Zaretta Hammond, M.A. is a teacher educator and international education consultant. Ms. Hammond is a former high school and community college writing instructor. Through her company, Transformative Learning Solutions, she supports schools, school districts, teacher education programs, and other institutions to understand the integration of culturally responsive practices, the science of learning, and authentic assessment. She designs professional learning programs to help instructional coaches build their skills and capacity in these areas. She is also the author of the bestselling book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (Corwin, 2015). In addition to her expertise in culturally responsive pedagogy, Ms. Hammond is a strong literacy practitioner. She is a member of the advisory board for UnboundEds literacy organization, CORE Learning. She also sits on the Learning Policy Institutes science of learning and development research advisory committee.
Ensure all your students are ready to tackle rigorous content
To understand the achievement gaps that persist in our schools despite years of equity initiatives, we must look to the insidious legacy of segregated schools and the deliberate underdevelopment of diverse students cognitive abilities. Uprooting this "cognitive redlining" requires we reimagine instruction for our most vulnerable learners so they can rebuild their brains learning muscles.
Rebuilding Students Learning Power outlines a five-step process to coach students to strengthen their natural learning abilities while dismantling over-scaffolding of instruction, the number one contributor to cognitive redlining. Additional features include:
- A cognitive apprenticeship model that recenters the student as the primary actor in the classroom
- Guidance for administrators, instructional coaches, instructional leadership teams, and teachers to collaborate in creating sustainable liberatory teaching practices
- A how-to plan to build teacher capacity to coach students in becoming good information processors
Building on the popular Ready for RigorTM framework from her bestselling book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, author Zaretta Hammond offers a practical roadmap for closing the knowing-doing gap, grounded in the science of learning. This essential resource is for educators, instructional coaches, and school leaders who are committed to moving the needle on academic achievement in their districts.
Acknowledgements About the Author Introduction Part I Chapter 1: Instructional Equity, the Science of Learning, and the Quest for Cognitive Justice Chapter 2: Moving Toward a Pedagogy of Possibility Chapter 3: Moving Away from a Pedagogy of Compliance Part II Chapter 4: Making the Shift Happen in the Service of Instructional Equity Chapter 5: Decolonizing and Rematriating the Classroom as a Dojo Chapter 6: Uncovering the Algorithm of Learning for Our Community of Learners Chapter 7: Building Power Moves through Meta-Strategic Thinking Chapter 8: Coaching Learning Power Inside the Instructional Conversation Part III Chapter 9: Distributed Leadership for Change and Cognitive Justice Conclusion: Answer the Call to Adventure References