----EDUCATING AND
TRAIN ING STUDENTS TO
WORK WITH CULTURALLY,
LINGUISTICALLY, AND
ABILITY-DIVERSE YOUNG
CHILDREN AND THEIR
FAMILIES
f
- --
SUSAN P. MAUDE, University of Vermont
CAMILLE CATLETT, University of North Carolina, Chapel HW
SUSAN M. MOORE, University of Colorado , Boulder
SYLVIA Y. SANCHEZ, George M ason University
EVA K.THORP, George M ason University
ationwide, the demographics of young
children in the U.S. are changing dramatically. Reports from the Census
Bureau indicate that individuals from
non-European racially and ethnically
diverse backgrounds now comprise one
third of the U.S. population. Projections indicate that by
2030, 40% of the U.S. population will represent diverse
racial and ethnic groups (Goode, 2001). Children and
families in the U.S. today are also linguistically diverse.
Roughly 1 of every 10 children enrolled in public school
(pre-kindergarten through grade twelve) is an English Language Learner (ELL), with the most significant percentages
clustered 1 in ever-increasing numbers, in the youngest age
abstract
The quality of services for our increasing Iv diverse
families with infants and toddlers depends upon the
comfort, confidence, and competence of the personnel
available to provide these services. Colleges and universities must be able to produce graduates who possess the necessary sensitivity, knowledge, and skills to
serve children and families of diverse backgrounds
competently. The authors of this article describe four
universities’ approaches to educating students in teacher
preparation programs to deliver culturally and
linguistically responsive services.
ZERO TO THREE
Januaiy 2006
rtm
groups (Kindler, 2002). Most teachers and service providers
are working with or soon will be working with children and
families who are culturally and linguistically diverse.
The quality of services for our increasingly diverse families with infants and toddlers depends upon the comfort,
confidence, and competence of the personnel available to
provide these services. It is imperative for colleges and universities to produce graduates who possess the necessary
sensitivity, knowledge, and skills to serve children and
families of diverse backgrounds competently. Yet recent
research confirms that our workforce is not well-prepared
to support children and families who are culturally and
linguistically diverse. For example, many graduates are illprepared to respond to diverse family child-rearing preferences, support the development of young English language
learners, or collaborate confidently with diverse families
(Goor & Porter, 1999). In fact, in a national survey of
teachers, the majority indicated that they prefer and feel
most comfortable working with children from their own
culture (Evans, Torrey, & Newton, 1997). Further compounding the problem is evidence that colleges and universities have not been successful in recruiting, supporting 1 and
preparing students who reflect the diversity of the children and families they serve (Isenberg, 2001; Kushner &
Ortiz, 2001). Moreover, institutions of higher education
face growing shortages of faculty in general, especially in
special education, allied health, and related fields (Smith,
Pion, Tyler, Sindelar, & Rosenberg, 2001).
Colleges and universities must pay attention to what
faculty members teach, how they teach, and where students
learn and from whom, in ways that are consistent with
state standards and national accreditation requirements.
Faculty need support to address these dimensions directly
through program practices (e.g., how students are
recruited, how faculty are hired, policies on and supports
for diversity), coursework, and field experiences (Burant,
Quiocho, & Rios, 2002; Ligons, Rosado, & Houston, 1998).
This article describes four university programs that have
used different approaches to addressing the challenge of
educating and training students to work with culturally and
linguistically diverse families.
nel preparatio11. The first motivation was the increasing
evidence that early care and education professionals need
to be prepared to work with children with varying abilities
and from varying cultural communities in inclusive settings
(Miller & Stayton, 1998, 2003 ). Program developers also
recognized the increasing diversity of the children and families in the community and the fact that few early care professionals were prepared to work with families from diverse
cultural and linguistic communities. Moreover, most had
few personal experiences with individuals from communities other than their own.
The UTEEM program is field-based, offering students
four internship experiences in community and school pro
giams serving diverse learners, while they are simultaneously enrolled in university courses. These courses are
organized in blocks that correspond to age or developmental stage, so that students are able to engage in intensive
study of children and families at a child's particular age.
For example, there is an infant-toddler block of courses, a
preschool block, and a block that focuses on children from
kindergarten to grade three. A fourth block of courses
address foundational issues such as the use of action
research (a focused effort of inquiry to improve the quality
of services and supports), curricular integration of
adaptive and assistive technology, policy issues affecting
Diverse young learners, and pedagogical and philosophical
foundations framing work with diverse young learners and
their families. In these courses, students explore historical
and socio-cultural factors that have contributed to the
Unified Transformative Early
Education Mode.I (UTEEM)-Virginia
The Unified Transformative Early Education Model
(UTEEM) Early Childhood Program at George Mason
University prepares teachers to ·work with culturally, linguistically, and ability-diverse young children, from birth
to grade three, and their families. Graduates of the program
receive Virginia licensure in Early Childhood Education,
(pre-k to grade three); Early Childhood Special Education,
(birth to age 5); and English as a Second Language Education (pre-k to grade 12).
The UTEEM program was explicitly designed to
respond to current trends and needs in the field of person-
ZERO TO THREE
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m
marginalization of diverse populations in school and comdiversity and disability should be considered outside of or
munity settings. They also analyze classic and current
in addition to other aspects of child development and famreadings that can build the capacity of teachers to feel
ily functioning. The UTEEM program is structured to
comfortable, competent, and confident in creating enviincorporate issues of linguistic diversity, multiculturalism,
ronments that welcome diverse young children and their
and disability in every class. This conscious decision was
families.
made early in program design after a faculty review of cur·
Several key features of the UTEEM program, described
rent college texts confirmed that 1nost resources address
in detail below, ensure the infusion of diversity throughout
special populations or issues of diversity as separate chap.
ters, as if these were not issues
the program and lend themselves
r-------- '-------- related to all children.
to replication by other preservice
programs. These include: (a) an
An integrated faculty planning
The primary philosophical principle
process
enables faculty to revisit
integrated philosophy and guiding
that undergirds the UTEEM
principles, (b) an integrated prothe
guiding
principles each semesprogram is that culture is the
gram structure that weaves issues of
ter
and
to
discuss
how course con
lens through which all experiences
diversity into all aspects of the curtent
will
ensure
that
students have
are viewed and interpreted
riculum; (c) a systematic faculty
opportunities to explore their own
planning process which provides
cultural lens. Learning activities
regular opportunities to reassess the program, and (d) a set
and readings are carefully selected to increase students'
of teaching routines and strategies to ensure that issues of
capacity to better understand the experience of families in
diversity are explicitly addressed.
diverse cultural communities and families of children with
The importance of philosophy-based teacher preparadisabilities.
tion is well established in the early intervention literature
Finally, faculty plan a variety of instructional routines,
assignments, and strategies to support the integrated philos(McCollum & Catlett, 1997; McCollum, Rowan, &
ophy. Among these is the use of a strategy termed "cultural
Thorp, 1994; Miller & Stayton, 2003). The architects of
dilemmas." On a monthly basis, students write about dilemthe UTEEM program realized the importance of an intemas they are experiencing in their field experiences. A sysgrative philosophy that includes diversity in all aspects of
tematic problem-solving process (e.g., stating the problem,
the curriculum and not as a separate course or lesson. This
refining the problem through fact finding, brainstorming
approach helps learners to engage in the challenging process
possible solutions, screening possible solutions, selecting an
of addressing issues of work with diverse learners in varied
action, and developing a plan) is used to help them explore
cultural communities. (n.b.: These guiding principles may
their cultural lens and to identify culturally appropriate
be reviewed in Miller, Ostrosky, Laumann, Thorp, Sanchez,
approaches to addressing the posed dilemma (Sanchez &
& Fader-Dunne, 2003, p. 125-137.)
Thorp, 1998; Thorp & Sanchez, 1998). Another key assignPerhaps the primary philosophical principle that under·
1nent in the program is to collect information to tell a family
girds the program is that culture is the lens through which
story about a family from a culture different from the
all experiences are viewed and interpreted. This single
students' own. This assignment 1 completed during the time
principle, while obvious in some respects, is also the most
students are learning about infants and toddlers, provides a
challenging and the most promising. It is not unusual for
powerful learning opportunity, a time to truly understand
students to feel that others belong to a culture and that they
family concerns, priorities 1 and decisions, and a time to betdo not, that culture is somehow sometl1h1g exotic. When
ter understand one's own cultural biases and assumptions
faculty make sure that they make reference to the cultural
(Kidd et al., 2004; Sanchez, 1999).
lens principle in each and every class, students begin to see
The impact of UTEEM's model for equipping students
that they do, indeed, belong to a culture. This realization
to enter the field with experience in reflective practice has
helps them to explore the ways in which their own culture,
been evaluated. Current research has found changes in the
while previously invisible to them, has framed all of their
students, including increased comfort in working with fam.assumptions, including those about early care and
ilies in diverse communities, increased awareness of the
education, cl1ild.-rearing routines, child care, family
impact of disability on a family, and increased ability to
dynamics, the use of home language, and so forth. By
understand family decisions. Students are 1nore competent
assisting students in acknowledging their cultural lens, fac·
to develop and integrate culturally responsive and relevant
ulty can create opportunities for students to explore their
curricula as they work with and support culturally, linguisviews of family decisions and practices, design culturally
tically, and ability-diverse children and their families.
relevant environments for children, and engage in cultur.ally appropriate interactions with families (Kidd, Sanchez,
Project ACT-Colorado
& Thorp, 2004; Sanchez, 1999; Thorp, 1997).
Project ACT is a second example of an effective
A second feature, the integrated program structure,
approach
to personnel preparation. Implemented at the
serves to challenge students' perceptions that issues of
- ------r--------'-
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]anua1y 2006
Bl:J
University of Colorado, Boulder (UCB) and University of
ilies. Some of the accomplishments of Project ACT
Colorado, Denver (UCD) over the past 10 years, Project
include:
ACT uses "cultural mediators," who may also be well
• Infusing diversity within coursework and practica at
trained interpreters and translators, to better prepare stuthe preservice level in speech and language pathology
dents and early childhood professionals to work with chilgraduate programs at UCB and in early childhood spedren and families who are from backgrounds that are
cial education at UCD through guest lectures, culculturally and linguistically different from their own.
tural mediator round tables, and panel presentations.
"Cultural mediator" is a term derived from culture,
•
Partnerships with local school districts that serve
language mediator (Barrera, 1993;
many children and families
Barrera, Corso, & MacPherson 1
from
diverse linguistic and
2003) and is defined as "a commuSchool districts and early
cultural backgrounds. For
nity person, familiar with various
intervention systems throughout
example, students participate
ethnic neighborhoods, who spent
the state use cultural mediators
each semester with the Child
time with families, getting
to help service providers reach
Find bilingual team in Boulder
acquainted with them and
out to children and families.
Valley School District, serving
acquainting them to special educamonolingual Spanishtion service delivery" (Barrera,
speaking
families
with
children
ages birth to 5.
1993, p.470). In Colorado, the definition of cultural medi•
Community
collaborations,
such
as
El Grupo de Familias,
ator has evolved to describe the role of an individual who
a
parent
education
and
support
group
developed by
helps translate between the culture of the professional
Project
ACT
for
monolingual
Spanish-speaking
environment and the child's family, in order to enhance
families, financially supported by the local early interunderstanding, share information, and create relationships
vention
system (Part C of IDEA) Kids Connection
that support families' full participation in their child's care
and
the
Boulder
City Human Services Fund. Each
and education (Moore, Beatty & Perez-Mendez, 1995,
semester
students
participate in this practicum 1 which
2001). Additional terms for individuals in this role include
focuses
on
early
intervention,
preservation of home
cultural broker (National Center for Cultural Competence,
language
and
culture,
language
and literacy activities
2004) parent-school liaison or parent resource consultant.
for
family
members,
and
navigation
of community
Regardless of the title, this individual is a valued mem·
resources
and
supports,
such'
as
the
public
library and
ber of a child and families' community and understands
the
school
district.
both community and professional cultures. She is profi• Ongoing collaborations with the Peak Parent Center,
cient in English as well as the preferred language(s) used by
Colorado's parent training and information center.
a family; accepted by the family; willing to take direction;
For example, Project ACT and Peak have sponsored
flexible within her role; and able to maintain strict confian annual conference, Continuing the Circle, to
dentiality ( Moore, Perez-Mendez, Beatty & Eiserman,
explore culture and related topics. The conference
1995). In Colorado, experienced family members, other
draws family members of children with diverse abilikey community members, and bilingual support personnel
ties, community providers, and students in personnel
have been trained to be cultural mediators. Currently,
preparation programs.
these individuals ate able to receive additional training
through a statewide initiative, funded through the Col·
Working with cultural mediators and parent resource
orado Department of Education, to expand their role
consultants through Project ACT has taught students to:
beyond interpreter and/or translator in special education.
School districts and early intervention systems through• Listen to and value family perspectives;
out the state use cultural mediators to help service
• Move beyond stereotypes toward individual considproviders reach out to children and families: In Colorado,
eration of each child and family within their socioindividuals and families who need early intervention ser·
cultural context;
vices speak many different languages, including Spanish,
• Connect and develop relationships with children and
Hmong, Chinese, and Russian. Some families, with Ameri..families who come from cultures, or speak languages
can Indian and African- American heritage, have been disdifferent from their own, or both;
enfranchised. Support from cultural mediators provides
• Understand how cultural and linguistic differences
professionals and students in personnel preparation pro.can influence how families experience or participate
grams opportunities to: learn about cultural beliefs and life
in their child's early care and education and/or interways different from their own; recognize bias and how it
vention;
can become a barrier to effective assessment; support chil• Discover ways to support and preserve home language
dren and families with linguistic and cultural differences;
and culture within the context of early care and edubuild reciprocal relationships of trust and respect with famcation; and
ZERO TO THREE
January 2006
m
• Recognize that over, and under-representation of certain populations in special education may be caused,
in part, by biased assess1nent practices.
Educators Without Borders (EWB)Virginia
A third model of personnel preparation, Educators
Without Borders, infuses issues of culture and diversity into
all aspects of an instructional program that is designed to
recruit culturally and linguistically diverse students as future
educators. Educators Without Borders is a federallyfunded
project located at George Mason University in Vir ginia.
This program is designed to increase the representa tion of
culturally and linguistically diverse individuals in the field of
early childhood special education while implementing
effective strategies to maintain and sustain interns from
diverse backgrounds who are preparing to beco1ne
educational professionals. The program has not only had
an impact on the culturally, linguistically, and abilitydiverse interns, but, equally significant, has influenced the
quality of training for all students enrolled in the university's teacher preparation programs. Three strategies used
in this project have proved to be effective in supporting the
development of future educators:
PHOTO: MARILYN NOLT
emotional needs of diverse interns. For example) we have a
partnership with the campus chapter of the National
Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), an international
organization dedicated to reducing prejudice and developing coalitions across groups. Recruiting 1nembers of under,
represented populations into the teaching profession
requires helping future educators learn to address the
racism and prejudice that characterize many early care and
education settings.
A third strategy for personnel preparation involves
enhancing the leadership and advocacy skills of early educators from diverse backgrounds. Monthly leadership seminars address dilemmas that the interns face in their work. The
interns also participate in a train- the-trainer NCBI
workshop, after which they use what they have learned to
train their peers. Assuming leadership roles among their
peers has been essential to the development of these future
educators. Because many of the interns from diverse and
disenfranchised com1nunities have been silenced in previous educational settings, they are accusto1ned to leaving
leadership to students from privileged backgrounds. All
early education personnel preparation should com1nit
themselves to breaking this pattern, for the sake of interns
from privileged backgrounds as well as those from disenfranchised communities.
The EWB project's strategies can be implemented in any
personnel preparation program that is co11cemed about
the lack of diversity among education professionals. A commitment to change in the field requires active recruitment of
students from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds. In
addition, faculty must commit themselves to designing pro,
Sharing personal experiences related to one 1s own
culture,
• Building coalitions among university faculty to
increase cultural awareness and reduce prejudice, and
• Developing students' leadership and advocacy skills.
O
The first strategy is to create numerous opportunities
for interns to share their personal cultural lens. Future
educators can better understand the impact of race and
culture when they have the opportunity to hear and tell
personal stories. For example, the story of a bilingual
classmate who entered preschool as a non-English
speaking 3-year-old and vividly remembers the isolation
and confusion he felt can teach others about the impact
such experiences can have on family life and identity
development. Future educators who hear such stories are
helped to understand the challenges faced by young
children in linguistically diverse com1nunities.
The opportunity to share and honor personal family
stories is important for all program participants. The experience can be an impetus for deeper self-reflection, which
may require e1notional support. Personal stories 1nay be a
gift for others, but for the storyteller the telling may evoke
pain and debilitating frustration as she recounts experiences
of prejudice and discrimination.
Building coalitions, the second strategy used by EWB
faculty 1 involves working with allies across the university
who are also committed to addressing issues of race, culture, power) class, and privilege. Close collaboration
between EWB and other university faculty strengthens the
ability of the university’s infrastructure to support the socio-
ZERO TO THREE
Januaiy 2006
m
Figure 1 The Crosswalks Project vision
,.
grams that will allow the experiences, perceptions, and
skills of traditionally marginalized groups to surface and be
honored for the contribution they can make to the field in
general and to work with diverse children and families in
particular. Campuses that fulfill their commitment may
experience what the faculty at George Mason University
have discovered-these strategies are likely to benefit
teacher education preparation programs campus.-wide.
The Crosswalks Project-North
Carolina
What does it take to assist other universities and colleges as they embark on the journey toward culturally
responsive preservice programs? At the University of
North Carolina's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, The Crosswalks Project is working to help
college and university programs systematically address
diversity. The Crosswalks Project recognizes that to pre,
pare students to work effectively with children and families
from other cultures, higher education faculty and administrators, working in concert with family members and community partners, need support in understanding the
meaning of cultural diversity and how to effectively integrate it into all facets of their preservice programs. Programs need to value diversity (Thorp & Sanchez, 1998)
and content (Ligons et al., 1998; Mora, 2000), using
instructional strategies (Guillaume, Zuniga-Hill, & Yee,
1998) that are consistent with culturally relevant practices.
These efforts must take place within the context of state
and national standards to which higher education programs must be responsive. Figure 1captures the vision of
The Crosswalks Project for braiding these four elements
together to create diversity-enhanced preservice programs.
The Crosswalks Project is using two interrelated
approaches to offering culturally responsive preservice
training. The first approach involves a capacity-building
effort-a structured sequence of needs assessment, planning
training, technical assistance, and resources-to support
preservice programs in changing the extent to which
diversity is reflected in coursework, practica, and program
practices such as recruitment and mentoring. To assist in
this effort, five North Carolina institutions of higher education 1 are participating in The Crosswalks Project over a
24-month period. These campuses were selected after a
statewide recruitment and application process. Each site
has made a commitment to making changes in what they
teach, how they teach, where they teach, and with whom
they teach, to be responsive to and reflective of diversity.
It's important to note that each program is represented by a
team of Campus-Community Partners 1 which includes faculty, former students (graduates), family members,
practicum site directors, and other community members.
Two of the five institutions (experimental group) have
been working together to identify the strengths of their
program and to set priorities for increasing the emphasis on
diversity. They have described the knowledge, skills, capabilities, and qualities they want their future graduates to
possess. On the basis of the priorities for change, the
Campus-Community Partners at these sites are participating in a yearlong sequence of training and technical assistance, provided through face-to-face workshops and
conference calls. Sample topics have included:
• Deconstructing course syllabi to examine the ways in
which diversity is reflected and to reconstruct more
culturally responsive syllabi;
• Understanding and applying information about second language acquisition;
• Identifying diverse and nontraditional sites for
practicum and field experiences; and
• Building authentically collaborative relationships
with culturally and linguistically diverse families.
'North Carolina colleges and universities that offer Birth-throughKindergarten (B-K) teacher licensure were eligible to apply to participate
in The Crosswalks Project. All B-K programs offer blended preparation
(early childhood and early childhood special education), respond to the
same state standards, and are approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
ZERO TO THREE
January 2006
may help programs begin the process of cultural selfThe remaining three institutions (control group) have
reflection.
received no planning, training, or technical assistance from
The Crosswalks Project.
How will we know if the sequence of planning, trainCoursework
ing, technical assistance, and resources makes a difference?
• Does coursework provide students with opportunities
All participants (faculty, community partners, and students)
to increase their knowledge of their own culture and
will participate in the collection of data designed to enable
heritage?
project evaluators to ascertain the impact this systems,
• Does coursework provide opportunities to learn systematically and without
planning effort has had on particistereotyping about and from
pants' attitudes toward diversity
various cultural and linguistic
and their knowledge and skill with
"Cultural mediators" enhance
groups?
respect to diversity-related topics.
understanding, share information,
In addition, project participants will
• Does coursework provide
and create relationships that
learning opportunities and
be asked to reflect on the ways in
support f amilies' full participation
which they see diversity reflected
encourage dialogue and
in their child's care and education
in the coursework, pracreflection about the skills
needed to work with English
tica 1 and program practices of their
respective colleges. Project staff will compare results for the
Language Learners and to support home language
experimental and control sites to see how much of a differmaintenance?
ence The Crosswalks Project made.
• Does coursework engage students in activities in which
they learn how culture, ethnicity, language, socioAs a second approach to capacity building, The Crosswalks Project is developing a database of instructional
economic status, and other factors influence caregiving
practices and early childhood development?
resources for use by faculty, trainers, and other leadership
• Does coursework draw upon families and their stories
personnel. Users will be able to search the Crosswalks
as a resource to the instructional process?
"toolbox" by state and national standards (to discover
resources that address both content and diversity), by aspect
of diversity (e.g., linguistic diversity) and by type of
Practica
instructional resource (e.g., case studies, activities, syllabi).
• Do practica occur in a variety of home and commuThis unique resource is available at http://www.fpg.unc.
nity settings serving diverse young children and famiedu/-scpp/crosswalks/toolbox/.
lies (e.g., homes of participating families participating
in early childhood programs, Early Head Start/Head
Summary
Start, WIC programs, shelters for homeless families)?
The values, content, and instructional strategies pre• Do practica offer opportunities for students to interact
sented by these four models may be of assistance to training
directly with children and families who are culturally
programs that are concerned about and committed to
and linguistically diverse?
preparing well-qualified early childhood service providers.
• Do practica provide opportunities for students to
The strategies include:
collaborate with and learn from interpreters,
t
translators, and cultural mediators?
I. Expanding and enhancing the preparation of personnel to work with culturally, linguistically, and abilitydiverse children and their families (UTEEM);
2. Developing strategies and resources to negotiate and
bridge relationships across diverse cultures (Project
ACT);
3. Promoting increased representation of diverse front
line service providers and professionals in the com.munity of programs and practitioners that support
young children and their families (EWB); and
4. Developing a process for systems change in early
childhood personnel preparation programs, primarily
by focusing on the infusi6n of diversity across values,
content, instructional strategies, and practicum (The
Crosswalks Project).
Program Practices
• Does the training program have faculty and staff who
reflect the diversity of the students in the program as
well as the overall community?
• Do program faculty and staff consider issues of race,
privilege, power, and class, and how these issues
impact ethnic and linguistic minorities entering the
teaching of education field?
• Does the program have students who reflect the diversity of the overall community?
• Does the program create environments for learning in
which differences are acknowledged, celebrated, and
respected?
If we are to maximize positive outcomes for diverse
young children and their families, we must provide quality
How does a preservice program take the first step in
this process of reexamination? The following questions
ZERO TO THREE
Janua1y 2006
ED
D. Horm-Wingerd, M. Hyson, and N. Karp (Eds.), New teachers for
a new century: The future of early childhood professional preparation
preservice training, courses, practica, and dialogue that will
enable service providers to obtain the critical attitudes,
knowledge, and skills to do so.
(pp. 123-154). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Ligons, C. M., Rosado, L. A., & Houston, W. R. (1998}. Culturally literate teachers: Preparation for 21st century schools. In M. E. Dilworth
(Ed.}, Being responsive to cultural differences: How teachers learn
(pp. 129-142}. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.
McCollum, J. A., & Catlett, C. ( 1997). Designing effective personnel
preparation for early intervention: Theoretical frameworks. In P. Winton, J. McCollum, & C. Catlett (Eds.), Reforming personnel pre paration
in early intervention {pp. 105-126}. Baltimore: Paul Brookes.
McCollum, J. A., Rowan, L. E., & Thorp, E. K. (1994). Philosophy as
fra1nework in early intervention personnel training. Journal for
Early Intervention, 18(2), 216-226.
Miller, P., Ostrosky, M., Laumann, B., Thorp, E., Sanchez, S., & FaderDunne, L. ( 2003). Quality field experiences underlying performance
mastery. In V. Stayton, P. Miller, L. Dinnebeil (Eds.} DfC personnel
Authors' Note:
For information about UTEEM, contact Eva Thorp:
703-993-2035, ethorp@gmu.edu
For information about cultural mediators, contact
Susan Moore: 303-492-5284, susan.moore@colorado.edu
For information about Educators Without Borders, contact Sylvia Sanchez: 703-993-2041, ssanche2@gmu.edu
For more information about The Crosswalks Project, contact
Camille Catlett: 919-966-6635, catlett@mail.fpg. unc.edu, or visit
the Web site http://www.fpg.unc.edu/-scpp/crosswalks/
preparation in early childhood special education: Implementing the DEC
recommended practices (pp. 113-138). Denver, CO: Sopris West.
Miller, P. S., & Stayton, V. D. (1998}. Blended interdisciplinary teacher
preparation in early education and intervention: A national study.
Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 18, 49-58.
Miller, P. S., & Stayton, V. D. {i103}. Understanding and meeting the
challenges to implementation of recommended practices in personnel
preparation. In V. Stayton, P. Miller, L. Dinnebeil (Eds.) DEC per5on-
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