ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book integrates the most private as well as the most public accounts which directly inform the effective educational treatment of Latino children and student populations in United States. It addresses increasingly important challenges and opportunities confronted by US schools: Educating to high standards the linguistic and cultural diversity of today's and tomorrow's school-age population, particularly the growing population of Latino students. The book discusses the notion that this country's diversity is a resource, not a problem but a strength, not a weakness but an asset and not a liability or threat to our "Americanness." It puts forward a more comprehensive conceptual framework that will assist the field in addressing the needs of Latino learners in various heterogeneous learning contexts and therefore important to the growing number of Latino children in US educational venues.
