One of the most notable aspects of democracy in schooling lies in the challenge of schools to prepare individuals with the skills to participate and deliberate with others who have varying beliefs and worldviews. Deliberation and dialogue are seen as core components for academic achievement and cross-cultural connections between English language…

How do students from privileged communities respond to educational efforts encouraging them to become justice-oriented citizens? Observational and interview data collected during a semester-long case study of eleven high school students in a social studies class at an elite private school reveal four markedly different interpretations of their…

The article "There Is No Culturally Responsive Teaching Spoken Here: A Critical Race Perspective" by Cleveland Hayes and Brenda C. Juarez suggests that the current focus on meeting standards incorporates limited thoughtful discussions related to complex notions of diversity. Our response suggests a strong link between standardization and White…

Rather than delineating a list of practices that are important for ensuring that mathematics prepares students for a more democratic citizenship, the author has outlined in this article three tensions in teaching that she argues are important in developing an equity stance in mathematics education. This focus on a "stance" suggests that the kinds…

The paradox of the nation's teacher preparation programs is that "everything" is about diversity and social justice in the preparation of teachers and, simultaneously, "nothing" is about diversity and social justice in the preparation of teachers. Across teacher education, there is wide consensus that preparing current and prospective teachers to…

Teaching and living for social justice cannot happen without the disposition of empathy and a sense of otherness. Many in the field of multicultural education emphasize that a teacher's attitude, orientation, and awareness are at the core of being a culturally competent teacher. Gloria Ladson-Billings asserts that culturally competent teachers…

The early 1980s saw an influx of Southeast Asian refugees from various demographic groups and backgrounds to Minnesota. As teachers, the author and her colleagues regularly added children from these groups to their classrooms, receiving little explanation of a student's history or language proficiency. To counteract increasing teacher resentment…