ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways to support the learning of all children and youth, particularly those othered by the social, political, and cultural institutions of the American educational system. Without family participation and collaborative partnerships between families and schools, culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students are vulnerable to lesser quality and more segregated education programs, as well as faulty diagnostic processes resulting in disproportionate representation in special education. The chapter shows how individualized education plans that are developed focusing only on the placement or location of the child, something that is typically reflected in percentage of time spent in a general education classroom, is shortsighted. Inclusion is far more than "being in". Inclusion means valuing the individuality of each community member, with all of his/her/their various identities. Inclusion is not limited to constructs of race and ethnicity, gender, age, or dis/ability labels. Inclusion indicates valued membership in a social group regardless of identity markers.
