This article examines the sustained impact of a workshop series held to support faculty engagement in program assessment in the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach. The four-part series, held monthly during spring 2008, was intended to enhance faculty understanding of their role in assessment of student learning at the…

When the author adopted her son, she was an early childhood educator with a Master's Degree who had taught young children for eight years and directed a child care and infant-toddler center for seven. She thought she knew something about children. Actually, she had a great deal to learn. It took years for her to learn about his needs. He slowly…

New graduate students in Curriculum and Instruction at San Diego State University reacted with surprise when they discovered that the syllabus indicated no requisite textbook. Instead, access to a camera was required. This was during one summer semester when the author had the opportunity to teach a course entitled "Innovations in Instruction."…

In response to a critical need in teacher preparation, study abroad programs aimed at developing multicultural competencies in pre-service teachers have proliferated across the United States. Multicultural competencies constitute the ability to challenge misconceptions that lead to discrimination based on cultural difference, reflect on one's…

The racial/ethnic populations in public schools have changed dramatically in recent years and will continue to shift to a majority non-White population. The National Center for Education Statistics (2010) reports 67.3% of the student population in urban districts is composed of students of color. Yet, the population of teachers in the United…

Because most American teachers work with a diverse student population, they need to be interculturally competent to interact successfully with their students. One of the best hopes for developing cultural competence is through an international experience. As important as it is for teachers to have an international experience, it is even more…

The United States of the twenty-first century is possibly the most culturally/racially diverse country of any nation in history, and families that are culturally/racially different from mainstream society do not always see that schools are meeting the needs of their children. This diversity in culture and language means that each person is…

Cultural immersion experiences have been used in multicultural counselor training courses to address racism. Cultural immersion experiences include activities designed to provide concentrated, direct, substantial, and meaningful interactions with multiple elements of a target culture for the purpose of promoting crosscultural competency. In this…

Teachers--who are generally representatives of the cultural mainstream--are expected to use global experiences to become culturally enhanced and to bring these enhancements back to their classrooms. In this article, the authors discuss a cross-cultural exploration of investigations into the experiences of Canadian and U.S. educators with…

While programs have been established to support secondary level English Learners (ELs) in their transition to institutions of higher education (IHEs), limited attention has been given to how to support adult ELs who struggle with the academic language demands of their college or university content-area courses. Research indicates that many EL…

High school is a profoundly social experience for students. Having friends is central to being "visible"--to having an identity--in school. Social positioning, friendship groups, romance dramas, and the battle to "fit in" gain the attention and drain the energy of students far more than do academic pursuits. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,…

Teachers play a critical role in improving teaching, learning, teacher-student relationships, and school climate, and teacher education programs have a responsibility to prepare teachers to work with every student in their classroom. Kosciw, Diaz, and Greytak (2008) reported that, between 2001 and 2007, although library resources on lesbian, gay,…

In this article, the author describes how he introduces a new group of teacher education students or other preservice educators to the research about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth and schooling-related issues. A list of rights serves as a backdrop for a presentation and discussion of current data about the school…

In 2005, a group of faculty who work in the field of teacher education and are invested in social justice formed a group to examine how teacher preparation programs address (or often do not address) LGBTQ lives and issues. Concern about the invisibility of LGBTQ people, movements in education, and a commitment to changing the current state of…

Contextualized through the lens of place, this essay explores intersections and tensions among queer theory, teacher education, and identities/identifications, which looks to the author like a particular way of looking at curriculum, pedagogy, and the self. Since the three general concepts are intertwined and irreducible, the author's particular…