New Middle School Will Partner With Detroit Science Center

Jan 17, 06:10 PM

Jan. 17--The charter school that delivered on a guarantee to send 90% of graduates to college is planning to open a new math and science middle school that will be attached to the Detroit Science Center.

The University Preparatory Science & Math Middle School will open for grades six and seven this fall in a temporary location, then will move to a new school that will be built onto the center.

The public school promises a rigorous hands-on curriculum, an extended school year, at least one year of algebra by the end of middle school, internships, personalized learning plans, interaction with the center's staff engineers, the opportunity to help build exhibits and Chinese or Spanish classes for all students.

It, too, will promise a 90% graduation rate and will aim to send not 90%, but every one of its graduates to college.

This will be the second charter school and fourth building founded by Doug Ross, who started the University Preparatory Academy. UPA sent more than 90% of its first graduating class to college and post-secondary education programs last spring, meeting its agreement with the Thompson Educational Foundation that built its high school adjacent to Wayne State University.

The students will get exposure technology and experts that other school districts can't do or can't afford, organizers said. The need to fill jobs in the science, technology, engineering and math fields was an incentive to open the school.

"We have to give our kids something stable, a career that will support a family," said Margaret Trimer-Hartley, who will be the new school's superintendent.

-----

To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com

Copyright (c) 2008, Detroit Free Press

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. New Middle School Will Partner With Detroit Science Center
Back to Current Headlines