ABSTRACT
For some time now, school improvement eff orts have been inextricably linked to the steady demographic shift s of our nation’s student populations. With more and more students speaking home languages other than English and representing cultural traditions outside those of mainstream America, teachers now need more and better cultural and linguistic knowledge in order to teach eff ectively (Wong-Fillmore & Snow, 2000). In actuality, American society has long been diverse, but it is only in recent decades that large numbers of educators have recognized that education guided solely by Western European-American values and experiences (representing the dominant culture) is inappropriate or ineffective for many students.
