Dr. Muhammad Khalifa

President and CEO of the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute

Dr. Muhammad Khalifa is a Professor of Educational Administration and Executive Director of Urban and Rural Initiatives at the Ohio State University. Prior to joining OSU, he served as the Robert H. Beck Endowed Chair of Ideas in Education at the University of Minnesota. He has published four books and over 50 other publications in some of the most highly-rated journals in education. He recently published in the highest-ranked education journals, including Review of Educational Research, Teachers College Record, QSE, Urban Review, Educational Administration Quarterly, and Race Ethnicity and Education. His journal article, “Culturally Responsive School Leadership: A Synthesis of the Literature,” is the most cited educational leadership article within the past five years. His most recent book, Culturally Responsive School Leadership (Harvard University Press, 2018), is a top-seller and is being used in over 100 leadership training programs across the US and Canada, as well as other parts of the World. 

Remarkably, Dr. Khalifa has found innovative and impactful ways to apply scholarship to practice. His most recent book inspired the development of the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Institute and academies (www.crsli.org). Dr. Khalifa also regularly partners with school districts to conduct equity audits as a way to reduce inequities and prioritize equity reform efforts in school. He is a former district administrator and science teacher in Detroit Public Schools and a leading expert on educational reform in African and Asian contexts. He is currently writing a book on culturally responsive instructional leadership.