Immigrant Populations, Teacher Preparation for Diversity

Although formal schooling in the United States has contended with immigrant populations since the 19th century, recent waves of immigrants have both significantly altered the number and characteristics of new immigrant children in contemporary classrooms. Conservative estimates place the number of immigrant children in classrooms at one in every five students. The vast majority of these students have immigrated from the global South, representing a cultural and racial shift in the fabric of the pupil population. At the same time, the demographic makeup of beginning and practicing teachers remains largely White, middle-class, female, and monolingual. This recent advent of a large and new demographic of immigrant students in the United States has renewed concern and inquiry into how to support these immigrant students and how ...