A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction

The achievement gap remains a stubborn problem for educators of culturally and linguistically diverse students. With the introduction of the rigorous Common Core State Standards, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement and facilitating deeper learning

Culturally responsive pedagogy has shown great promise in meeting this need, but many educators still struggle with its implementation. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction.

The book includes:

• Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships
• Ten "key moves" to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners
• Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection

With a firm understanding of these techniques and principles, teachers and instructional leaders will confidently reap the benefits of culturally responsive instruction.

"An essential, compelling, and practical examination of the relationship between culture and cognition that will forever transform how we think about our role facilitating the learning of other people’s children—and our own children!

—LaShawn Routé Chatmon, Executive Director

National Equity Project

"All students can and will learn at high levels when provided the type of instruction described in this book. This work calls us to action by mandating that we move beyond looking for student outcomes that rely heavily on the regurgitation of memorized facts to applying the information learned to new situations."

—Kendra Ferguson, Chief of Schools

Kipp Bay Area Schools, Oakland, CA

"An essential, compelling and practical examination of the relationship between culture and cognition that will forever transform how we think about our role facilitating the learning of other people’s children – and our own children!  Zaretta Hammond forcefully traverses the socio-political landscape of race and learning, smashing our misconceptions and bias about the educability of black, brown and low-income students; setting us free to take a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to creating classroom practices and environments that result in true learning partnerships with our students. The framework Hammond offers skillfully weaves together cultural knowledge (students’ cultural identities and how they see and make meaning of the world) with neuroscience (what we now know about how the brain processes and retains information)  – the real artistry of culturally responsive pedagogy.

This book demonstrates high regard for the complexity of teaching and delivers an even higher regard for the promise and academic potential of the students we’ve made most vulnerable in our school systems if we, as educators, choose to act on what we know. This book should be required reading for every teacher education program in the country!"

Zaretta Hammond, M.A. is a teacher educator and international education consultant. Ms. Hammond is a former high school and community college writing instructor. Through her company, Transformative Learning Solutions, she supports schools, school districts, teacher education programs, and other institutions to understand the integration of culturally responsive practices, the science of learning, and authentic assessment. She designs professional learning programs to help instructional coaches build their skills and capacity in these areas. She is also the author of the bestselling book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (Corwin, 2015). In addition to her expertise in culturally responsive pedagogy, Ms. Hammond is a strong literacy practitioner. She is a member of the advisory board for UnboundEd’s literacy organization, CORE Learning. She also sits on the Learning Policy Institute’s science of learning and development research advisory committee.