A literature review and analysis, and a case study of two "mainstream" student teachers working in a minority elementary school explored how teacher education prepares teachers to work in diverse settings. The literature review and analysis addressed both macro level issues (program policies) and micro level initiatives (specific studies of individual student teachers and teaching practices and strategies). The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that current programs are not sufficient to prepare teachers for the current K-8 population. It found that some teacher education programs are trying to prepare teachers to work with differences in race, ethnicity, language, and socio-economic status though many are having only limited success as diversity awareness and strategies are not appearing in classroom practice. The case study examined the experiences of two student teachers in an elementary "barrio" school located in the southwestern United States where a high percentage of students had limited English proficiency and came from immigrant, poor, Spanish speaking families. The student teachers were English speaking and from middle class mainstream backgrounds. The student teachers maintained journals and written lesson plans and were observed on a weekly basis for a total of 10 hours. Twenty informal interviews were also conducted. One teacher adjusted poorly, demonstrated ineffective teaching strategies, and showed limited professional growth while the other adjusted well, showed excellent teaching strategies, and good professional growth. (Contains 27 references.) (JB)