Gloria Ladson-Billings

Gloria Ladson-Billings is the former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and faculty affiliate in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Ladson-Billings’ research examines the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students. She introduced the seminal idea of culturally relevant pedagogy. She is the author of the critically acclaimed books The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children and Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms, and numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her research and writing illustrate that successful teaching of Black children is characterized by rigorous and demanding expectations of young people, accompanied by support. Perhaps the essential contribution of her work is that this deep and generative approach to teaching goes well beyond colloquial notions of just good teaching. Such teaching engages students' communities and promotes young people's critical consciousness about structural racism and oppression.