Date of Thesis

Spring 2025

Description

This project focuses on contemporary school integration practices by examining, in particular, the Boston METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity Inc) program and the experiences of its recent alumni. The METCO program, the United States’ longest-running voluntary school desegregation program, was created in 1966 to give students of color from the city of Boston better educational opportunities by busing them to the surrounding suburbs for school. To this day, it is a program meant to expand educational opportunities, increase diversity, and reduce racial isolation, by permitting students from Boston to attend public schools beyond district lines, in the suburbs. My work focuses on recent graduates and examines the impact METCO had on their lives–it is thus an investigation on the ways in which diversity and inclusion initiatives manifest in the lived experiences of the participants. With a qualitative inquiry approach, the study includes bibliographic research on school integration initiatives, racial discrimination in Boston schools, and documentary analysis of the METCO program’s self-presentation, followed by interviewing recent METCO alumni through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The study shows the varied impact the program had on students’ daily lives, their relationships with teachers and the challenges to their sense of belonging. The findings also suggest institutional dimensions about education equity and inclusion, raising questions not only about busing as a form of contemporary integration, but also about the future of schools' equitable programs and the improvements they need to ensure all students are feeling connected. Such integrative practices and their effect on the students they are meant to serve prompt us to reconsider equity frameworks in K-12 contexts.

Keywords

Integration, Boston Busing, METCO, Identity, Resilience, Education

Access Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts

Major

Education

Minor, Emphasis, or Concentration

Psychology

First Advisor

Ramona Fruja

Second Advisor

Jasmine Mena

Third Advisor

Jen Nguyen

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