruence
in an
inherently
moderate
pedagogical
strategy
that
accepts
that
the
goal
of
educating
minority
students is
to
train
individuals
in
those
skills
needed
to
succeed
in
mainstream
society"
(p.
1).
Three
of the
terms
employed
by
studies
on
cultural
mismatch
between
school
and
home--culturally
appropriate,
culturally congruent,
and
culturally
compatible-seem
to
connote
accommodation
of
student
culture
to
main-
stream
culture.
Only
the
term
culturally
responsive
appears
to
refer
to
a
more
dynamic
or
synergistic
relationship
between
home/community
culture
and
school
culture. Erickson
and
Mohatt
(1982)
suggest
their
notion
of
culturally
responsive
teaching
can
be
seen
as a
beginning
step
for
bridging
the
gap
between
home
and
school:
It
may
well
be
that,
by
discovering
the
small
differences in
social
relations
which
make
a
big
difference
in
the
interactional
ways
chil-
dren
engage
the
content
of
the
school
curriculum,
anthropologists
can
make
practical
contributions
to
the
improvement
of
minority
children's
school
achievement
and
to
the
improvement
of
the
every-
day
school
life
for
such
children and
their
teachers.
Making
small
467
Ladson-Billings
changes
in
everyday participation
structures
may
be one
of the
means
by
which
more
culturally responsive pedagogy
can
be
developed.
(p.
170)
For the most
part,
studies
of
cultural
appropriateness,
congruence,
or
compatibility
have been conducted
within
small-scale
communities-for
example,
Native
Hawaiian,
Native
Americans.
However,
an
earlier
generation
of work
considered
the
mismatch
between the
language
patterns
of
African
Americans
and the school
in
larger,
urban
settings
(Gay
&
Abrahamson,
1972;
Labov, 1969;
Piestrup,
1973).
Villegas
(1988)
challenged
the microsocial
explanations
advanced
by
sociolinguists
by suggesting
that
the source
of
cultural mismatch is
located
in
larger
social
structures
and that
schools as
institutions serve
to
reproduce
social
inequalities.
She
argued
that
As
long
as school
performs
this
sorting
function in
society,
it
must
necessarily
produce
winners and
losers. ...
Therefore,
culturally
sen-
sitive
remedies
to
educational
problems
of
oppressed
minority
stu-
dents that
ignore
the
political
aspect
of
schooling
are
doomed
to
failure.
(pp.
262-263)
Although
I
would
agree
with
Villegas's
attention
to the
larger
social
structure,
other scholars in
the cultural
ecological
paradigm
(Ogbu,
1981,
1983)
are
ahistorical and
limited,
particularly
in
their
ability
to
explain
African-
American
student success
(Perry,
1993).1
The
long
history
of
African-Ameri-
can
educational
struggle
and
achievement is well
documented
(Anderson,
1988;
Billingsley,
1992;
Bond, 1969;
Bullock, 1967;
Clark,
1983;
Harding,
1981;
Harris, 1992;
Johnson,
1936;
Rury,
1983;
Woodson,
1919;
Weinberg,
1977).
This
historical
record
contradicts the
glib
pronouncements
that,
"Black
people
don't value
education."
Second,
more
recent
analyses
of
successful
schooling
for
African-Ameri-
can
students
(King,
1991a;
Ladson-Billings,
1992a,
1994;
Siddle-Walker,
1993)
challenge
the
explanatory
power
of
the
cultural
ecologists'
caste-like
category
and raise
questions
about
what schools can
and
should be
doing
to
promote
academic success
for
African-American
students.2
Despite
their
limitations,
the
microanalytic
work
of
sociolinguists
and
the
macrostructural
analysis
of
cultural
ecologists
both are
important
in
helping
scholars
think
about their
intersections
and
consider
possible
classroom/
instructional
adjustments.
For
scholars
interested
in
the
success
of
students
of
color in
complex,
urban
environments,
this
work
provides
some
important
theoretical
and
conceptual groundwork.
Irvine
(1990)
developed
the
concept
of
cultural
synchronization
to
describe the
necessary
interpersonal
context
that
must
exist
between
the
teacher
and
African-American
students
to
maximize
learning.
Rather
than
focus
solely
on
speech
and
language
interactions,
Irvine's work
describes
the
acceptance
of
students'
communication
patterns,
along
with
a
constellation
of
468
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
African-American cultural mores such as
mutuality, reciprocity,
spirituality,
deference,
and
responsibility (King
&
Mitchell,
1990).
Irvine's work
on
African-American
students
and school
failure
considers
both micro- and
macro-analyses,
including:
teacher-student
interpersonal
contexts,
teacher and student
expectations,
institutional
contexts,
and
the
societal
context.
This work is
important
for its break with the cultural
deficit
or
cultural
disadvantage explanations
which
led to
compensatory
educational
interventions.3 A next
step
for
positing
effective
pedagogical practice
is
a
theoretical 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.
I
term this
pedagogy,
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
Several
questions,
some of
which are
beyond
the
scope
of this
discus-
sion,
drive
this
attempt
to
formulate
a
theoretical
model
of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
What
constitutes
student success? How
can
academic success
and
cultural success
complement
each
other
in
settings
where
student
alienation
and
hostility
characterize the
school
experience?
How
can
pedagogy promote
the
kind
of
student
success
that
engages
larger
social structural issues in
a
critical
way?
How do
researchers
recognize
that
pedagogy
in
action?
And,
what are the
implications
for
teacher
preparation generated by
this
pedagogy?
The
Illusion
of
Atheoretical
Inquiry
Educational
research is
greeted
with
suspicion
both
within
and
outside of
the
academy.
Among practitioners,
it
is
regarded
as
too
theoretical
(Kaestle,
1993).
For
many
academicians,
it
is
regarded
as
atheoretical
(Katzer,
Cook,
&
Crouch,
1978).
It
is
the
latter
notion
that I
address
in
this section of
the
article.
Clearly,
much of
educational
research
fails
to
make
explicit
its
theoretical
underpinnings
(Argyris,
1980; Amundson,
Serlin,
&
Lehrer,
1992).
However,
I
want to
suggest
that,
even
without
explicating
a
theoretical
framework,
researchers do
have
explanations
for
why
things
"work the
way they
do."
These
theories
may
be
partial,
poorly
articulated,
conflated,
or
contradictory,
but
they
exist.
What is
regarded
as
traditional
educational
theory-theories
of
reproduction
(as
described
by
Apple
&
Weis,
1983;
Bowles,
1977;
Weiler,
1988)
or
neoconservative
traditional
theory
(as
described in
Young,
1990)--
may
actually
be
a
default
theory
that
researchers feel
no
need to
make
explicit.
Thus,
the
theory's
objectivity
is
unquestioned,
and
studies
undergirded
by
these
theories
are
regarded
as
truth or
objective
reality.
Citing
the
ranking,
or
privileging,
of
theoretical
knowledge,
Code
(1991)
observes:
Even
when
empiricist
theories
of
knowledge
prevail,
knowledgeable
practice
constructs
positions
of
power
and
privilege
that are
by
no
means
as
impartially
ordered
as
strict
empiricism
would
require.
Knowledge gained
from
practical
(untheorized)
experience
is
com-
monly
regarded
as
inferior to
theoretically
derived or
theory-confirm-
ing
knowledge,
and
theory
is
elevated
above
practice.
(p.243)
469
Ladson-Billings
In
education,
work
that
recognizes
the
import
of
practical experience
owes
an intellectual
debt to scholars
such as Smith
(1978,
Atkin
(1973),
Glaser
and
Strauss
(1967),
and Lutz
and
Ramsey
(1974)
who
explored
notions
of
grounded theory
as
an
important
tool for educational research.
Additionally,
work
by
scholars
in
teacher
education such as Stenhouse
(1983),
Elliott
(1991),
Carr and
Kemmis
(1986),
Zeichner
(1990),
and
Cochran-Smith
and
Lytle
(1992)
illuminates the
action
research tradition
where teachers
look
reflexively
at
their
practice
to solve
pedagogical problems
and assist
col-
leagues
and researchers interested
in
teaching
practice.
Even
some
scholars
in
the
logical positivist
tradition
acknowledged
the value of a more
experien-
tially
grounded
research
approach
in
education
(Cronbach,
1975).
More
fundamental than
arguing
the
merits
of
quantitative
versus
qualitative
meth-
odology
(Gage,
1989)
have been calls for broader
understanding
about
the
limits of
any
research
methodology
(Rist,
1990).
In
using
selected citations
from
Kuhn, Patton,
Becker,
and
Gouldner,
Rist
(1990)
helps
researchers
understand the
significance
of research
paradigms
in
education. For
example:
Since no
paradigm
ever solves all of the
problems
it defines
and since
no
two
paradigms
leave
all
the same
problems
unsolved,
paradigm
debates
always
involve the
question:
Which
problems
is it
more
signifi-
cant to have
solved?
(Kuhn,
1970,
p.
46)
A
paradigm
is a
world
view,
a
general perspective,
a
way
of
breaking
down the
complexity
of the real world.
As
such,
paradigms
are
deeply
embedded
in
the
socialization
of
adherents
and
practitioners,
telling
them
what is
important,
what is
reasonable.
(Patton, 1975,
p.
9)
The
issue is
not research
strategies,
per
se.
Rather,
the
adherence to
one
paradigm
as
opposed
to
another
predisposes
one to
view the
world and the
events within
it
in
profoundly
differing
ways.
(Rist,
1990,
p.
83)
The
power
and
pull
of a
paradigm
is more
than
simply
a
methodologi-
cal
orientation.
It is a
means
by
which
to
grasp reality
and
give
it
meaning
and
predictability.
(Rist,
1990,
p.
83)
It
is
with
this orientation
toward the
inherent
subjectivity
of
educational
research that
I
have
approached
this
work.
In
this
next
section,
I
discuss
some
of
the
specific
perspectives
that have
informed
my
work.
The
Participant-Observer
Role for
Researchers
Who Are
"Other"
Increasingly,
researchers have
a
story
to
tell
about
themselves as
well as
their
work
(Carter,
1993;
Peterson &
Neumann,
in
press).
I,
too,
share a
concern for
situating myself
as a
researcher-who
I
am,
what I
believe,
what
experiences
I
have
had all
impact
what,
how,
and
why
I
research.
What
may
make
these
research
revelations
more
problematic
for me
is
my
own
membership
in
a
marginalized
racial/cultural
group.
One
possible
problem
I
face is
the
presumption
of a
"native"
perspective
(Banks,
1992;
Narayan,
1993;
Padilla, 1994;
Rosaldo,
1989)
as I
study
effective
470
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
practice
for African-American
students.
To this
end,
the
questions
raised
by
Narayan
seem
relevant:
"Native"
anthropologists,
then,
are
perceived
as
insiders
regardless
of
their
complex backgrounds.
The
differences between
kinds
of
"native"
anthropologists
are also
obviously passed
over.
Can a
person
from
an
impoverished
American
minority
background
who,
despite
all
prejudices, manages
to
get
an
education and
study
her
own
com-
munity
be
equated
with
a member
of
a
Third World elite
group
who,
backed
by
excellent
schooling
and
parental
funds,
studies
anthropol-
ogy
abroad
yet
returns home
for
fieldwork
among
the less
privileged?
Is
it not insensitive to
suppress
the issue
of
location,
acknowledging
that a scholar
who chooses an
institutional
base
in
the Third
World
might
have a
different
engagement
with
Western-based
theories,
books,
political
stances,
and
technologies
of
written
production?
Is
a
middle-class
white
professional
researching
aspects
of
her own
society
also
a
"native"
anthropologist? (p.
677)
This
location of
myself
as
native
can work
against
me
(Banks,
1992;
Padilla,
1994).
My
work
may
be
perceived
as
biased
or,
at
the
least,
skewed,
because
of
my
vested interests
in
the
African-American
community.
Thus,
I
have
attempted
to search for
theoretical
grounding
that
acknowledges
my
stand-
point
and
simultaneously
forces me
to
problematize
it.
The work
of
Patricia
Hill
Collins
(1991)
on
Black feminist
thought
has
been
most
helpful.
Briefly,
Collins's
work is
based
on
four
propositions:
(1)
concrete
experi-
ences as
a
criterion of
meaning,
(2)
the use
of
dialogue
in
assessing
knowl-
edge
claims,
(3)
the ethic of
caring,
and
(4)
the
ethic of
personal
accountability.
Below,
I
briefly
describe the
context and
methodology
of
my
study
and then
attempt
to
link each
of
these
propositions
to a
3-year
study
I
conducted
with
successful
teachers
of
African-American
students.
Issues
of
Context
and
Methodology
While it is
not
possible
to
fully
explicate
the
context
and
method of
this
study
in
this
article,
it is
necessary
to
provide
readers
with
some
sense
of
both
for
better
continuity.
I
have
provided
more
elaborate
explanations
of
these
aspects
of
the
work
in
other
writings
(Ladson-Billings,
1990;
1992a,
1992b,
1994).
Included
here is
a
truncated
explanation
of
the
research
context
and
method.
In
1988,
I
began
working
as a
lone
investigator
with
a
group
of
eight
teachers in
a small
(less
than
3,000
students)
predominantly
African-Ameri-
can,
low-income
elementary
school
district in
Northern
California.
The
teach-
ers
were
identified
through
a
process
of
community
nomination
(Foster,
1991),
with
African-American
parents
(in
this
case,
all
mothers)
who
attended
local
churches
suggesting
who
they
thought
were
outstanding
teachers.
The
parents'
criteria
for
teaching
excellence
included
being
accorded
respect
by
the
teacher,
student
enthusiasm
toward
school
and
academic
tasks,
and
student
attitudes
toward
themselves
and
others. The
parents'
selections
were
471
Ladson-Billings
cross-checked
by
an
independent
list of excellent
teachers
generated
by
principals
and some
teaching
colleagues.
Principals'
criteria
for
teaching
excellence
included
excellent classroom
management
skills,
student
achieve-
ment
(as
measured
by
standardized
test
scores),
and
personal
observations
of
teaching practice.
Nine teachers'
names
appeared
on both the
parents'
and
principals'
lists
and were selected
to be
in the
study.
One
teacher
declined
to
participate
because
of
the time
commitment.
The teachers
were
all
females:
five were African
American and three were
White.
The
study
was
composed
of four
phases. During
the first
phase,
each
teacher
participated
in an
ethnographic
interview
(Spradley,
1979)
to
discuss
her
background,
philosophy
of
teaching,
and
ideas about
curriculum,
class-
room
management,
and
parent
and
community
involvement. In
the
second
phase
of the
study,
teachers
agreed
to be
observed
by
me.
This
agreement
meant that the teachers
gave
me
carte
blanche to
visit
their
classrooms. These
visits
were
not scheduled beforehand.
I
visited the
classrooms
regularly
for
almost 2
years,
an
average
of
3
days
a
week.
During
each
visit,
I took
field
notes,
audiotaped
the
class,
and
talked with
the teacher
after the
visit,
either
on-site or
by
telephone.
The third
phase
of
the
study,
which
overlapped
the
second
phase,
involved
videotaping
the
teachers.
I
made
decisions about
what
to
videotape
as a result
of
my
having
become
familiar
with
the
teachers'
styles
and
classroom routines.
The
fourth
and final
phase
of the
study
required
that
the
teachers
work
together
as
a
research
collective or
collaborative to view
segments
of
one
another's
videotapes.
In
a
series of ten
2-3-hour
meetings,
the
teachers
participated
in
analysis
and
interpretation
of
their own
and
one
another's
practice.
It was
during
this
phase
of the
study
that
formulations
about
cultur-
ally
relevant
pedagogy
that had
emerged
in
the initial
interviews
were
con-
firmed
by
teaching
practice.
My
own interest in
these
issues
of
teaching
excellence
for
African-
American students
came as
a result of
my
desire
to
challenge
deficit
paradigms
(Bloom,
Davis,
&
Hess,
1965)
that
prevailed
in
the
literature
on African-
American
learners.
Partly
as
a result of
my
own
experiences
as
a
learner,
a
teacher,
and a
parent,
I
was
convinced
that,
despite
the
literature,
there
were
teachers
who
were
capable
of
excellent
teaching
for
African-American
students.
Thus,
my
work
required
a
paradigmatic
shift
toward
looking
in the
classrooms of
excellent
teachers,
through
the
reality
of
those
teachers. In
this
next
section,
I
discuss
how
my
understanding
of
my
own
theoretical
grounding
connected with
the
study.
Concrete
Experiences
as a
Criterion
of
Meaning
According
to
Collins,
"individuals
who
have
lived
through
the
experiences
about
which
they
claim
to be
experts
are
more
believable
and
credible than
those
who have
merely
read and
thought
about such
experience"
(p.
209).
My
work with
successful
teachers
of
African-American
students
began
with
a search
for
"expert"
assessment
of
good
teachers.
The
experts
I
chose
were
parents
who had
children
attending
the
schools
where
I
planned
to
472
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
conduct the research.
The
parents
were
willing
to talk
openly
about
who
they
thought
were
excellent teachers
for their
children,
citing examples
of
teachers'
respect
for them as
parents,
their
children's
enthusiasm
and
changed
attitudes
toward
learning,
and
improved
academics
in
conjunction
with
sup-
port
for
the
students'
home culture.
In
most
cases,
the
basis
for
their
assess-
ments were
comparative,
both
from the
standpoint
of
having
had
experiences
with
many
teachers
(for
each
individual
child)
and
having
had several
school-
age
children.
Thus,
they
could talk
about how an
individual child fared
in
different
classrooms
and
how their
children
collectively
performed
at
specific
grade
levels with
specific
teachers.
The
second area
where
concrete
experiences
as a
criterion of
meaning
was
evident was
with the
teachers
themselves. The
eight
teachers who
partici-
pated
in
this
study
had
from
12
to
40
years
of
teaching
experience,
most
of
it with
African-American students.
Their
reflections
on what
was
important
in
teaching
African-American
students
were
undergirded
by
their
daily
teach-
ing
experiences.
The
Use of
Dialogue
in
Assessing
Knowledge
Claims
This
second
criterion
suggests
that
knowledge
emerges
in
dialectical
relation-
ships.
Rather
than
the voice
of one
authority,
meaning
is
made as a
product
of
dialogue
between
and
among
individuals.
In
the
case of
my study,
dialogue
was
critical
in
assessing
knowledge
claims.
Early
in
the
study,
each
teacher
participated
in
an
ethnographic
interview
(Spradley,
1979).
Although
I
had
specific
areas
I
wanted to
broach with
each
teacher,
the
teachers'
own life
histories and
interests
determined
how
much
time was
spent
on
the
various
areas. In
some
cases,
the
interviews
reflect a
teacher's
belief in
the
salience
of his
or her
family
background
and
education. In
other
instances,
teachers
talked
more
about their
pedagogical,
philosophical,
and
political
perspec-
tives. Even
after I
began
collecting
data
via
classroom
observations,
it
was
the
teachers'
explanations
and
clarifications
that
helped
to
construct
the
meaning
of what
transpired
in
the
classrooms.
Additionally,
after I
collected
data
from
classroom
observations
and
classroom
videotaping,
the
teachers
convened as
a
research
collaborative to
examine
both
their
own
and
one
anothers'
pedagogy.4
In
these
meetings,
meaning
was
constructed
through
reciprocal
dialogue.
Instead of
merely
accepting
Berliner's
(1988)
notions
that
"experts"
operate
on
a
level of
auto-
maticity
and
intuition
that
does
not
allow
for
accurate
individual
critique
and
interpretation-that is,
they
cannot
explain
how
they
do
what
they
do-together
the
teachers
were
able to
make
sense
of
their
own
and
their
colleagues'
practices.
The
ongoing
dialogue
allowed
them
the
opportunity
to
re-examine
and
rethink
their
practices.
The
Ethic of
Caring
Much
has
been
discussed
in
feminist
literature
about
women
and
caring
(Gilligan,
1982;
Noddings,
1984,
1991).
Other
feminists
have
been
critical
of
473
Ladson-Billings
any
essentialized
notion of
women
(Weiler,
1988)
and
suggest
that
no
empiri-
cal evidence
exists to
support
the notion that women care
in
ways
different
from men
or
that
any
such
caring
informs their
scholarship
and work. I
argue
that Collins's
use
of
caring
refers not
merely
to affective connections
between
and
among
people
but
to
the articulation of
a
greater
sense of
commitment
to
what
scholarship
and/or
pedagogy
can
mean in
the
lives of
people.
For
example,
in this
study,
the teachers
were not all demonstrative and
affectionate toward
the students.
Instead,
their common
thread of
caring
was
their concern for
the
implications
their
work had on
their students'
lives,
the
welfare
of the
community,
and
unjust
social
arrangements.
Thus,
rather than
the
idiosyncratic caring
for individual students
(for
whom
they
did seem
to
care),
the teachers
spoke
of
the
import
of
their work for
preparing
the
students
for
confronting
inequitable
and
undemocratic
social structures.
The
Ethic of Personal
Accountability
In this
final
dimension,
Collins addresses
the
notion that
who
makes knowl-
edge
claims
is as
important
as what those
knowledge
claims are.
Thus,
the idea that individuals can
"objectively"
argue
a
position
whether
they
themselves
agree
with
the
position,
as in
public
debating,
is
foreign.
Individu-
als'
commitments
to
ideological
and/or
value
positions
are
important
in
understanding
knowledge
claims.
In this
study,
the
teachers demonstrated
this
ethic of
personal
account-
ability
in
the
kind
of
pedagogical
stands
they
took.
Several of the teachers
spoke
of
defying
administrative
mandates in order to do
what
they
believed
was
right
for students. Others
gave
examples
of
proactive
actions
they
took
to
engage
in
pedagogical
practices
more
consistent with
their beliefs and
values. For
example,
one
teacher was convinced
that the
school district's
mandated
reading program
was
inconsistent
with what she was
learning
about
literacy
teaching/learning
from a
critical
perspective.
She decided
to
write a
proposal
to
the school
board
asking
for
experimental
status for a
literacy approach
she wanted to
use in her
classroom.
Her
proposal
was
buttressed
by
current research
in
literacy
and
would
not
cost the
district
any
more than
the
proposed
program.
Ultimately,
she was
granted
permission
to
conduct her
experiment,
and
its success
allowed other
teachers to
attempt
it in
subsequent years.
Although
Collins's work
provided
me with
a
way
to think
about
my
work
as a
researcher,
it did
not
provide
me with
a
way
to
theorize about
the
teachers'
practices.
Ultimately,
it was
my
responsibility
to
generate
theory
as
I
practiced
theory.
As
previously
mentioned,
this work
builds
on
earlier
anthropological
and
sociolinguistic
attempts
at a
cultural
"fit"
between stu-
dents' home
culture
and
school
culture.
However,
by
situating
it
in
a
more
critical
paradigm,
a
theory
of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy
would
necessarily
propose
to
do
three
things-produce
students who
can
achieve
academically,
produce
students
who
demonstrate
cultural
competence,
and
develop
stu-
dents
who
can
both
understand and
critique
the
existing
social
order. The
next
section
discusses
each of
these
elements of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
474
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
Culturally
Relevant
Pedagogy
and Student
Achievement
Much has been written about the school failure
of
African-American
students
(see,
e.g.,
African
American
Male Task
Force, 1990; Clark, 1983;
Comer, 1984;
Irvine, 1990;
Ogbu,
1981;
Slaughter
&
Kuehne,
1988).
However,
explanations
for this failure
have
varied
widely.
One often-cited
explanation
situates
Afri-
can-American students' failure in their
"caste-like
minority" (p.169)
or
"invol-
untary
immigrant"
status
(Ogbu,
1983,
p.
171).
Other
explanations posit
cultural
difference
(Erickson, 1987,
1993;
Piestrup,
1973)
as the
reason
for
this
failure
and,
as
previously
mentioned,
locate student
failure
in the
cultural
mismatch
between students and the
school.
Regardless
of
these failure
explanations,
little
research has
been
done
to
examine academic success
among
African-American
students. The
effective
schools literature
(Brookover, 1985;
Brookover,
Beady,
Flood,
Schweitzer,
&
Wisenbaker,
1979; Edmonds,
1979)
argued
that
a
group
of
schoolwide
corre-
lates
were
a
reliable
predictor
of student
success.5
The
basis
for
adjudging
a school
"effective"
in
this
literature was
how far
above
predicted
levels
students
performed
on
standardized achievement
tests. Whether
or
not schol-
ars can
agree
on the
significance
of
standardized
tests,
their
meaning
in the
real
world
serves to rank and
characterize both
schools and
individuals.
Thus,
teachers in urban
schools
are
compelled
to
demonstrate that their
students
can achieve
literacy
and
numeracy
(Delpit,
1992).
No
matter
how
good
a
fit
develops
between home and
school
culture,
students must
achieve.
No
theory
of
pedagogy
can
escape
this
reality.
Students
in
the
eight
classrooms I
observed did
achieve.
Despite
the
low
ranking
of the
school
district,
the
teachers
were
able
to
help
students
perform
at
higher
levels than
their district
counterparts.
In
general,
compared
to
students in
middle-class
communities,
the
students
still
lagged
behind.
But,
more
students in
these
classrooms
were at
or
above
grade
level on
standardized
achievement tests.6
Fortunately,
academic
achievement in
these
classrooms was
not
limited to
standardized
assessments.
Classroom
observa-
tions
revealed a
variety
of
demonstrated
student
achievements
too
numerous
to list
here.
Briefly,
students
demonstrated an
ability
to
read,
write,
speak,
compute,
pose
and
solve
problems
at
sophisticated
levels--that
is,
pose
their
own
questions
about the nature
of
teacher-
or
text-posed
problems
and
engage
in
peer
review of
problem
solutions. Each of
the
teachers felt
that
helping
the
students
become
academically
successful
was one
of
their
pri-
mary
responsibilities.
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
and
Cultural
Competence
Among
the
scholarship
that
has
examined
academically
successful
African-
American
students,
a
disturbing
finding
has
emerged--the
students'
academic
success
came
at the
expense
of
their
cultural
and
psychosocial
well-being
(Fine,
1986;
Fordham,
1988).
Fordham
and
Ogbu
(1986)
identified
a
phenom-
enon
entitled,
"acting
White"
(p.
176)
where
African-American
students
who
were
academically
successful
were
ostracized
by
their
peers.
Bacon
(1981)
475
Ladson-Billings
found
that,
among
African-American
high
school students
identified
as
gifted
in their
elementary
grades, only
about half were
continuing
to do
well
at
the
high
school
level. A
closer examination
of
the successful
students'
progress
indicated
that
they
were
social
isolates,
with
neither
African-American
nor
White friends.
The students believed that it was
necessary
for them to
stand
apart
from other
African-American
students
so that teachers
would
not
attri-
bute
to
them the
negative
characteristics
they may
have
attributed
to
African-
American students
in
general.
The dilemma for
African-American
students
becomes
one
of
negotiating
the
academic
demands
of school while
demonstrating
cultural
competence.7
Thus,
culturally
relevant
pedagogy
must
provide
a
way
for
students to main-
tain
their cultural
integrity
while
succeeding
academically.
One
of the
teachers
in the
study
used
the
lyrics
of
rap
songs
as
a
way
to
teach
elements
of
poetry."
From
the
rap lyrics,
she went on
to
more
conventional
poetry.
Students who were more skilled at
creating
and
improvising
raps
were
encouraged
and reinforced. Another teacher
worked to
channel the
peer
group
leadership
of
her students into
classroom
and
schoolwide
leadership.
One
of her
African-American
male
students who
had
experienced
multiple
suspensions
and other
school
problems
before
coming
to
her
classroom
demonstrated some
obvious
leadership
abilities.
He
could be
described
as
culturally
competent
in his
language
and
interaction
styles
and
demonstrated
pride
in
himself and his cultural
heritage.
Rather
than
attempt
to.
minimize
his
influence,
the teacher
encouraged
him
to run
for
sixth-grade
president
and
mobilized
the
entire class to
organize
and
help
run
his
campaign.
To
the
young
man's
surprise,
he was
elected.
His
position
as
president
provided
the teacher
with
many
opportunities
to
respond
to
potential
behavior
prob-
lems.
This
same
teacher
made
a
point
of
encouraging
the
African-American
males
in
her
classroom to
assume the
role
of
academic
leaders.
Their
aca-
demic
leadership
allowed
their
cultural
values
and
styles
to
be
appreciated
and
affirmed.
Because these
African-American
male
students
were
permitted,
indeed
encouraged,
to
be
themselves in
dress,
language
style,
and
interaction
styles
while
achieving
in
school,
the
other
students,
who
regarded
them
highly
(because
of
their
popularity),
were
able to
see
academic
engagement
as
"cool."
Many
of
the
self-described
African-centered
public
schools
have
focused
on
this notion
of
cultural
competence.9
To
date,
little data
has
been
reported
on
the
academic
success of
students
in
these
programs.
However,
the work
of
African-American
scholars
such as
Ratteray
(1994),
Lee
(1994),
Hilliard
(1992),
Murrell
(1993),
Asante
(1991),
and
others
indicates that
African-cen-
tered
education
does
develop
students
who
maintain
cultural
competence
and
demonstrate
academic
achievement.
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
and
Cultural
Critique
Not
only
must
teachers
encourage
academic
success
and
cultural
compe-
tence,
they
must
help
students
to
recognize, understand,
and
critique
current
social
inequities.
This notion
presumes
that
teachers
themselves
recognize
476
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
social
inequities
and their causes.
However,
teacher
educators
(Grant, 1989;
Haberman,
1991b;
King,
1991b;
King
&
Ladson-Billings,
1990;
Zeichner,
1992)
have
demonstrated
that
many
prospective
teachers
not
only
lack these
under-
standings
but
reject
information
regarding
social
inequity.
This
suggests
that
more work on
recruiting
particular
kinds of
students
into
teaching
must
be
done.
Also,
we are fortunate
to have
models for
this kind of cultural
critique
emanating
from the work
of civil
rights
workers
here in
the U. S.
(Aaronsohn,
1992; Morris,
1984;
Clark, 1964; Clark,
with
Brown,
1990)
and the
international
work of
Freire
(1973,
1974)
that has
been
incorporated
into the
critical
and feminist
work
currently being
done
by
numerous
scholars
(see,
e.g.,
Ellsworth, 1989;
Giroux, 1983; Hooks,
1989; Lather,
1986; McLaren,
1989).
Teachers
who meet the cultural
critique
criteria must be
engaged
in
a
critical
pedagogy
which is:
a
deliberate
attempt
to influence how
and what
knowledge
and identi-
ties are
produced
within and
among
particular
sets
of
social relations.
It can
be understood
as a
practice through
which
people
are incited to
acquire
a
particular
"moral
character." As both a
political
and
practical
activity,
it
attempts
to
influence the
occurrence
and
qualities
of
experi-
ences.
(Giroux
&
Simon,
1989,
p.
239)
Thus,
the teachers
in
this
study
were not
reluctant to
identify
political
under-
pinnings
of the
students'
community
and social
world.
One teacher
worked
with her
students
to
identify
poorly
utilized
space
in
the
community,
examine
heretofore inaccessible archival
records about the
early history
of
the
commu-
nity,
plan
alternative uses for a
vacant
shopping
mall,
and
write
urban
plans
which
they
presented
before
the
city
council.
In a
description
of
similar
political
activity,
a
class
of
African-American,
middle-school
students in
Dallas
identified the
problem
of
their
school's
being
surrounded
by
liquor
stores
(Robinson,
1993).
Zoning regulations
in
the
city
made some
areas
dry
while
the
students' school was in
a wet
area.
The
students
identified
the fact
that schools
serving
White,
upper
middle-
class
students were
located in
dry
areas,
while
schools in
poor
communities
were in
wet
areas. The
students,
assisted
by
their
teacher,
planned
a
strategy
for
exposing
this
inequity.
By
using
mathematics,
literacy,
social,
and
political
skills,
the
students
were able to
prove
their
points
with
reports,
editorials,
charts,
maps,
and
graphs.
In
both of
these
examples,
teachers
allowed stu-
dents to
use their
community
circumstances
as
official
knowledge
(Apple,
1993).
Their
pedagogy
and the
students'
learning
became a
form
of
cul-
tural
critique.
Theoretical
Underpinnings
of
Culturally
Relevant
Pedagogy
As I
looked
(and
listened)
to
exemplary
teachers
of
African-American
stu-
dents,
I
began
to
develop
a
grounded
theory
of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
The
teachers in
the
study
met
the
aforementioned
criteria of
helping
their
students
to be
academically
successful,
culturally
competent,
and
sociopoliti-
477
Ladson-Billings
cally
critical.
However,
the
ways
in which
they
met
these criteria
seemed
to
differ
markedly
on
the surface.
Some teachers
seemed
more structured
or
rigid
in their
pedagogy.
Others
seemed to
adopt
more
progressive teaching
strategies.
What theoretical
perspective(s)
held
them
together
and
allowed
them to meet the criteria of
culturally
relevant
teaching?
One of the
places
I
began
to look for
these
commonalties
was
in
teachers'
beliefs and
ideologies. Lipman
(1993)
has
suggested
that,
despite
massive
attempts
at school reform
and
restructuring,
teacher
ideologies
and
beliefs
often remain
unchanged,
particularly
toward African-American
children
and
their
intellectual
potential.
Thus,
in
the
analysis
of
the teacher
interviews,
classroom
observations,
and
group analysis
of
videotaped
segments
of
their
teaching,
I
was able to deduce some broad
propositions
(or
characteristics)
that serve as
theoretical
underpinnings
of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
I
approach
the
following propositions
tentatively
to avoid an
essential-
ized
and/or
dichotomized
notion
of
the
pedagogy
of
excellent teachers.
What I
propose represents
a
range
or continuum
of
teaching
behaviors,
not
fixed
or
rigid
behaviors that
teachers must adhere to
in
order to
merit the
designation
"culturally
relevant." The need for
these
theoretical
understand-
ings
may
be
more academic
than
pragmatic.
The
teachers
themselves feel
no
need to name
their
practice
culturally
relevant.
However,
as a
researcher
and
teacher
educator,
I
am
compelled
to
try
to
make this
practice
more
accessible,
particularly
for
those
prospective
teachers
who do
not share
the
cultural
knowledge,
experiences,
and
understandings
of
their
students
(Haberman,
1994).
The
three broad
propositions
that have
emerged
from
this
research
center around
the
following:10
"*
the
conceptions
of
self and
others
held
by
culturally
relevant
teachers,
"*
the
manner in
which social
relations are
structured
by
culturally
rele-
vant
teachers,
"*
the
conceptions
of
knowledge
held
by
culturally
relevant
teachers.
Conceptions
of
Self and
Others
The
sociology
of
teaching
literature
suggests
that,
despite
the
increasing
professionalization
of
teaching
(Strike,
1993),
the
status of
teaching
as a
profession
continues to
decline. The
feeling
of low
status
is
exacerbated
when
teachers work
with
what
they
perceive
to
be
low-status
students
(Foster,
1986).
However,
as
I
acted as a
participant-observer
in the
classrooms of
exemplary
teachers
of
African-American
students,
both
what
they
said and
did
challenged
this notion. In
brief,
the
teachers:
"*
believed that
all the
students
were
capable
of
academic
success,
"*
saw
their
pedagogy
as
art-unpredictable,
always
in
the
process
of
becoming,
*
saw
themselves as
members of
the
community,
?
saw
teaching
as a
way
to
give
back to
the
community,
478
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
*
believed
in
a
Freirean
notion
of
"teaching
as
mining"
(1974,
p.
76) or
pulling
knowledge
out.
The
teachers demonstrated
their commitment to these
conceptions
of
self
and
others
in
a consistent and deliberate
manner.
Students
were
not
permitted
to choose
failure
in
their classrooms.
They
cajoled, nagged, pes-
tered,
and
bribed
the
students
to work
at
high
intellectual
levels.
Absent
from their discourse about
students
was the
"language
of
lacking."
Students
were
never referred to as
being
from
a
single-parent
household,
being
on
AFDC
(welfare),
or
needing psychological
evaluation.
Instead,
teachers
talked about their
own
shortcomings
and limitations and
ways
they
needed
to
change
to
ensure student
success.
As I
observed
them
teach,
I
witnessed
spontaneity
and
energy
that came
from
experience
and their
willingness
to
be
risk
takers.
In
the
midst
of
a
lesson,
one
teacher,
seemingly
bewildered
by
her
students'
expressed
belief
that
every princess
had
long
blond
hair,
swiftly
went to her
book
shelf,
pulled
down
an
African folk
tale about a
princess,
and shared
the
story
with
the
students to
challenge
their
assertion. In
our conference
afterward,
she
commented,
I
didn't
plan
to
insert that
book,
but
I
just
couldn't let
them
go
on
thinking
that
only
blond-haired,
White
women
were
eligible
for
roy-
alty.
I
know
where
they
get
those
ideas,
but
I have a
responsibility
to
contradict some of
that. The
consequences
of
that kind of
thinking
are
more
devastating
for
our children.
(sp-6,
Field
notes)"
The teachers
made
conscious
decisions to
be a
part
of
the
community
from
which
their
students come.
Three
of
the
eight
teachers
in
this
study
live in
the
school
community.
The
others made
deliberate
efforts to
come
to
the
community
for
goods,
services,
and
leisure
activities,
demonstrating
their belief in
the
community
as an
important
and
worthwhile
place
in
both
their
lives
and the
lives
of
the
students.
A
final
example
I
present
here is an
elaboration of a
point
made
earlier.
It
reflects the
teachers'
attempt
to
support
and
instill
community
pride
in
the
students. One
teacher
used
the
community
as the
basis of her
curriculum.
Her students
searched the
county
historical
archives,
interviewed
long-term
residents,
constructed
and
administered
surveys
and
a
questionnaire,
and
invited and
listened to
guest
speakers
to
get
a
sense of
the
historical
develop-
ment
of
their
community.
Their
ultimate
goal
was
to
develop
a
land
use
proposal
for
an
abandoned
shopping
center
that
was a
magnet
for
illegal
drug
use and
other
dangerous
activities.
The
project
ended
with
the
students'
making
a
presentation
before the
City
Council and
Urban
Planning
Commis-
sion.
One of
the
students
remarked to
me,
"This
[community]
is not
such
a
bad
place.
There are a lot
of
good
things
that
happened
here,
and
some
of
that
is still
going
on."
The
teacher
told
me
that
she
was
concerned
that
too
many
of
the
students
believed
that
their
only
option
for
success
involved
moving
out of
the
community,
rather
than
participating
in its
reclamation.
479
Ladson-Billings
Social
Relations
Much has been written
about
classroom
social
interactions
(see,
e.g.,
Bro-
phy
&
Good, 1970;
Rist,
1970;
Wilcox,
1982).
Perhaps
the
strength
of
some
of
the research
in this
area
is
evidenced
by
its
impact
on
classroom
practices.
For
example,
teachers
throughout
the nation
have
either
heard of or
imple-
mented various
forms of
cooperative
learning
(Cohen
&
Benton, 1988;
Slavin,
1987):
cross-aged, multi-aged,
and
heterogeneous
ability
groupings.
While
these
classroom
arrangements
may
be
designed
to
improve
student
achieve-
ment,
culturally
relevant
teachers
consciously
create
social
interactions
to
help
them meet the three
previously
mentioned
criteria of
academic
success,
cultural
competence,
and critical
consciousness.
Briefly,
the
teachers:
*
maintain fluid
student-teacher
relationships,
*
demonstrate
a connectedness
with
all
of
the
students,
*
develop
a
community
of
learners,
*
encourage
students
to
learn
collaboratively
and
be
responsible
for
another.
In
these
teachers'
classrooms,
the
teacher-student
relationships
are
equi-
table
and
reciprocal.
All
of the
teachers
gave
students
opportunities
to
act
as
teachers.
In
one
class,
the teacher
regularly
sat at
a
student's
desk,
while
the
student stood
at
the front of
the
room and
explained
a
concept
or
some
aspect
of
student
culture. Another
teacher
highlighted
the
expertise
of
various
students
and
required
other students
to
consult those
students
before
coming
to
her for
help:
"Did
you
ask
Jamal
how
to do
those
math
problems?"
"Make
sure
you
check
with
Latasha
before
you
turn
in
your
reading."
Because
she
acknowledged
a
wide
range
of
expertise,
the
individual
students
were
not
isolated
from their
peers
as
teacher's
pets.
Instead,
all
of
the
students
were
made
aware that
they
were
expected
to
excel at
something
and that
the
teacher
would call
on
them
to share
that
expertise
with
classmates.
The
culturally
relevant
teachers
encouraged
a
community
of
learners
rather
than
competitive,
individual
achievement.
By
demanding
a
higher
level of
academic
success
for
the
entire
class,
individual
success
did
not
suffer.
However,
rather
than
lifting
up
individuals
(and,
perhaps,
contributing
to
feelings
of
peer
alienation),
the
teachers
made it
clear
that
they
were
working
with
smart
classes.
For
many
of
the
students,
this
identification
with
academic
success
was a
new
experience.
"Calvin
was a
bad
student
last
year,"
said one
student.
"And
that
was
last
year,"
replied
the
teacher,
as
she
designated
Calvin
to
lead a
discussion
group.
Another
example
of
this
community
of
learners
was
exemplified
by
a
teacher
who,
herself,
was
a
graduate
student.
She
made a
conscious
decision to
share
what
she
was
learning
with
her
sixth
graders.
Every
Friday,
after
her
Thursday
evening
class,
the
students
queried
her
about
what
she had
learned.
A
demonstration
of
the
students'
understanding
of
what
she was
learning
occurred
during
the
principal's
observation of
her
teaching.
A few
minutes
into a
discussion
where
students were
required
to
come
up
with
questions
480
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
they
wanted
answered about
the book
they
were
reading,
a
young
man
seated
at a table near
the rear of the class remarked
with
seeming disgust,
"We're
never
gonna
learn
anything
if
y'all
don't
stop asking
all
of these
low
level
questions!"
His comment
was evidence
of the fact
that the teacher
had
shared
Bloom's
Taxonomy of
Educational
Objectives
(1956)
with the
class.
At another
time,
two
African-American
boys
were
arguing
over
a
notebook.
"What seems
to be the
problem?"
asked
the teacher. "He's
got
my
meta-
cognitive journal!"
replied
one
of the
boys. By
using
the
language
of
the
teacher's
graduate
class,
the students demonstrated their
ability
to
assimilate
her
language
with their
own
experiences.
To
solidify
the social
relationships
in
their
classes,
the teachers encour-
aged
the
students
to learn
collaboratively,
teach
each
other,
and be
responsi-
ble
for the academic success of
others. These
collaborative
arrangements
were not
necessarily
structured
like those of
cooperative
learning.
Instead,
the teachers used
a
combination
of formal
and informal
peer
collaborations.
One teacher used
a
buddy system,
where each student was
paired
with
another. The
buddies checked each other's
homework and class
assignments.
Buddies
quizzed
each
other for
tests,
and,
if
one
buddy
was
absent,
it
was
the
responsibility
of the
other
to call
to
see
why
and
to
help
with
makeup
work. The
teachers used this ethos of
reciprocity
and
mutuality
to insist
that
one
person's
success
was
the success of all
and
one
person's
failure was the
failure of all.
These
feelings
were
exemplified
by
the
teacher who
insisted,
"We're a
family.
We
have to care for
one
another as if our
very
survival
depended
on it....
Actually,
it
does!"
Conceptions
of
Knowledge
The third
proposition
that
emerged
from this
study
was
one that
indicated
how the teachers
thought
about
knowledge-the
curriculum
or
content
they
taught-and
the
assessment of that
knowledge.
Once
again,
I will
summarize
their
conceptions
or
beliefs about
knowledge:
"*
Knowledge
is not
static;
it
is
shared,
recycled,
and
constructed.
"*
Knowledge
must
be
viewed
critically.
"*
Teachers must
be
passionate
about
knowledge
and
learning.
"*
Teachers
must
scaffold,
or
build
bridges,
to
facilitate
learning.
"*
Assessment
must
be
multifaceted,
incorporating
multiple
forms of
excellence.
For
the
teachers in
this
study,
knowledge
was
about
doing.
The
students
listened and
learned from
one
another as
well
as
the
teacher.
Early
in
the
school
year,
one
teacher
asked the
students
to
identify
one area
in
which
they
believed
they
had
expertise.
She
then
compiled
a
list of
"classroom
experts"
for
distribution
to
the
class.
Later,
she
developed
a
calendar and
asked
students
to
select
a
date
that
they
would
like
to
make a
presentation
in
their
area of
expertise.
When
students
made
their
presentations,
their
481
Ladson-Billings
knowledge
and
expertise
was
a
given.
Their classmates
were
expected
to
be
an
attentive audience
and to take
seriously
the
knowledge
that was
being
shared
by taking
notes
and/or
asking
relevant
questions.
The
variety
of
topics
the students offered
included
rap
music, basketball,
gospel singing, cooking,
hair
braiding,
and
baby-sitting.
Other students
listed
more
school-like
areas
of
expertise
such
as
reading, writing,
and
mathematics.
However,
all
students
were
required
to share
their
expertise.
Another
example
of
the
teachers'
conceptions
of
knowledge
was
demon-
strated
in
the critical
stance the teachers
took toward
the
school
curriculum.
Although
cognizant
of
the need to teach
certain
things
because of a
dis-
trictwide
testing
policy,
the
teachers
helped
their
students
engage
in
a
variety
of forms of
critical
analyses.
For one
teacher,
this meant
critique
of the
social
studies
textbooks that
were under
consideration
by
a
state
evaluation
panel.
For two of
the other
teachers,
critique
came
in
the
form
of
resistance
to
district-
approved
reading
materials. Both of
these
teachers
showed the students
what
it was
they
were
supposed
to be
using
along
with
what
they
were
going
to
use and
why.
They
both
trusted
the students with this
information
and
enlisted them as
allies
against
the school
district's
policies.
A final
example
in this
category
concerns
the
teachers' use of
complex
assessment
strategies.
Several of the
teachers
actively
fought
the
students'
right-answer
approach
to school
tasks without
putting
the students'
down.
They
provided
them with
problems
and
situations and
helped
the
students
to
say
aloud
the
kinds
of
questions
they
had
in
their minds
but
had
been
taught
to
suppress
in
most other
classrooms. For
one
teacher,
it
was
the
simple
requiring
of students
to
always
be
prepared
to
ask,
"Why?"
Thus,
when
she
posed
a
mathematical word
problem,
the
first
question
usually
went
something
like this:
"Why
are
we
interested
in
knowing
this?"
Or,
someone
would
simply
ask,
"Why
are
we
doing
this
problem?"
The
teacher's
response
was
sometimes another
question:
"Who
thinks
they
can
respond
to that
question?"
Other
times,
the
teacher
would
offer an
explanation
and
then
ask,
"Are
you
satisfied with
that
answer?"
If a
student
said
"Yes,"
she
might say,
"You
shouldn't be.
Just
because I'm
the
teacher
doesn't
mean I'm
always
right."
The
teacher
was
careful
to
help
students
to
understand
the
difference
between an
intellectual
challenge
and
a
challenge
to
the
authority
of
their
parents.
Thus,
just
as
the
students
were
affirmed
in
their
ability
to
code-switch,
or
move with
facility,
in
language
between
African-American
language
and
a
standard
form of
English,
they
were
supported
in
the
attempts
at
role-switching
between
school
and
home.
Another
teacher
helped
her
students to
choose
both the
standards
by
which
they
were
to
be
evaluated and
the
pieces
of
evidence
they
wanted
to
use as
proof
of
their
mastery
of
particular
concepts
and
skills.
None
of
the
teachers or
their
students
seemed to
have
test
anxiety
about the
school
district's
standardized
tests.
Instead,
they
viewed the
tests
as
necessary
irrita-
tions,
took
them,
scored better
than
their
age-grade
mates
at
their
school,
and
quickly
returned to
the
rhythm
of
learning
in
their
classroom.
482
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
Conclusion
I
began
this article
arguing
for a
theory
of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
I
also
suggested
that
the tensions
that
surround
my
position
as a native in
the
research field force me
to face
the
theoretical and
philosophical
biases
I
bring
to
my
work
in overt
and
explicit
ways.
Thus,
I
situated
my
work
in
the
context of Black feminist
thought.
I
suggested
that
culturally
relevant
teaching
must meet three criteria:
an
ability
to
develop
students
academically,
a
willingness
to
nurture
and
support
cultural
competence,
and
the
develop-
ment of
a
sociopolitical
or critical consciousness.
Next,
I
argued
that
culturally
relevant
teaching
is
distinguishable
by
three
broad
propositions
or
concep-
tions
regarding
self and
other,
social
relations,
and
knowledge.
With
this
theoretical
perspective,
I
attempted
to broaden
notions
of
pedagogy
beyond
strictly
psychological
models.
I also have
argued
that earlier
sociolinguistic
explanations
have failed
to include the
larger
social and cultural contexts
of
students and
the cultural
ecologists
have
failed to
explain
student
success.
I
predicated
the need for
a
culturally
relevant theoretical
perspective
on
the
growing
disparity
between
the
racial, ethnic,
and cultural
characteristics
of
teachers
and students
along
with
the continued academic
failure
of
African-
American,
Native American and Latino
students.
Although
I
agree
with
Haberman's
(1991b)
assertion that
teacher educa-
tors
are
unlikely
to make
much
of a
difference
in
the
preparation
of
teachers
to work with
students
in
urban
poverty
unless
they
are able
to
recruit "better"
teacher
candidates,
I still believe
researchers are
obligated
to
re-educate
the
candidates
we
currently
attract toward a
more
expansive
view of
pedagogy
(Bartolome,
1994).
This can be
accomplished partly
by
helping
prospective
teachers understand culture
(their
own and
others)
and the
ways
it
functions
in
education.
Rather
than
add
on
versions
of
multicultural
education or
human
relations courses
(Zeichner,
1992)
that serve
to
exoticize diverse
students
as
"other,"
a
culturally
relevant
pedagogy
is
designed
to
problematize
teaching
and
encourage
teachers to
ask about the
nature of the
student-
teacher
relationship,
the
curriculum,
schooling,
and
society.
This
study represents
a
beginning
look at
ways
that
teachers
might
systematically
include
student
culture in
the
classroom as
authorized or
official
knowledge.
It
also
is
a
way
to
encourage
praxis
as
an
important
aspect
of
research
(Lather,
1986).
This
kind of
research
needs
to
continue
in
order to
support
new
conceptions
of
collaboration
between
teachers and
researchers
(practitioners
and
theoreticians).
We
need
research that
proposes
alternate
models of
pedagogy,
coupled
with
exemplars
of
successful
peda-
gogues.
More
importantly,
we
need to
be
willing
to
look for
exemplary
practice
in
those
classrooms and
communities that too
many
of us
are
ready
to
dismiss as
incapable
of
producing
excellence.
The
implication
of
continuing
this kind
of work
means that
research
grounded
in
the
practice
of
exemplary
teachers will
form a
significant
part
of the
knowledge
base on
which we
build
teacher
preparation.
It
means
that the
research
community
will
have
to
be
willing
to listen
to
and
heed
the
483
Ladson-Billings
"wisdom
of
practice"
(Shulman, 1987,
p.
12)
of these excellent
practitioners.
Additionally,
we need to
consider
methodologies
that
present
more
robust
portraits
of
teaching.
Meaningful
combinations
of
quantitative
and
qualitative
inquiries
must be
employed
to
help
us
understand
the
deeply
textured,
multilayered
enterprise
of
teaching.
I
presume
that
the work I have been
doing
raises more
questions
than
it
answers.
A common
question
asked
by practitioners
is,
"Isn't what
you
described
just
'good
teaching'?"
And,
while I do not
deny
that
it
is
good
teaching,
I
pose
a
counter
question:
why
does so
little of
it
seem to
occur
in classrooms
populated
by
African-American students? Another
question
that
arises
is
whether or
not this
pedagogy
is
so
idiosyncratic
that
only
"certain" teachers
can
engage
in it. I would
argue
that
the
diversity
of
these
teachers
and the
variety
of
teaching strategies
they
employed challenge
that
notion.
The
common
feature
they
shared
was
a
classroom
practice
grounded
in what
they
believed
about the
educability
of the
students.
Unfortunately,
this raises
troubling thoughts
about those teachers
who are not
successful,
but we cannot assume
that
they
do not believe
that some
students
are
incapable
(or
unworthy)
of
being
educated. The reasons
for
their
lack
of
success are far too
complex
for this
discussion.
Ultimately,
my responsibility
as
a
teacher educator
who
works
primarily
with
young,
middle-class,
White women is to
provide
them
with
the
examples
of
culturally
relevant
teaching
in
both
theory
and
practice. My
responsibility
as a
researcher
is to
continue
to
inquire
in
order to
move toward
a
theory
of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy.
Notes
I
am
grateful
to the
National
Academy
of
Education's
Spencer
postdoctoral
fellowship
program
for
providing
me with
the
funding
to conduct
this
research.
However,
the
ideas
expressed
here are
my
own and
do
not
necessarily
reflect
those of the
National
Academy
of
Education or the
Spencer
Foundation.
1Although
issues of
culturally
relevant
teaching
can and
should
be
considered
cross-
culturally,
this work looks
specifically
at
the
case
of
African-American
students.
2It
is
interesting
to
note
that
a number of
trade books
have
emerged
that
detail
the
rage
and frustration of
academically
successful,
professional,
middle-class,
African-
American
adults,
which
suggests
that,
even
with the
proper
educational
credentials,
their
lives
continue to be
plagued
by
racism
and a
questioning
of
their
competence.
Among
the more
recent books are
Jill
Nelson's
Volunteer
Slavery
(1993),
Brent
Staples's
Parallel
Time
(1994),
and Ellis
Cose's The
Rage
of
a
Privileged
Class
(1993).
3It
should be
noted that the
"cultural
deficit"
notion
has
been
reinscribed
under
the
rubric
of
"at-risk"
(Cuban,
1989).
Initially,
the
U. S.
Commission on
Excellence in
Education
defined the nation as
at risk.
Now,
almost 10
years
later,
it
appears
that
only
some
children
are
at
risk. Too
often,
in the
case of
African-American
students,
their
racial/cultural
group
membership
defines
them
as
at risk.
4The
research
collaborative met to view
portions
of
the
classroom
videotapes
that
I,
as
researcher,
selected for common
viewing.
5These
correlates
include: a clear and
focused
mission,
instructional
leadership,
a
safe and
orderly
environment,
regular
monitoring
of student
progress,
high
expectations,
and
positive
home-school relations.
"6Students in
this
district took
the
California
Achievement
Test
(CAT)
in
October
and
May
of
each
school
year.
Growth
scores in
the
classrooms
of
the
teachers in
the
study
were
significantly
above those of
others in
the
district.
484
Culturally
Relevant
Teaching
7This
is not
to
suggest
that cultural
competence
for
African-American
students
means
being
a failure. The
problem
that
African-American
students
face is the constant
devaluation
of
their culture
both
in school and in the
larger
society.
Thus,
the
styles apparent
in
African-American
youth
culture--e.g.,
dress, music, walk,
language-are
equated
with
poor
academic
performance.
The student
who identifies with
"hip-hop"
culture
may
be
regarded
as
dangerous
and/or a
gang
member for whom academic
success is not
expected.
He
(and
it
usually
is a
male)
is
perceived
as not
having
the cultural
capital
(Bourdieu,
1984)
necessary
for academic
success.
"8An examination
of
rap
music reveals
a wide
variety
of
messages.
Despite
the
high
profile
of
"gansta
rap,"
which
seems
to
glorify
violence,
particularly against
the
police
and
Whites,
and the
misogynistic
messages
found
in some of this
music,
there
is a
segment
of
rap
music
that
serves
as cultural
critique
and
urges
African Americans
to
educate
themselves
because schools
fail to do so. Prominent
rap
artists
in
this
tradition
are
Arrested
Development,
Diggable
Planets, KRS-1,
and
Queen
Latifah.
"I
am indebted
to Mwalimu
Shujaa
for
sharing
his
working paper,
"Afrikan-Centered
Education
in Afrikan-Centered Schools: The Need for
Consensus
Building,"
which
elabo-
rates
the
multiplicity
of
thinking
on this issue extant in
the
African-centered movement.
1oReaders
should note
that I
have
listed
these as
separate
and
distinct
categories
for
analytical
purposes.
In
practice,
they
intersect and
overlap, continuously.
"These
letters
and numbers
represent
codes I
employed
to
distinguish among
the
interview data and field notes
I
collected
during
the
study.
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