Twenty-first century classrooms are filled with increasingly diverse student populations. Effective teacher preparation programs must include explicit course work in culturally responsive pedagogies and field experiences that place educators in new sociocultural contexts. Field experiences in cross-cultural, place-based settings have the potential…

This paper proposes a framework for the development of culturally responsive practices in beginning teachers to meet the needs of diverse students in multicultural classrooms. The framework describes the trajectory beginning teachers undergo toward becoming culturally responsive and discusses how teacher educators in liberal arts colleges can…

Today's teachers must be equipped to reach all children and embrace a pedagogy of equity. Toward that end, teacher preparation programs need to foster a transformationist pedagogy which allows students to develop into culturally responsive teachers. This paper describes three components of a teacher preparation program that embraces teaching for…

This study is part of a larger study that uses mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative methods) to investigate preservice teachers' knowledge and understanding of multiculturalism and to prepare preservice teachers to work in diverse classrooms. The results indicate two findings: 1) that preservice teachers come from homogeneous backgrounds;…

This paper was adapted from a speech presented at the Annual Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education in Chicago, Illinois, during the spring 2004 conference. Dr. Pearson articulates the status of education, best teaching practices, teacher preparation, educational reform and instructional change for educating diverse…