Terry A. Osborn specializes in Educational Linguistics and Second Language Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut. He was previously on the faculty of Queens College, University of New York.

Diversity is at the heart of today's education debates. Often, school policies and programs designed to encourage and embrace diversity are met with public ire and a deep misunderstanding of how diversity serves learning. This work explains how diversity is an essential element in classroom settings. As children from around the world continue to pour into U.S. classrooms, an understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity in its broadest sense moves to the foreground. In a post 9/11 world, the benefits of understanding diversity take on urgent meaning.
The introdutory chapter, Participating in Democracy Means Participating in Schools, sets the tone for the discussion to follow. As the geographic backgrounds of immigrants becomes increasingly diverse, religion must be added to previous discussions of race, ethnicity, and language. Thus, the need for the public to understand how shifts in population affect schools, makes this work a vital resource for anyone concerned with education today.

Introduction: Participating in Democracy Means Participating in Schools by Terry A. Osborn and Dina C. Osborn
Emergent Possibilities for Diversity in Reading and the Language Arts by Cara Mulcahy
Bilingual Education: Good for Us? by Mileidis Gort
Accent and Dialects: Ebonics and Beyond by Timothy Reagan
A Case Study in Cultural and Linguistic Difference: The Deaf-World by Timothy Reagan
Foreign Language Education: It's Not Just For Conjugation Anymore by Terry A. Osborn
Multicultural Education Is Good For U.S. Beyond Sensitivity Training by Wanda DeLeon and Xae Alicia Reyes
Policies for a Pluralistic Society by Casey Cobb and Sharon F. Rallis
What September 11th Also Teaches Us by David Gerwin and Terry A. Osborn
Appendix A
About the Contributors