The objective of laboratory schools is expanding as universities strive to establish connections with local communities.
Located amidst the brick buildings at Broadway and West 110th Street, Columbia University’s brand new laboratory school boasts "smartboards" in every classroom, highly educated teachers with six-figure salaries, a dance studio, and a cafe that provides complimentary Cheerios, fruit, and salads to students. However, what it lacks are researchers observing students through one-way mirrors. This is because research is not the primary mission of this school, formally known as The School at Columbia University. Instead, it serves as an incentive for the university to attract and retain exceptional faculty members. "We were losing our top academics because we didn’t have a satisfactory answer to the question, ‘Where will my young children go to school?’" explains Gardner P. Dunnan, the head of the new elementary school and an assistant provost at the prestigious Ivy League institution.
While this mission may not align with common perceptions of laboratory schools, it is not far off from the reality of most such schools today. Laboratory schools are a costly and varied group. While some serve as hubs of educational innovation, others function more like teaching hospitals, where aspiring teachers can witness best practices firsthand. Some are exclusively focused on special education. Others, like this school, essentially operate as private schools for the children of university professors and local residents. By having its own private school, Columbia can ensure a spot in a good educational institution for the children of the esteemed academics it aims to recruit. To sweeten the deal, the university covers half of the $22,000 annual tuition for faculty members’ children.
Therefore, Dunnan’s first priority is to provide an exceptional education that justifies uprooting families. The school’s second purpose is to foster a sense of community, both within the university and between the university and its neighbors on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. For example, in the cafe before school starts, children who previously attended PS 145, a nearby public school, can form friendships with the children of renowned historians who may reside in university apartments upstairs. During parent-association meetings, paleontologists can exchange stories about their children with literary scholars who they may never meet on campus otherwise. As for becoming a hub for educational research and innovation, that is a secondary goal.
In reality, most laboratory schools no longer have one-way observation windows. These were covered up as educational researchers turned their attention to regular public school classrooms. "My impression is that traditional laboratory schools are not as prominent in the educational landscape today," acknowledges Dunnan. With his disheveled, white button-down shirt and dark tie, he somewhat resembles a private school student discontented with his uniform. Prior to joining Columbia, Dunnan was the headmaster of the Dalton School, an elite independent school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. However, he has also worked in public schools, serving as superintendent in several New York suburbs.
When planning The School at Columbia, Dunnan researched the national laboratory school landscape and visited two such schools in Los Angeles and Chicago.
Laboratory schools are costly to operate and are becoming increasingly scarce.
The National Association of Laboratory Schools recognizes that Dunnan’s observations about traditional laboratory schools are accurate. According to the association, based in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, the number of laboratory schools in the United States has decreased from 200 during the 1970s to approximately 100 today. Even the esteemed University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, among the country’s oldest and most well-known, have altered their mission. The new director of the schools, David Magill, states, "This is definitely not the traditional laboratory school envisioned by John Dewey over 100 years ago to test his own educational ideas." (Dewey, the renowned educational philosopher, established the first laboratory school at the university in 1894 as a live laboratory for his progressive educational theories.) With a total of 1,700 students enrolled from preschool to 12th grade, the Chicago schools have long since abandoned their initial research mission to become one of the largest independent schools in the country. Furthermore, the education school that once oversaw the laboratory schools closed in the 1980s. John R. Johnson, the deputy executive director of the laboratory school association, views the nationwide decline as "unfavorable."
A Shared Destiny
Three years ago, the University of Pennsylvania transformed a green space in inner-city Philadelphia into the public Penn-Franklin Elementary School. The prestigious university’s graduate school of education constructed the K-8 school on its own property and sold it back to the school district at cost. The education school now collaborates with the Philadelphia public schools, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and the local community to operate the school. Additionally, they contribute $1,000 per student annually to maintain small class sizes of 17 or fewer students. Nancy Streim, an associate dean at the graduate school, explains that the school also serves as a training ground for aspiring teachers, social workers, and nurses, as well as a platform for implementing innovative ideas developed by the education school faculty. Classrooms are specifically designed with observation areas so that researchers can monitor activities without interfering.
"We were losing our top academics because we didn’t have a satisfactory answer to the question, ‘Where will my young children attend school?’" says Gardner P. Dunnan.
Like most public schools, Penn-Franklin enrolls students exclusively from the surrounding neighborhood, which includes a range of housing types from homeless shelters to faculty apartments. The education school has also formed partnerships with three other elementary schools in Philadelphia to establish a network of high-performing schools. Streim emphasizes that the university’s goal is not just to create laboratory schools, but rather to contribute to the improvement of public education in the community. She believes that the university’s success is intertwined with the vitality and stability of West Philadelphia, and vice versa.
The University of Pennsylvania refers to its partner schools as "university assisted" schools rather than laboratory schools or professional-development schools because they view them as unique entities. To promote collaboration and share experiences, the education school recently organized a national conference on this concept. The conference aimed to connect with other universities involved in similar pioneering initiatives, including those focused on charter schools.
Ensuring Diversity
Education researchers began working with regular public schools partly because they believed that laboratory schools did not represent typical student populations. This criticism has prompted laboratory schools to adjust their admissions processes to better reflect their communities. In Florida, laboratory schools on state university campuses are legally required to mirror the demographics of the state. Similarly, the Corinne A. Seeds school at the University of California, Los Angeles was taken to court for rejecting a student who would have disrupted the school’s carefully maintained socioeconomic and racial balance. Even The School at Columbia, which avoids using the term "laboratory," has felt pressure to prioritize diversity. Half of the school’s 200 students were selected by lottery from a pool of 1,700 public school applicants residing in adjacent enrollment zones. The school had to turn away 10 students with special needs that they were not equipped to accommodate.
She expresses her longing for the close-knit community and collaboration that her previous school, located on the same campus as the education school, had. In that environment, she could teach education students about a specific teaching technique and then accompany them to her own elementary classroom for a live demonstration. Kubasak fondly remembers the combination of practitioners and theorists that made the lab school experience so unique.
The School at Columbia offers a range of amenities that urban public schools often lack. The university invested $44 million in demolishing the previous building and constructing a 12-story structure in its place. The school occupies the first six floors, while faculty apartments occupy the remaining floors. Visitors from the neighborhood are drawn to the building’s attractive design, sneaking in to admire the lobby’s stainless steel and faux-granite interior. They can also watch a computer screen displaying images of students engaged in various activities.
The teachers at The School at Columbia possess impressive educational qualifications, with many holding doctorates. The university has spared no expense in developing the educational program, spending $11 million annually on the school. Most students in the school will eventually have their own laptops, which they can use in conjunction with smartboards or classroom screens. The rooftop playground offers a safe environment for children to run and play on its rubberized surface or build intricate structures using wooden blocks. Just a few steps away is a fully equipped dance studio, where children can receive professional instruction in ballet, flamenco, and Russian dances. Many of the teachers, including Kubasak, have received recognition for their exceptional teaching abilities.
The student-to-teacher ratio this year is 5-to-1, with no class having more than 20 students. Dunnan anticipates that the ratio may increase to 7-to-1 once the school reaches its maximum enrollment capacity of 650 students from kindergarten through 8th grade. The educators at the school create individualized education plans for each child, referred to as Master Achievement Plans. These plans outline the specific enrichment or remedial support that children require as they progress through the grades. The school has also developed a standardized curriculum that teachers can access online while planning their daily lessons.
For 3rd grader Joshua Gonzales, who was previously enrolled in a public school, The School at Columbia is an improvement. He exclaims, "This is a lot better than PS 145!" His mother, who comes to pick him up from the cafe after school, agrees. She appreciates that her son is enthusiastic about going to school in the morning. In addition to its educational focus, the school also allocates a budget of $100,000 per year for research projects conducted on its premises.
Some teachers at the school believe it is time to focus on the research aspect of the school’s mission. Patricia G. McDonald, a 3rd-grade teacher from Canada, hopes to continue a research project that she started at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, where she previously taught in a lab school. As the school settles into its new location, McDonald believes it is important to design their academic endeavors in a way that makes a significant impact. The Research section of the school is financially supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.
