South Macomb Student Achievement Network

This project involves six school districts in South Macomb County: Center Line, Van Dyke, Fitzgerald, Warren Woods, South Lake, and East Detroit.  These districts have come together and are focused on a goal to:

• Create a dialogue and eventual action plan about meeting the needs of students of color and low-income students within each district. 
• Look at what each district is currently doing to foster student cultural competence/student achievement
• What each district needs to do to foster student cultural competence/student achievement.
• Possible programs - Summer Diversity Workshop, a South Macomb Superintendents’ Retreat, and South Macomb Masters and Education Specialist Degree Cohorts.

The Avondale/Oakland University Magnet Lab School Project is the exciting blend of Avondale’s excellence in teaching and teacher leadership and Oakland University’s renowned School of Education and Human Services.  This project brings together the very best of these two entities.

 Our goal is to create a lab school that:

• Is a “one of a kind” (first in Michigan) laboratory school that will serve as a model for successful school reform as a collaborative project which involves a university, school district, parents, community members, and local municipalities
• Complements Oakland medical school partnership with Beaumont Hospital in terms of community focus, clinical model, and systematic preparation of future practitioners
• Is structured as a school of choice drawing students from the surrounding area including Pontiac
• Includes community wrap around services to combat poverty, improve student achievement and support the whole child with active participation from other schools at Oakland University including medicine, nursing, social work, and business.
• Embeds professional development, pre-service teacher preparation, and commitment to shared leadership
• Focuses on teacher leadership in implementing best practices in instruction and governance
• Is a unique and dynamic partnership between the Avondale, Oakland University, and (hopefully) the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills.
• Embodies the implications of Highly Reliable Organizations (HRO's) for school reform
• Is in partnership with Michigan Department of Education

The target date for opening the school is Fall 2013.