Critical Need for Bilingual Education Teachers: The Potentiality of 'Normalistas' and Paraprofessionals.

A case study examined a Texas bilingual teacher education program that recruited local paraprofessionals and Mexican teachers (normalistas). Interviews, writing samples, and observations of seven students revealed that normalistas were open to seeing merit in U.S. educational methods, while paraprofessionals began to question the deficit model pervasive in the schools in which they had worked. (Contains 49 references.) (TD)