Culturally Responsive Leadership

Development of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

The concept of culturally responsive leadership arises from inquiry into culturally oriented teaching and pedagogical practices. Gloria Ladson-Billings coined the term culturally relevant pedagogy in her now classic study of eight exemplary teachers of African American students. Ladson-Billings built her “pedagogy of opposition” on the shoulders of previous anthropological work that noted a cultural mismatch between students from culturally diverse backgrounds and their teachers, particularly in language and verbal participation structures. Ladson-Billings's approach to the education of African American students included a focus on [Page 547]classroom interactions, school policies, and societal and historical contexts. In Ladson-Billings's view, culturally relevant pedagogy rests on three propositions: (1) students must experience academic success, (2) students must develop and maintain cultural competence, and (3) students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the social order.

In their model of culturally responsive teaching, Ana Maria Villegas and Tamara Lucas describe culturally responsive teachers as those who exemplify five dispositions and practices. First, they express a sociopolitical consciousness that enables them to examine their own racial and ethnic identity as well as how schools reproduce existing social inequalities. Second, culturally responsive teachers affirm the views of students from diverse backgrounds and view all students as capable learners who have experiences, concepts, and languages that can be built on and expanded in the learning process. This additive approach to education builds on students' “funds of knowledge” rather than ignoring their language and culture in the school curriculum. Third, these teachers are agents of change who are both responsible for and capable of bringing about greater equity in education. Fourth, culturally responsive teachers embrace constructivist views of teaching and learning that recognize that learners use prior knowledge to make sense of new input. This educational stance views learners as “builders,” not empty vessels, and promotes critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and the recognition of multiple perspectives. Fifth, culturally responsive teachers develop content knowledge about multicultural history and literature, access local community knowledge and draw on the expertise of community members, and use examples and analogies from students' lives to introduce and clarify concepts. Geneva Gay and Kipchoge Kirkland emphasize the critical consciousness aspect of culturally responsive teaching, arguing that teachers must know who they are as people, understand the contexts in which they teach, and question their knowledge base and assumptions. Gay and Kirkland posit that these self-reflective qualities are as important as developing effective instructional techniques.

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