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Inclusion or providing educational opportunities for all students alongside their natural neighbors and peers remains a highly valued goal for me. Ensuring that effective educational practices are available and provided to all students and that no cultural, ethnic, or other groups are disproportionately placed in ineffective education settings remains an equally important quest. Personal and professional concerns related to a continuing lack of progress in achieving these significant and important multicultural and inclusive goals are highlighted in this article.

"Closing the achievement gap" (i.e. reducing differences in performance across racial and ethnic groups) has been the rallying cry and holy grail for reform efforts in American education for some time. In addition to influences associated with school and teacher factors, researchers have now turned their attention to characteristics in family backgrounds that may create or correlate with variation in academic and social outcomes at school. Previous research suggests that community capital, with its financial, human, and social features, is associated with school performance. In the present study, we examined relationships between community capital, student composition of schools, and student academic achievement measured by state standardized tests. Strongest associations were evident for community capital and academic outcomes. We discuss our findings in the context of equal educational opportunity, cultural and linguistic diversity, and the dream of achievement representing what you do at school more than where to go to do it.

Preparing teachers to work in urban public schools--and to remain there--is a daunting challenge. In an age plagued with the overrepresentation of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students placed in special education programs, it is important that teacher preparation programs within the field of special education devote attention to the devastating effects of deficit thinking. The current focus on the achievement gap and poor graduation rates has highlighted the challenges facing urban schools and their teachers in our nation. Many colleges and universities have ill-prepared or unprepared to work with CLD students in general and special education. This article discusses how teachers and service providers can be prepared to work with urban children and youth with and without special needs.