This article explores the connection between dropping out of school and being incarcerated, particularly for youth, including students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, students from poverty, and students with disabilities, who have been shown to be at higher risk for both. This article seeks to shift focus away from a deficit-based perspective and instead creates an integrated learning model that incorporates culturally responsive teaching with an integrated services model in order to promote access, equity, and culturally supported experiences for children. If students are supported and successful in school, then dropout and incarceration should decrease and the pipeline from school to prison can be broken.

El principal objetivo de este trabajo de investigación es identificar las creencias y percepciones sobre el concepto de competencia comunicativa intercultural de los estudiantes de la licenciatura en Lenguas Extranjeras de la Universidad del Valle. A partir de las perspectivas teóricas de Byram y Liddicoat y Scarino, este estudio de caso de tipo mixto busca establecer un panorama claro de la cuestión con el fin de hacer propuestas de intervención a futuro, que impliquen cambios importantes en los diseños de los programas de curso de la licenciatura. Los resultados de esta investigación permiten constatar que, a pesar del impacto positivo del trabajo sobre el componente cultural en los cursos de lengua, aún falta integrar estrategias didácticas que le permitan a los estudiantes desarrollar habilidades interculturales más allá de saberes declarativos sobre la cultura.

This study investigated the impact of specified variables related to academic history, behavioral history, and availability of inclusive systems as potential risk factors for dropouts, impacting students with disabilities. Results indicated that a successful academic history was the only significant predictor of graduation potential when statistically controlling all the other variables.The national propagation of inclusion has impacted the field of education significantly (Hehir, 2005). Inclusive ideology supports the notion that every student can learn and that those with disabilities benefit greatly from increased interactions with non-disabled peers and direct exposure to the general education curriculum (Fisher & Frey, 2003;Huefner, 2000;Lee-Tarver, 2006). Given the relatively young history of inclusive practices, it is still unclear how it impacts the graduation rates of students with disabilities. Inclusion advocates assert that students with disabilities have the legal right to be educated alongside their non-disabled peers (Rea, McLaughlin, & Walther-Thomas, 2002) and point out that the educational outcomes and graduation rates of students with disabilities educated under the self-contained or pull-out models are generally poor (Rea et al., 2002). Yet, dropout rates for students with disabilities have remained steady even after inclusive practices were put into place (Bost, 2006).The failure of students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) or Emotional Behavioral Disturbances (EBD) to graduate prevails nationally. As evidence, 51.4% of students with EBD and 34.1% of students with SLD drop out (Bost, 2006), indicating the need for further investigation and continuous evaluation of the dropout phenomenon amongst these student populations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the school-related variables that predict the graduation potential of students with SLD or EBD; as well as the impact of inclusive settings on their graduation potential. The study attempted to answer three questions: (a) Do specified school-related variables contribute to the graduation potential of students with SLD or EBD? (b) Do the variables primary exceptionality, gender, ethnicity/race, grade, current enrollment, academic history, behavioral history, standardized test performance, and educational setting contribute to the graduation potential of students with SLD or EBD? and (c) Do the variables educational setting, primary exceptionality, academic history and behavioral history show first order interactions?Literature Review The gradual disengagement of students with disabilities from school occurs due to a myriad of social, academic, and behavioral factors that are exacerbated by limiting perceptions of what a disability status constitutes. These often result in the students' removal from the general culture of the school and the failure to view and treat them as contributing members of the school's milieu (Hehir, 2005). Operationally defining dropout has become difficult due to lack of consistency in t...

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the development and implementation of a currently running, interdisciplinary program between school psychology and special education within a Hispanic-serving institution. Due to critical shortages of school psychologists and special educators across the country, novel practices in interdisciplinary collaborative training may aid in recruitment and retention efforts while enhancing service delivery for racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse (RELD) students with high intensity needs. The chapter highlights approaches and components including (1) focus on an equity-based and integrated framework for personnel preparation, (2) recruitment and retention activities to attract diverse scholars, (3) planning and delivery of shared collaborative coursework and field experiences, (4) reflection of the lessons learned, and (5) recommendations to other preparation programs in providing interdisciplinary training and support to RELD personnel.