About this episode

Zaretta Hammond discusses the complexities of educational change and the importance of culturally responsive teaching in addressing achievement gaps.

Zaretta Hammond wants school leaders to stop treating change as a straight line. In this conversation, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain explains why growth actually moves in a spiral, why there's always a dip before things get better, and why so many educators are caught off guard by that dip because the system rarely rewards the messiness of learning. She unpacks the idea of "liminal spaces," the uncomfortable in-between moments where old skills are falling away and new ones haven't settled yet, and argues that school leaders need real skill in guiding people through them, not just managing productivity. You'll learn why Zaretta believes "we cannot PD our way out of this learning crisis," what she calls the "theory of the first pancake," and why she thinks evaluation should ask teachers what they've experimented with rather than whether they delivered a polished lesson. Zaretta also breaks down the difference between rapport and alliance in the teacher-student relationship, and why closing achievement gaps depends on combining cognitive science with culturally responsive teaching rather than treating them as separate camps. If you've ever wondered why…

People in this episode

Host: Shane Leaning

Guest: Zaretta Hammond

Topics covered

• equity in education
• learning science
• culturally responsive teaching
• professional development
• teacher-student relationships
• educational leadership

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: LinkedIn

Books & works: Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

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