Construction on the Early Childhood Education Center has finished and the new facility will welcome students in fall 2021. The School of Education is involved in curriculum and professional development for the center, as well as coordinating cross-campus holistic support services for children and families.

Local philanthropist Waltraud “Wally” Prechter is offering to match up to $1 million in gifts that support the School of Education’s work on the P-20 partnership. Qualifying donations will support teacher education, students with scholarships and training in Detroit; advance curriculum development, implementation and evaluation; and further the professional growth of Detroit educators. 

An important aspect of their mission is to continue building meaningful partnerships with businesses and organizations in the Detroit area that support and advance Detroit youth. Detroit Kids Matter is an online business with occasional pop-ups. 

The task force’s report on engagement in Detroit is used as a guide across campus to ensure that research and engagement projects are conducted in an equitable and mutually beneficial manner. The task force was chaired by Robert Sellers, vice provost and chief diversity officer, and included representatives from all areas of campus.

“The other thing we want students to learn, and this is central to the work of the historian Tiya Miles, is that slavery is a part of the history of Detroit and Ontario. It’s not just this terrible thing that happened in the U.S. South. Their stories of survival and resistance are important, and we can learn from them and be inspired today, on both sides of the river.”
~ Darin Stockdill

In partnership with the Detroit River Story Lab, the Michigan Engaging Community through the Classroom at Taubman College has coordinated a number of courses this semester to focus on the Detroit River’s history.

“We’re talking about equitable opportunities, not just equal. What we’re seeing is that after years and years of disenfranchisement… it’s not possible to give everyone the same funding and say that that’s equality because in fact many districts are so disadvantaged by the way funding has played out and by our systems that are oppressive and unjust that they need more money than other settings, and that’s what inspired me.”
~ Elizabeth Birr Moje, dean of the University of Michigan School of Education

Since the September 2018 launch, the P-20 partners – including The Kresge Foundation and the University of Michigan School of Education – have opened the School at Marygrove to its inaugural class and broken ground on a $15 million Early Childhood Education center to open in fall 2021.

This cradle-to-career educational partnership on the campus of Marygrove College will include a state-of-the-art early childhood education center, a new K-12 school and the introduction of an innovative teacher education program modeled after hospital residency programs.