ABSTRACT
Researchers have determined that teachers who utilize culturally responsive teaching practices are more likely to help their students succeed academically. At high-performing urban schools, teachers begin with the assumption that all of their students can learn challenging academic concepts if they find ways to present information that respond to their students’ cultural, social, and personal strengths, interests, and needs. In high-performing urban schools, educators made impressive efforts to ensure that all students across the various cultural groups served perceived they were both valued and capable. Teachers in high-performing urban schools used auditory and visual strategies, along with various active engagement strategies, to communicate concepts in ways that made sense to all the students they served. In addition to broadening the curriculum, teachers in many high-performing schools also modified instructional approaches in a way that was culturally responsive to their students.
