Muhammad Khalifa is a professor of educational administration and executive director for urban education initiatives at the Ohio State University. He is the president and CEO of the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Academy, and has worked as a public school teacher and administrator in Detroit.

His research examines how urban school leaders enact culturally relevant leadership practices — which leadership behaviors best help marginalized students in school and their communities. More specifically, he looks at how school leaders can promote inclusive school environments, how they can effectively engage parents and neighborhood community contexts, and how they can confront racism in their own school buildings.

He has led equity audits in U.S. schools as a way to reduce achievement and discipline gaps, and he is the first to develop and use equity audits, which guide school districts in identifying sources of academic and disciplinary disparities.

Expertise: School leadership practices, school leadership, education inequality, marginalized students, achievement gaps

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Email: khalifa.20@osu.edu

Twitter: @SchoolEquityPro

Heard on WAMC: The Academic Minute