Imagining the Knowledge, Strengths, And Skills of a Latina Prospective Teacher‪.‬

Introduction Today in the United States, there is a shortage of teachers who culturally and linguistically match the increasing United States school-age population of Latinos/ as. Most prospective teachers in the United States are White and monolingual in English (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1999; U.S. Department of Education, 2001). In the most recent U.S. census (U.S. Census, 2000), 35.3 million people identified as Latino/a, an increase of 58 % over the prior administration of this poll. Thirty-five percent of this population are school-age children, yet only between 5-10% of practicing teachers are Latino/a (AACTE, 1999; Farber, 1991; Yates, 1999).