Abstract
A majority of PK-12 teachers are White, middle-class woman who speak only English (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2012); many of these teachers report a lack of confidence to adequately meet the needs of a diverse classroom of students (Hollins & Torres-Guzman, 2005), particularly those with background different from that of the teachers (Helfrich & Bean, 2011). The perceived lack of preparedness to serve diverse students, whether factually based or not, has been attributed to poor training provided by teacher preparation programs (Cho & DeCastro-Ambrosetti, 2005). This chapter suggests that teacher preparation programs, regardless of geographic location and demographics of their teacher candidates, model a spirit of inclusivity and be intentional in offering an integrated approach to preparing teacher candidates to be highly-effective in working with all students regardless of diversity represented.