About Us

The Community Resource (CR) Program facilitates innovative learning experiences in the community for students in all of the Ann Arbor Public Schools high schools. These classes are recorded on each student's official transcript and are factored into their GPA.

The Community Resource Program 

• Is a consortium designed to take advantage of the abundance of teachers, professionals, mentors, coaches, and advisors already existing in the Ann Arbor area 

• Facilitates the connection between students and these resources

• Awards high school credit by monitoring student coursework and through correspondence with instructors

A Community Resource Course

• Is a contracted learning experience established between a student (or multiple students) and a qualified volunteer instructor

• Guided by a prepared syllabus establishing: learning objectives, timelines, and assessment of goals

• Meets elective credit or content-specific graduation requirements

• Monitored by an Ann Arbor Public School teacher 

  • Students take district-wide Common Assessments (when applicable)

Who should take CRs?

• Any student who

  • has a passion for a subject

  • would benefit from individualized learning and wants to work at their own pace

  • wants to explore career options

  • can navigate an independent learning experience

Upperclassman with a strong GPA can pursue coursework at UM

• AAPS students from any school should freely contact us at the CR Dept to learn about the program, the requirements, responsibilities, and deadlines.

How Students Create a CR course

1. Find a Community Resource Volunteer Instructor

 Instructors could be a neighbor, family member, business contact, former teacher, etc...

  They can be qualified by being

• an expert (in a craft or trade)

• a native speaker of a world language

• a working professional in the field 

• a professor at a local university

 Instructors cannot be paid for their services

 Most instructors need to submit a Volunteer Certification Form (background check)  

 The instructor must agree to work with the student for 2-3 hours a week.

 An additional 2-3 hours a week can be independent student work time.

2. Students work with their instructor to create a course syllabus

A template includes: 

• Instructor qualifications

• Course goals and objectives

• A week-by-week description of what students will do

• Which texts/resources will be used for this course?

• How students will be evaluated on their work?

• When/where will the class meet?

• Some courses already exist (i.e. college courses) and students adhere to the policies and procedures already in place

3. Students apply for a Community Resource course by completing the Google Form Application and submitting the syllabus and volunteer certification form to the CR Monitor

Program History

From Wikipedia:

The Community High idea, according to the 1972 blueprint, was to use the city as a classroom – thereby creating a "school without walls" where students could develop their own curricula by drawing on experiences and resource people throughout the community. Although the concept was new to Ann Arbor, planners took inspiration from similar innovative programs then springing up in other cities, including the Chicago High School for Metropolitan Studies (est. 1969), Philadelphia's Parkway High School, and Washington, D.C.'s School Without Walls (est. 1971). Reflecting the liberal educational philosophy of the period, other goals in the early CHS proposals were "to provide an opportunity for a heterogeneous group of students and faculty to learn and work together and to combat prejudices based on race, sex, age, lifestyle, and school achievement," and "to foster the development of identity and responsibility." The plan emphasized placing students of all grades in the same classes and programs, and had at its heart the Community Resources Program and the Forum Program, small units of students integrated by age, sex and race which would provide home bases for counseling and cultural-studies work.