Cynthia Taines

The story behind The Metropolitan Community: Partnering for Equality Across the Educational Divide begins with two high schools. Their similarity is restricted to the facts that they are both public schools located in the same county, state, and country. In every other way, they are completely different. Just about any place with a city and a suburb has the same structure of very different conditions that divide the two, providing unequal opportunities and resources to students. But the story goes somewhere new when young people from these usually separate places come together for change. This book is a research-backed narrative about a partnership between two Chicago-area high schools, one in the city and one in the suburbs. It follows the students as they see unfairness up close, wrestling with how to talk about it and fighting for an education that is equal. We learn about what city and suburban kids learn from their solidarity. The Metropolitan Community uplifts while also showing how much practice it takes to bridge our divides in pursuit of justice.

With this book, readers will have the chance to develop their “metro outlook,” to see how the seemingly separate worlds are connected by the educational system they hold in common. The city and suburban students’ example will be instructive for understanding the system’s inequalities, becoming unstuck in conversations across difference, and combining forces to move those in power. This is the first book about a city-suburban school partnership for educational equity. A two-year investigation of student allyship, the text is grounded in qualitative research with 65 city and suburban students. Through yearly pre- and post-interviews, and detailed observations, the book chronicles a growing collaboration, as students build community for educational change.

This is an extremely important book for a variety of readers in public school districts and in Colleges of Education. It can be used in a variety of courses that emphasize school improvement and equity in educational settings.

Perfect for courses such as: School and Society; Curriculum and Instruction; Diversity and Equity in Education; Socio-cultural Foundations; Educational Policy; Culturally Relevant Pedagogy; Sociology of Education; Urban Education; Social Studies Methods; Multicultural Education; Anthropology of Education; School Counseling; School Psychology; and School Social Work