Teacher Preparation for Culturally Diverse Urban Students: Infusing Competencies Across the Curriculum

A major priority in teacher education is to prepare teachers to serve an increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse urban student population. Learning to teach culturally diverse students, however, is challenging given their diverse and often special needs. In this paper, a program is described in which competencies important in serving culturally diverse learning handicapped students (CDLH) were infused throughout an existing teacher education program. First, we discuss the rationale for an infusion approach. Then we describe the infusion model developed for the program, and its implementation and effectiveness in preparing teachers for CDLH students in urban schools. Finally, we examine the implications of an infusion approach for teacher education programs.