Teaching Diverse Learners Using Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (Fact Sheet)

Students from historically marginalized backgrounds experience poorer educational outcomes than their peers who are white, more affluent, or whose native language is English. To address this disparity, states and districts expend considerable resources on efforts to improve student achievement. Against this backdrop, educator interest in using culturally responsive pedagogy as one important approach to improving students’ outcomes has increased. Culturally responsive pedagogy aims to address social barriers believed to contribute to disparities in student outcomes. These social barriers include but are not limited to lower educator expectations for academic outcomes and deficit-based mindsets about students from historically marginalized backgrounds.