More than ever social scientists are turning their attention to important social dynamics at work in America?s suburban communities and in particular in their schooling systems. There are a variety of reasons for this focus. More people live in the suburbs than rural and urban areas combined and as a result school enrollments are greatest in these types of communities. Most American children graduate or fail to graduate from suburban schools. Scholar Delores Hayden argues that there are 8 historical types of suburbs in the US, though many people understand these communities as edge cities or doorsteps to rural isolation. Interestingly, widespread and largely positive assumptions exist about the performance and equity issues in suburban schools. Many of these assumptions are untrue and being challenged by rapid demographic change across metropolitan areas. This course seeks to identify the historical basis for these assumptions, discuss contemporary social processes the affect the suburbs and third discuss how these forces interact with suburban schools in important ways.