Hammond outlines six brain rules that support students of different cultures. Having an understanding of the structures of the brain and how the brain processes information is important before understanding the brain rules.

1. The brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others in the community: A culturally responsive teacher is familiar with him/her/themselves and what actions might make students feel unintentionally safe. Our brains not only need to feel safe from threats but it also needs to feel connected to a caring social community.

2. Positive relationships keep our safety-threat detection system in check: The brain will always scan for threats except when it is in the presence of positive relationships. Things will happen in a classroom everyday that might trigger the amygdala to "hijack" learning but if there is a positive relationship in place, the amygdala can stay calm so that the neocortex can get busy with higher-order thinking.

3. Culture guides how we process information: When culturally responsive teachers understand the two primary cultural archetypes - collectivism and individualism - they can create opportunities for students to process information according to how students' neural pathways are primed to learn.

4. Attention drives learning: All brains are wired to seek novelty, relevance, and emotion but culture determines what novelty is, what relevance is, and how emotions are created.

5. All new information must be coupled with existing funds of knowledge in order to be learned: In order for our brains to make sense and meaning of new information and store it into long-term memory, we must attach it to existing knowledge. Determine what the existing schema is for our students so that you can support their brains in making connections.

6. The brain physically grows through challenge and stretch, expanding its ability to do more complex thinking and learning: Educators need to turn up the rigor of instruction and increase the complexity of content AND provide the supports for students to do more strategic thinking and information processing. We cannot "water down" the curriculum nor can we set expectations without providing supports to reach them. But without maintaining high expectations, the brain does not grow and students become dependent learners.