We surveyed educational service providers to determine what services are available to children with hearing impairments (HI) in two rural and two metropolitan areas of the United States. Teachers in rural areas employ a broader range of assistive technology but have less access to maintenance and repairs; they also have less access to highly trained specialists due to much longer travel distances. Also, parents are less informed about possible interventions than their metropolitan counterparts. Classroom teachers and service providers in all areas need more professional development relevant to working with children with HI and should collaborate more with special educators.

Arizona teacher education programs are largely concentrated in urban or suburban areas, with the majority of practicum experiences and student teaching placements located in the same metropolitan areas. However, in Arizona, 35% of K–12 students are served by the 135 school districts that qualify as “rural.” In the extreme southwest corner of Arizona bordering Mexico, 70% of these rural K–12 students are of Hispanic background with Spanish as their first language, and 26.7% of these Hispanic families are living below the poverty line. The “Grow Your Own” programs described here, developed through university–school district partnerships, are specifically designed to prepare culturally responsive educators to meet the needs and ultimately improve the lives of students with disabilities in southwestern Arizona rural border communities.

This study focuses on student and faculty perceptions about inclusive instructional practices in teacher training degree programs in three different universities (two in Spain and one in the USA). We synthetize this framework into four dimensions: (a) identifying students’ needs and strengths, (b) accessibility to physical spaces and materials, (c) methodologies and strategies to engage students, and (d) valuing diversity as a resource. A mixed methodology (questionnaire and interviews) was used to collect the information. Six hundred fifty-three university students and 35 faculty from the different education colleges participated in this study. Findings reveal the perceptions of students and faculty regarding both effective practices for diverse inclusive university classrooms as well as barriers to inclusion that affect learning in the participating institutions. Results reflect serious discrepancies between students and faculty members.

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Incorporating purposeful academic English strategies into higher education promotes equitable access to instruction and supports understanding through different perspectives and experiences. This is especially true for Hispanics (which refers here to anyone from a Spanish-speaking background). Because the perspectives and experiences of the Hispanic student population is so diverse, approaches for operationalizing academic English should include the following: viewing the various language backgrounds of Hispanic students as opportunity rather than deficit; using a holistic approach to assess content and academic English proficiency of students; creating academic supports that weave together