creating public schools in public places

The Henry Ford Learning Institute (HFLI) is an innovative nonprofit organization dedicated to the belief that education reform cannot take place within an educational system that isolates students and teachers from the community and separates teaching and learning from the real world. We envision a future where public education becomes a truly public endeavor, engaging a community to create vibrant educational models, leverage underutilized local resources, and remove boundaries between learning and the real world. To this end, HFLI creates innovative small schools that bring national and local community resources into the educational process and help to create thriving communities where education is everyone's responsibility.

HFLI's mission is to create educational models designed to serve as a visible learning laboratories, where innovations in teaching and learning are shared with the wider community. Classrooms on museum floors or on college campuses are used for community-wide education programs, and every effort is made to share existing resources — including curriculum and professional development opportunities — with the public education system. The model provides a real educational venue for community institutions to come together and think about education in new ways. Once that happens, innovations and ideas occur that move beyond an Academy, as partners share ideas and programs that can be leveraged to drive change in new and exciting ways.

The vision of HFLI is "One day public education will be a truly public endeavor: visibly engaging all aspects of a community to create new educational models, leverage untapped resources, and remove boundaries between school and the real world."

Henry Ford Academy: The Academy Model
Henry Ford Academy is a public charter high school created by Ford Motor Company, The Henry Ford, and the Wayne County (Michigan) Public Schools. It was launched in 1997, and currently has 500 students in grades 9-12. Located on the campus of The Henry Ford, the Academy is the nation's first charter school developed jointly by a global corporation, public education, and a nonprofit cultural institution. Designed with the mission of preparing students to meet the challenges of the 21st century, the Academy is an innovative curriculum and performance assessment centered model for education reform.

Visit the Henry Ford Learning Institute website for more information.