Detroit public schools launch new project to change way of teaching

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit public schools have launched a new partnership with the Skillman Foundation and national literacy experts. 

ModEL Detroit is an engaging and rigorous program that ensures all of the Detroit public schools will teach the same material in a similar manner so that teaching is consistent and challenging district-wide. 

Cynthia Clayton is the principal of Burns Elementary Middle School, and her building is the pilot school. 

"What that means as a model school, is that actually we have master teachers who work very hard with the teachers, and so with them working very hard with the teachers the district has seen a lot of different things in our schools that actually they feel other schools can kind of benefit from. So we kind of work as a training hub for the district," she explained. 

ModEL Detroit is heavily focused on literacy, both reading and writing. They feel that is the foundation for learning all of the subjects. The program ensures each classroom will consistently be teaching grade level appropriate material across the board to keep all the students on track for their entire academic journey. 

The teaching methods do differ from the methods used now. We sat in a classroom and saw all the students up and actively participating in the lessons.