Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners: Perspectives from Arizona's Latino/a Teachers.

It has been long established that Latino/a teachers have unique capacities to advance educational trajectories for their English language learner (ELL) students. However, while the Latino/a ELL student population continues to expand in numbers, the number of Latino/a teachers entering the teaching profession remains small. In this empirical research study, we center our attention on Arizona’s Latino/a teachers, their pre-service trajectories, and in-service experiences with ELLs. Specifically, we asked participants to reflect on their experiences during pre-service preparation and in-service practices as these relate to students who are learning English. We conclude this article with a number of salient themes, which further confirm the possibility that Latino/a teachers are an imperative necessity to improving academic experiences for ELLs, especially in Arizona.