"At Corktown Community High School in Toronto, importance is placed on the education of the whole person. An alternative secondary school, Corktown emphasizes the development of self-knowledge and responsiveness to others, creative and critical thought, and connectedness through the self, the school community, and society. Narratives in the Making is based on a research project carried out at the school as part of a large-scale national research study, the Exemplary Schools Project. Corktown (a pseudonym) was selected as a participant because of its unusually high rate of student retention, student engagement, academic achievement, and its overall success in meeting the needs of its student population and community." "In Narratives in the Making, Mary Beattie, the principal researcher at Corktown, provides insights and explanations of the meaning of success as it is understood by the school's teachers, students, parents, alumni, and administrators. Using narrative accounts of classroom and school practices, as well as profiles of teachers and students, she shows how the whole person concept is incorporated into the school environment, and why relationships are at the heart of teaching and learning."--Jacket