Applying sociocultural theory to prepare teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students and families

The issues addressed in this chapter are focused on the application of sociocultural theory to prepare teachers to effectively improve the circumstances of culturally and linguistically diverse children in U.S. schools. These children continue to make up the fastest growing student population in the United States (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2013); yet, in the U.S. public schools, their education has tended to shortchange their academic potential, to be overly restrictive and compensatory, and to be largely driven by policies, instead of sound educational theory and research.