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LEAPS

LEAPS leads to a wide range of learning-focused careers, and teaching is one possibility! Within the four years of your LEAPS program, it is possible to earn teacher certification in the following areas:

  • Elementary (PK-8)
  • Secondary English Language Arts (5-12)
  • Secondary Social Studies (5-12)
  • Secondary Math (5-12)

If you are interested in pursuing K-12 teaching as part of LEAPS, it is critical that you work closely with an academic advisor to ensure you are selecting the right courses as electives that will count towards your certification.

Note that LEAPS is a separate program from the more traditional Educator Preparation Program at Marsal. If you are interested in teaching but not in the Detroit- and community-focused elements of LEAPS, you should apply through the Teacher Education Preferred Admissions (TEPA) Program.

Note also that when you apply to LEAPS, you are applying directly to the Marsal Family School of Education, and are not being admitted to the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA). When you apply to the TEPA program, you are also applying to LSA. 
 

At this time, double majors with other schools or colleges (e.g., LSA) are not possible. 

The program organizes scheduled transportation to and from Ann Arbor, and to program sites around Detroit. Additionally, LEAPS first-year students are allowed to park personal vehicles on the Marygrove campus, though parking is limited and must be permitted and students are responsible for their own parking in Ann Arbor and at other locations.

Yes, this is a living/learning community in which all students in the program spend their first year living, studying, and working together.

Yes, all of the usual financial aid programs offered to U-M students, including the Go Blue Guarantee, are available to LEAPS students.

Yes! We encourage broad exploration for LEAPS students, including in cities around the world. The LEAPS curriculum is flexible, and a semester abroad during junior year is easy to fit into the program.

At this time, LEAPS is only accepting first-year students. In the future, we may amend this policy to accept transfer students and will provide updated information at that time.

LEAPS is a program within the Marsal Family School of Education. Students who wish to leave LEAPS for a program in another school or college at the University of Michigan must apply as a cross-campus transfer student (this is how students apply to upper-division majors in other schools or colleges currently).

Traditional transcripts list only course titles and grades. A master-based transcript describes what you know how to do, and provides examples using a portfolio. A mastery-based transcript gives you an edge in appealing to potential employers and graduate schools, giving them a window into your capabilities that goes well beyond the traditional transcript. LEAPS students will receive both a mastery transcript and the traditional U-M transcript.