Educational research is defined as the systematic study of different elements in academic settings, including teaching tactics, student achievement, school policies and disparities, etc. In her talk, Dr. Ladson-Billings highlights two significant strands of education research that have shaped her distinguished career: culturally responsive pedagogy and critical race theory.
Culturally relevant pedagogy is teaching that spans the home culture and school learning. In the 1980s and then in the early thirties, Dr. Ladson-Billings worked as a researcher who investigated teachers’ practices that were effective in teaching African American students. She called this practice by another name, culturally responsive pedagogy or CRE. She found these “Dreamkeeper” teachers to have high academic expectations for all students, saw their culture as a help instead of a habit that impoverishes or hinders learning, and strengthened student cultural competencies and basic skills ((“AERA 2019: Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award (2018) Address,” 2019). This study disputed the deficit perspective that dominated during those times and apportioned blame on African American students, families, and culture for school failure. Conversely, Dr. Ladson-Billings showed how teachers could incorporate students’ culture to facilitate learning. The culturally relevant pedagogy principles that stemmed from these studies remain relevant in contemporary classrooms, being integrated into practice by teachers focusing on supporting students of all backgrounds.
In the 1970s and the 1980S, critical race theory developed in academic settings where it showed up as a response to racism that continues persisting even though civil rights were reformed. Critical race theory was introduced into education in the 1990s by Dr. Ladson-Billings to address racial inequities that persist despite claims of school reform and diversity training, while alternatives such as social justice failed.
According to critical race theorists, racism is not strange but normal in American society because racial categories and stereotypes have been socially constructed over centuries and, hence, propagated through policies, structures, as well as beliefs. One of the central tenets is that race while interacting with other identities like gender and class, generates a perplexed structure. Dr. Ladson-Billings utilized critical race theory as a lens through which she highlighted the ways curriculum, pedagogy, and discipline policies, among other systemic factors, perpetually dismantle students of color racial groups. Her research showed how racism influences everyday school practices that perpetuate racial injustice, even though people proclaim the constant evolution. Critical race theory is a conceptual tool that helps expose racism in education and work toward social justice.
Culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory research for future teachers is crucial in many aspects. For instance, such studies may influence teachers’ mindsets and beliefs. By cultivating strengths-based perspectives that embrace diversity as a gift and accept the full humanity of students, teachers can free themselves from deficit views about student color second, while this study draws attention to equally enabling practices of teaching based on high consistency perspectives cultural competence critical consciousness and nurturing relationships. Teachers can build from this knowledge base to design classrooms where all learners flourish. Third, critical race theory provides a filter through which educators can observe and combat racism as an institution within the school. Instead of accepting inequities as a fact, teachers can push for policies and reforms to promote racial justice. Lastly, machine learning through education research can provide teachers with an ever-increasing knowledge base on which they may draw to guide their practice and improve student outcomes. Research-based lifelong learning is life for teachers who want to stay awake and dream in their classrooms.
References
AERA 2019: Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award (2018) Address. (2019, May 16). YouTube. https://youtu.be/CItAWrZCyz8?si=uHRQPJGmjgEnmKF8
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