Service Learning as a Strategy to Prepare Teacher Candidates for Contemporary Diverse Classrooms

In Long Beach, CA, a service-learning program was jointly developed, implemented, and then evaluated by a large university, California State Univ., Long Beach, and a culturally/linguistically diverse urban school district, Long Beach Unified School District. Every semester, more than 200 undergraduates preparing to be teachers learn about contemporary classrooms by assisting at-risk students in the school setting. The plan was to bridge the cultural gap between future teachers and the students. Program evaluation found changes in the attitudes of the undergraduates relative to importance of individual and social difference on children's learning. (Expanded Academic ASAP)