At Corktown Community High School in Toronto, importance is placed on the education of the whole person. An alternative secondary school, it 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 in this study because of its unusually high rate of student retention, student engagement, achievement, and success.

Using narrative accounts of classroom and school practices, profiles of teachers and students, and language that is accessible to both practitioners and academics, Mary Beattie provides insights and explanations of the meaning of success as it is understood by Corktown teachers, students, parents, alumni, and school administrators. She shows how the whole person concept is incorporated into the school environment, and why relationships are at the heart of teaching and learning.