Zaretta Hammond, M.A., is a U.S. teacher educator and international education consultant who blends learning science, culturally responsive teaching, and improvement science to advance instructional equity for historically underserved student populations. She is the author of the bestselling books Culturally Responsive Teaching (2015) and The Brain and Rebuilding Students’ Learning Power (2025).
Ms. Hammond is a former teacher who exclusively taught expository writing in the classroom, which informed her frameworks and methods for building students’ cognitive capacity for effortful thinking. Since the early 2000s, she has guided teachers in accelerating literacy by applying the science of reading. For the past 25 years, she has supported schools and other institutions in strengthening the instructional core as a lever for moving toward educational equity.
Ms. Hammond has also authored numerous book chapters and articles on these topics for school leaders and instructional coaches. In addition, Ms. Hammond serves as a board member for The Teaching Well, a nonprofit organization that supports teacher well-being, and sits on several advisory committees for various literacy organizations.