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Only when children who are linguistically and culturally different are truly valued, will educational reform measures work. Teachers who affirm immigrant students cultures, linguistic assets and lived experiences and who are open to learning about different ways of knowing can be the most successful with immigrant students. Qualitative inquiry methods were used to guide the questions in this study: 1) What are the essential skills and attitudes of teachers who are highly effective in working with immigrant students?, 2) How do these teachers view immigrant students?, 3) In what ways do teachers incorporate immigrant students funds of knowledge into their classrooms?, and 4) How have these teachers own schooling experiences impacted their ideology in the classroom? This research uncovered nine essential skills and attitudes as well as five key instructional areas. The study includes recommendations for teacher selection, teacher education programs, professional development, and culturally responsive curriculum to increase teacher effectiveness in working with immigrant students.

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Alejandra Favela, Ph.D is an assistant professor of education at Lewis & Clark College in Portland Oregon, where she directs the ESOL/Bilingual Program. For the past fifteen years she has worked as a bilingual teacher, mentor, supervisor, researcher, and teacher education coordinator.

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