In the past decade, educational environments have drastically changed over time and have become more diverse and complex. The rapid influx of pluralistic populations from a variety of different societies contribute to the diverse student population. Student diversity creates challenges to new teachers if they are not familiar with culturally responsive teaching (CRT) (Gay, 2002). The study reported in this article was conducted to investigate new teachers' challenges, in the hope that the findings might advance teacher education practice. Three research questions were developed to guide this study: (1) What is the conceptual understanding of culturally responsive teaching among new teachers and how well are they prepared to use this pedagogy? (2) What classroom management practices do new teachers adopt and how well are they prepared to manage their classroom effectively? (3) How do new teachers conceptualize classroom assessment and how well are they prepared to assess student learning? The study used a qualitative research design to investigate in-depth these salient issues faced by new teachers. The findings showed that some new teachers understood CRT in a simplistic way and view CRT as cultural celebrations that are disconnected from academic learning. Document reviews and participants' feedback revealed that they had not been well-prepared in this area. In the area of classroom management, findings showed that participants use a variety of classroom management strategies in their classrooms. Almost all participants perceived that they are competent in managing the classroom even though they claimed that they had not been well-prepared in this area. Meanwhile, in the area of classroom assessment, the initial analysis suggests that each participant seems to develop their own unique conceptual understanding of assessment. Results reveal a significant gap between teacher education curriculum and the real fabric of schools in the area of culturally responsive teaching, classroom management, and assessment. There appears to be a need for some concerted measures to bridge the gap between theory and practice in those areas to assist new teachers in facing such challenges confidently. These efforts can also help to address factors contributing to new teacher turnover and retention issues.