Marsal Education co-designs project- and place-based learning opportunities dedicated to advancing social justice, fostering student agency, and connecting students’ academic work with their larger communities.
One unique and important feature of the Marygrove Learning Community is the vertically aligned curriculum. From PreK through grade 12, students learn material that builds off previously learned knowledge. Teachers can best meet the learning needs of students because they know the educational experiences and content with which students are already familiar.
Marsal Education and the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) partner on curriculum development. The curriculum supports students in identifying complex problems and engaging in design thinking protocols through a lens of social justice. Students engage with their broader community through project- and place-based learning experiences, strengthening connections with the neighborhoods in which students and their families live.
The high school curriculum features four years of engineering and design courses. High school seniors apply classroom learning through internships and capstone projects.
Through the connection with Marsal Education, Marygrove students have opportunities to learn alongside faculty, staff, U-M students, and other guests. For example, U-M students and alumni support the very successful robotics team and all secondary students take a robotics curriculum co-developed with the College of Engineering. Both elementary and secondary students have had opportunities to make puppets and create stories with Marilyn Price, an international storyteller, puppeteer, educator, and author. A partnership between the Marsal School and the U-M Museum of Art brings together Detroit-based visual artists with students from Detroit Public Schools Community District in an art-making elective class to explore how engaging with visual arts can promote social justice activism. Marygrove students also attend University Musical Society performances and visit the Ann Arbor campus.
Our Work in Action
The Marygrove Learning Community is redefining neighborhood revitalization by centering education at the heart of community growth and thriving.
High school students lend their voices to the effort to create equitable economic growth in Detroit.
A peek inside Isra Elshafei’s robotics class at The School at Marygrove.
Tenth grade teacher Mr. Ravi Smith collaborates with U-M on a unique engineering curriculum.
A new major will create learning leaders equipped to tackle the most pressing issues we face.
Yvette Rock (MFA ’99) brings supplies and encouragement to teach students about art and activism.
Students are applying their training in engineering, design, and social justice to complete internships.
The team built a robot at Michigan Engineering Zone in Detroit and competed in the FIRST robotics competition.
What rising 10th grade student Kaelyn Walker says about The School at Marygrove.