Today’s schools compartmentalize children and curriculum. Standardization dictates curricular content and assessment, narrowing the focus of classrooms and schools that serve diverse
populations from varied geographical backgrounds. Against the backdrop of the western-derived, institutional framework of schooling are cultural ways of knowing that are place-based, holistic,
experiential, and connected to oral storytelling. In the current movement toward acknowledging and understanding cultural knowledge, teacher education programs are developing in partnership
with cultural communities, honoring traditions and epistemologies and seeking to revitalize and sustain language and culture. Such initiatives inform the big picture of educational reform and
enrich mainstream university teacher education programs. This book highlights the journeys, challenges, and unfolding stories of transformation that reside within university/community
partnerships focused on cultural and linguistic revitalization through schooling.
