New Marygrove School Makes Education A Community Hub

“Education will be the spark that leads the city into a whole new era,” says Elizabeth Moje, the dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan.

This fall, the inaugural class of the School at Marygrove started the 9th grade.

The new initiative on the Marygrove campus is an innovative, community-based, cradle-to-career approach to education. The school marks the culmination of a collaboration between the University of Michigan and the Detroit Public Schools Community District, with generous financial contributions made by the Kresge Foundation.

Elizabeth Moje, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan, joins Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to talk about the new project and what it could mean for public eduction in the state of Michigan. 

Meta Stange
Meta Stange

Moje says she thinks of the school as a community hub. Placing children and young people at the center of their education model, the Dean says these same children will be involved in instituting neighborhood development.

“Education will be the spark that leads the city into a whole new era,” says Moje. She believes education should be the core of revitalization, and that this school is a model for that ideology. The school’s P20 (cradle-to-career) education model emphasizes this integration of education and achievement in the community. 

The neighborhood school’s curriculum utilizes a place-based and project-based approach to learning, according to Moje. Projects will focus on engineering, even asking students to consult on the campus’ future renovations. Moje hopes that the School at Marygrove’s outlook on education will serve as a model to other schools in the area, employing what does work and refining what does not. 

Click on the player above to hear more from Elizabeth Moje about the School at Marygrove and Michgian’s education system.

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  • Detroit Today
    Dynamic and diverse voices. News, politics, community and the issues that define our region. Hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Stephen Henderson, Detroit Today brings you fresh and perceptive views weekdays at 9 am and 7 pm.