ELDER
Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings
Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, the originator of culturally relevant pedagogy, 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. She was the 2005-2006 president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Ladson-Billings’ research examines the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students.
She also investigates Critical Race Theory applications to education. 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. s Professor Emerita and former Chair of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where she held the Kellner Family Endowed Professorship in Urban Education. Having attended for twelve years and taught and supervised for ten years in Philadelphia public schools, Dr. Ladson-Billings knows and understands the complexities of teaching and learning in urban settings.
The lessons learned as both a student and a teacher in an urban context remain with her still and permeate her work. As she has written, “I try not to romanticize my Philadelphia experience. It was the hardest work I have ever done. But I also recognize it as the foundation of my understanding of teaching and learning”. Dr. Ladson-Billings built upon that foundation by completing an MA in education at the University of Washington and a PhD in curriculum and teacher education at Stanford University.
After stints at Santa Clara University and Far West Educational Laboratory, she joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. PP: She is perhaps best known for her book The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, first published in 1994 and still in wide use in teacher education classes across the country. Within those pages, she described and advocated for what she called culturally relevant teaching, a stance that “uses student culture in order to maintain it and to transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture” (1994, 17). Such a stance “empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes”. In a culturally relevant classroom, a child’s culture is seen as a source of strength on which to rely and not a problem to be overcome or something completely invisible.
Source: https://archive.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2375