About METCO
The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO) provides students with a strong academic foundation rich in cultural, educational, ethnic, socioeconomic, and racial diversity, fostering the opportunity for children from Boston and from neighboring suburbs to develop a deeper understanding of each other in an integrated public school setting.
Arlington was among the first seven towns to participate in the METCO program when it began in 1966. For more than 57 years, Arlington schools have been home to Boston students, and currently 72 of the 3,300 students in the METCO program attend school in Arlington.
METCO is dedicated to creating environments where students, parents and teachers of different backgrounds can appreciate diversity, find common ground through shared experiences, build lifelong inter-racial friendships, and strive toward the mutual goal of preparing young people to become global citizens.
From its earliest years, the state of Massachusetts has allocated funding to METCO’s partner districts for transportation, staffing, and programming, as well as administrative and program costs at METCO Headquarters.