Zaretta Hammond wants school leaders to stop treating change as a straight line. In this conversation, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain explains why growth actually moves in a spiral, why there's always a dip before things get better, and why so many educators are caught off guard by that dip because the system rarely rewards the messiness of learning. She unpacks the idea of \"liminal spaces,\" the uncomfortable in-between moments where old skills are falling away and new ones haven't settled yet, and argues that school leaders need real skill in guiding people through them, not just managing productivity.
You'll learn why Zaretta believes \"we cannot PD our way out of this learning crisis,\" what she calls the \"theory of the first pancake,\" and why she thinks evaluation should ask teachers what they've experimented with rather than whether they delivered a polished lesson. Zaretta also breaks down the difference between rapport and alliance in the teacher-student relationship, and why closing achievement gaps depends on combining cognitive science with culturally responsive teaching rather than treating them as separate camps. If you've ever wondered why some professional development sessions leave your staff buzzing but change nothing back in the classroom, this conversation explains why, and what to do instead.
Resources & Links Mentioned
Zaretta Hammond's Ready for Rigor
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (book)
James Nottingham's Learning Pit
Richard Elmore's instructional core (Harvard Graduate School of Education)
Episode Partners
International Curriculum Association