The Metropolitan Community: Partnering for Equality Across the Educational Divide

In metropolitan areas across the United States, city and suburban public school students receive grossly unequal funding. Since funding is critical to student success, this means the primarily Black, Latinx, and low-income students attending city schools are being denied an equal education. So entrenched is this system, that it can feel normal, or too big to undo. Yet recent student activism in the form of an innovative, cross-community school partnership offers new hope. The Metropolitan Community: Partnering for Equality Across the Educational Divide tells the story of two Chicago-area schools―one suburban, one urban―whose students come together to examine the disparities between their schools and advocate for change. It follows these students over a year as they meet, tour each other’s schools, wrestle with how to discuss unfairness, and ultimately commit to fighting together for a more equal education. In-depth interviews and detailed observations chronicle the students’ advocacy, which unfolds in conversation with teachers and administrators and eventually brings them to the table with legislators, from whom they demand better policies. Through the examples set by students, readers are invited to develop their own “metro outlook,” to see how our seemingly separate worlds are connected by the educational system we hold in common and must work together to reshape. The first book to depict sustained allyship between city and suburban students, The Metropolitan Community offers an invigorating pedagogical approach, organizational model, and political strategy for achieving educational justice through youth-led partnerships and collaboration.

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

Author Website: cynthiataines.com

Recent Op-Ed: Bringing different school districts together can bridge social divides and inspire change

Podcast Appearances: Leading Equity (audio, video), State of Ed (audio, video), and Teachers' Lounge/WNIJ (audio)

Cynthia Taines is a sociologist of education who is fascinated by students’ perspectives about school and their actions for educational equality. She has published in highly regarded academic journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, The Journal of Educational Change, Education and Urban Society, Teachers College Record, and The Urban Review. With teachers and organizers, Cynthia co-founded the Metropolitan Community Project, a city/suburban partnership for educational justice. She is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at Northern Illinois University and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies, with minors in Sociology and History, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cynthia resides in Chicago.