Opening New High Schools with More to Come

Michigan Future, Inc., through its Michigan Future Schools program, proudly announces grants of $2.4 million to open three innovative new high schools in 2012 that will prepare Detroit students for college success. These schools join three new small high schools launched in Fall 2011. All funded by the initiative and located in the City of Detroit.  —————-

The new schools for 2012 are:

YMCA Detroit Leadership Academy: This public charter school will be committed to creating a holistic school culture that will support students’ high academic achievement while providing resources, mentors and experiences beyond the classroom through the YMCA’s extensive community resources, wraparound services, and college-prep experiences. It will be the third component of a complete K-12 school operated by the Y.

Detroit Delta Preparatory Academy for Social Justice: This school, founded by the Detroit Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., has developed a rigorous college preparatory curriculum centered on the organization’s mission. The curriculum has an emphasis on social justice for instruction and mentoring. The academy will provide a superior learning environment where the highest standards of teaching, learning and leading prepare students to fully participate as leaders in society.

Schools for the Future: This school is a partnership between Boston-based Schools for the Future and Detroit’s Black Family Development. This school will be a public high school with a mission of enabling students who have been previously retained at least twice and who have severe academic skills gaps to successfully graduate from high school within 3-5 years, ready for college and further career training, without the need for remediation.

These schools join three new schools Michigan Future Schools grantees successfully opened in Fall 2011. These innovative institutions are:

Dr. Benjamin Carson High School of Science & Medicine

Detroit Collegiate Preparatory High School

Jalen Rose Leadership Academy

All the MFS schools were chosen based on quality through a competitive process open to traditional public, public charter and private schools.

All schools MFS share several characteristics:

• Open to all Detroit students.
• Small, no more than 500 students
• Commitment to high standards: 85% of seniors graduate, 85% of high school graduates go on to college, and 85% of college students earn degrees.
• College transition and college success counselors to help students  go to and stay in college
• If applicable, union agreements that allow for opening hiring, no “bumping,” and no work rules that interfere with innovative teaching and learning.

These schools help fulfill Michigan Future Schools’ goal to revitalize Detroit’s failing education system by opening 35 new high schools in eight years. This effort is a key component of the commitment by the Excellent Schools Detroit coalition to open 70 outstanding new schools by 2020.

Michigan Future Schools is dedicated to creating new quality high schools at scale. To date, four Michigan foundations – The Skillman Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the McGregor Fund – have committed $13.95-million over five years to the MFS initiative.

For more information about the Michigan Future Schools, see the webpage titled Our Schools.