Integrating Language Diversity into Teacher Education Curricula: Teacher Candidates' Developmental Perspectives and Understandings

This study took place at the University of Wyoming, located in the rural mountain West. The University of Wyoming, with approximately 13,000 students, is the only four-year university in the state.The teacher education population of the College of Education is about 600, and demographically, this population is about 90% White, predominately female, and from rural communities across the state and other states that border Wyoming. Likewise, most school districts in the state of Wyoming are less diverse (ethnically, racially, and linguistically) than the national averages. Given this context, the College of Education has tried to address issues of diversity at the program level over the last decade or so. The inclusion of topics related to issues of diversity in education has been evident in many courses across different departments in the College. Still, most of these efforts were largely made at the course level, as opposed to being made collaboratively at the program level to assure a continuity of diversity components across courses.