Kalie Ackley

SOC 322

April 30, 2019

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Culturally relevant pedagogy is important for teacher education programs to have

knowledge on. Students of color deserve to be treated with equity. Implementing social justice

and equity in classrooms will be beneficial to all students. Teachers can be the pathway to

students’ academic success and enhance their critical thinking skills through culturally relevant

pedagogy.

The teachers in the study that Ladson-Billings conducted, aided not only in their students’

academic success, but also helped them become culturally competent and socio-politically

critical. Ladson-Billings found a common factor that the teachers carried were their concern for

their student’s work and how it could impact their lives. According to Ladson-Billings (1995),

“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” (p. 474). The

teachers in the study cared for their students’ overall wellbeing and wanted to prepare them for

social inequalities that life gives.

Teachers who used culturally relevant pedagogy in their classrooms connected with

academic success of their students. Students were at or above grade level on the standardized

tests. According to Ladson-Billings (1995), “students demonstrated an ability to read, write,

speak, compute, pose and solve problems at sophisticated levels” (p. 475). Although student

achievement was enhanced, Ladson-Billings draws from the article by Ogbu (1986) on “acting

white.” Although many African American students were doing well in academics, when it came
to high school, academic achievement was looked down upon by their peers. “Culturally relevant

pedagogy must provide a way for students to maintain their cultural integrity while succeeding

academically” (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 476). Teachers that demonstrate cultural competence in

their classrooms create the bridge to academic success among their students. Students that have a

place to connect school with their culture will achieve. Incorporating students’ language and

style in the classrooms provides a pathway to student’s academic success.

Culturally relevant pedagogy builds on students’ critical thinking skills outside of the

classroom. Teachers recognize the social inequalities and are able to teach their students how to

recognize and understand them. The teachers in the study recognized the social inequalities that

happened around their communities and presented them to their students. The students

understood the inequalities and with their teachers help, took action to fix the inequalities.

According to Ladson-Billings (1995), “Their pedagogy and the students’ learning became a form

of cultural critique” (p. 477). The students had understanding of what was going on in their

communities and decided to do something to help fix the inequalities. Because the teachers

presented them with the problems in their communities, the students became aware and were

able to critically think about what they could do to solve the problems. Involving students to

critically think of solutions helps them become critical thinkers in their future as well.

Culturally relevant teaching helps students grow in their academic success and become

critical thinkers. Implementing cultural knowledge and backgrounds of the students into the

curriculum creates relatable experiences for students. Creating a multicultural education for

students brings equity into the classroom.

 References

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American

Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.