Cultivating Genius

In Cultivating Genius, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad presents a four-layered equity framework-one that is grounded in history and restores excellence in literacy education. Muhammad's Historically Responsive Literacy Framework is essential for all students, especially youth of color, who traditionally have been marginalized in learning standards, school policies, and classroom practices. The framework promotes four learning goals-or pursuits:
• Identity development; defining self; making sense of one's values and beliefs
• Skill development; developing proficiencies through reading and writing meaningful content
• Intellectual development; gaining knowledge and becoming smarter
• Criticality; developing the ability to read texts to understand power, authority, and oppression

When these four learning pursuits are taught together-through the Historically Responsive Literacy Framework- all students receive profound opportunities for personal, intellectual, and academic success. Muhammad provides probing, self-reflective questions for both teachers and students as well as bibliographies of culturally responsive text and sample lesson plans across grades and content areas.

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad is the John Corbally Endowed Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has previously served as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, school district administrator, curriculum director, and school board president. She studies Black historical excellence in education, intending to reframe curriculum and instruction today. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and books. She has also received numerous national awards and is the author of the best-selling books Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy. She also co-authored the book Black Girls’ Literacies. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools and districts across Canada. In 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, she was named among the top 1% Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. In the fall of 2026, her first curriculum, entitled Genius and Joy, will be available to schools and educators.