In this article, the author states that during her experience on jury duty--spent with a melting pot of socially-conscious citizens--she reflected upon the implications for education and her own teaching practice. Three major themes centering around her understanding of multiculturalism surfaced: (1) Defining multiculturalism; (2) The cult of…

Schools in Guam function to Americanize immigrants by adjusting different sociocultural values to American mainstream beliefs and practices which are considered norms, such as the matters of hygiene, manners, and farming and food preparation process. However, the educators in this study manifested their different ways of understanding and an…

In today's ever changing multicultural society, it is imperative for early childhood educators to be adept at facilitating the learning and progress of all children. In the United States, children of color make up about 40% of the population, and across the world children of color make up approximately 70% of the population. A primary goal in…

Everyone agrees that family participation is paramount to student achievement. Much has been written about the importance of parent collaboration in the schools. Yet, less has been written about the family who does not speak English and also has a child with disability. This article reviews the research on involvement of parents in the schools,…

As they begin their teaching careers, many new teachers have never attended school with, or lived in neighborhoods with, people of color. About 84% of the nation's teachers are White (U.S. Department of Education, 2009), and are often from middle-class backgrounds, while only a little more than half of U.S. public school students are White. The…

Immigration is now the primary source of population growth in Canada. For the year 2006, the Canadian Census reported that almost 20 percent of the population was born outside of Canada (Statistics Canada, 2007). Between the years 1991 and 2001 specifically, the number of non-Christians, such as Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Hindus, had more than…

Teacher educators are pivotal in the effort to prepare teachers to teach in culturally responsive ways (Vescio, et al., 2006). In subject areas such as social studies and English, multicultural literature is viewed as a prime resource for creating a culturally inclusive curriculum. Yet, effective inclusion of these texts--many of which are filled…

An investigation of the number of ethnic minority teachers was undertaken due to the increased awareness at one Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in Southern California where there were low numbers of minorities entering the teacher credential programs. When approached about the low numbers of ethnic minority students in the teacher preparation…

Students in public schools nationwide are becoming more diverse. By 2020, students of color will account for 50% of the school population, while teachers will likely remain predominantly White and female. The cultural gap between students and teachers will continue to present numerous obstacles for students of color to succeed at school. As a…

In this article, the author considers three of today's pre-service teachers who have each watched the World Trade Center towers collapse on broadcast television, viewed the film "Hidalgo," and participated in subsequent interviews regarding the movie. Specifically, the author wants to examine the extent to which the pre-service teachers in this…

Recently this journal published a research article examining the effectiveness of three different tests in identifying ethnically diverse gifted and talented children (Lewis, DeCamp-Fritson, Ramage, McFarland, & Archwamety, 2007, Volume 15, Number 1, pp. 38-42). After examining the proportions of Caucasian and non-Caucasian children identified as…

The purpose of this study was to examine suburban high school teachers' beliefs about non-European ancestry immigrant students; more specifically, suburban teachers' beliefs regarding the impact of students' cultural backgrounds on academic performance were examined. Non-European ancestry immigrant students are those students whose ancestral…

Although many programs ascribe to promoting and celebrating diversity, traditional teacher preparation rarely centralizes multicultural education courses. Instead, these courses are often "added on" to or disconnected from the rest of the program. Multicultural education courses and other courses that address diversity often ask the preservice…

It is known from history that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have always existed in society. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed, and queer/questioning (LGBTIQ) individuals, collectively known as sexual minorities, represent approximately 10% of the population. As many as nine students in every classroom of 30 are in…

There are a variety of methods by which the themes of White privilege and racism can be presented to White students. By using the concept of racial identity a continuum of racism can be considered. Furthermore, addressing White privilege and racism in the context of a multicultural psychology course allows White students to have a greater…