it was formed on july 1, 2013, by the merger of the ypsilanti public school district and the willow run school district. experts in k-12 education along with university, business, and parent partners assisted in the development of the district. the district offers project-based learning, small learning communities (slcs), a prek-2 and 6-12 international baccalaureate curriculum, a stemm middle college, and a variety of teaching methods.