Schools, Poverty, and Communities.

While some members of the critical education community(ies) may disagree, I think that it is imperative to read and learn from those groups of educators who may not have exactly the same politics as I do. A case in point is the book under discussion in this essay. It focuses on multiple on-the-ground initiatives that seek to provide more responsive schooling through community-school partnerships and through creating an entire range of social, health-related, and educational services that can give us a sense of possibilities. These programs also have the potential to open the door to further democratizing movements and policies that are key elements for critically oriented educational policies and practices. Thus, even though I wanted a more critical understanding of the structural issues involved in why schools often produce inequalities, the book is still a real contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]