This study followed 24 teacher candidates in a short-term cultural immersion field experience designed to help them reflect on their assumptions and perspectives in order to better understand the culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students they will teach. Qualitative methods were informed by a phenomenological research approach to examine candidates' transformative learning experiences in a cultural immersion context. The findings are discussed within a three-stage framework of transformative learning: triggering experiences, frame of reference examination, and transformative change.

The digital divide between technology-mediated instruction for students in low versus high socioeconomic schools is a serious equity issue with repercussions for student learning. While there is a growing body of research on 1:1 mobile devices, including the iPad in K-12 schools, there is little research on the potential of iPads to reduce the disparity of access to high quality instruction and technology experienced by low income, racially and linguistically diverse students.This three-year, mixed-method study investigated the degree to which a 1:1 iPad initiative in a high poverty, diverse urban high school reduced the disparity of technology access and instructional use and improved student learning across race, class, gender, and academic needs. The technology initiative at Urban High School (pseudonym) was designed to improve access to technology tools and resources and result in improved student attendance and academic achievement by providing an iPad to each student. The study focused on four research questions: 1. What factors influenced student technology access? 2. What factors influenced students' experience and use of technology? 3. How did students use iPads in the classroom? 4. What was the impact of access to an iPad on students' attendance and GPA?The analysis in this article builds on previously reported research from the initial year of the study (Thieman, 2014). LITERATUREThe district in this study cited the iPad's affordability, ease of use, free and low-cost educational applications and versatility in its grant application [1], justifying its 1:1 iPad investment as a way to address the digital divide in a school where "nearly 80% of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch, 30% meet the federal definition of homeless, 68% are from an identified minority group, and only 37% are completing the necessary credits for graduation" (District, 2010, p. 5). Using an iPad enables students to view teacher-created instructional materials and videos, manipulate and annotate text, take notes, communicate with the teacher, collaborate, create and publish content online. Teachers can monitor student progress and control content-specific applications to meet students' instructional needs (Perry & Steck, 2016). The Digital Divide

No abstract

No abstract

Over the past 20 years, the United States has seen a rapid increase in school age students entering PK-12 schools for whom English is not their primary home language.These students are known as English learners (ELs). In Oregon, 77% of ELs speak Spanish and constitute the largest minority group, 21% of the total K-12 student enrollment in 2011-2012. With such potential for bilingualism in schools, bilingual teachers should be prepared to teach biliteracy effectively, especially in the early school years when students learn to read. There is an increasing demand for bilingual teachers inOregon each year to teach in bilingual programs, particularly at the primary grade levels.