Project ReImagine Demonstration districts named

Contratulations to MASA members who lead these schools

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan announced Thursday the selection of 13 Project ReImagine demonstration districts to begin innovative strategies using public and private partnerships to help change the way education is delivered to Michigan school children.

The demonstration districts and leaders are:

• Read each district’s project summary

Three of the 13 proposals are intermediate school districts (ISDs), which brings the total number of districts involved in Project ReImagine to 52. A total of 71 proposals were submitted to the Michigan Department of Education.

“We are excited that so many districts worked collaboratively with community partners to reimagine education and propose system-wide reform,” Flanagan said. “These are incubators of reform that push the current limits and eventually can be replicated in schools across Michigan.”

Flanagan explained that these districts now are eligible to be included in Michigan’s Race to the Top application, providing them with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use federal economic recovery funds to support dramatic change to prepare Michigan’s children for college and the 21st Century global economy.

Flanagan encourages all of the districts that submitted proposals to be committed to going forward with their Project ReImagine plans regardless of the additional federal funding. “Getting Race to the Top will be icing on the cake,” he added.

Key initiatives in the proposals include: language immersion at the elementary level; reforming teacher assignment processes and compensation packages; project-based learning; early/middle college; from seat time to performance; flexible calendar and flexible grouping of students; multiple pathways to a diploma; early childhood; and regionalizing food service, business, transportation, operations and maintenance, human resources, and administrative services.