This Family Resource Hub is designed for you to be able to explore resources available to you as a member of our Lab School community. This resource will be updated every 9 weeks to ensure you remain connected with "all things Lab School."
Please feel free to reach out to your child's school and/or teachers or contact our Lab School Faculty directly via email: jmulabschool@edu.jmu or by phone: 540-568-7393
Frequently Asked Questions
The Lab School for Innovation and Career Exploration provides a unique opportunity for students in grades 9-12 in Rockingham County Public Schools (RCPS) to deeply engage in meaningful and authentic learning experiences by engaging in an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to apply high-level academic skills. The Lab School aims to foster innovation in education and prepare students for college and career readiness through real world problem based learning and hands-on learning experiences.
In this model, leveraged by the resources of James Madison University (JMU) and Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC), high school students in RCPS will have high-touch access to:
- College
- Surrounding community organizations/industries
- The workforce
This innovation hub serves as a model for teaching and learning, and functions as a research and development site for pre-service, early career, teacher leaders, and educational leaders. Teachers implement:
- Evidence-based practices
- Coaching/mentoring
- Teacher Development
- Educational leader development
This program is completely free and is open to ALL students who reside within the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Absolutely! The Lab School highly values the fact that students at this developmental age highly benefit from a sense of belonging and community. Lab School is only a portion of each student's school day. Students will still have classes, lunch periods and periods such advisory with peers who are not engaged in the Lab School, as well as within any clubs, sports, or extracurriculars of their choosing.
We are preparing your child for their future post-high school... no matter which pathway they choose.
9th & 10th grade students explore a vast array of educational opportunities while engaging in a hands-on/ interdisciplinary approach to content delivery.
11th & 12th grade students have a choice in pathways that include:
- Career and technical education
- Dual enrollment general education courses through BRCC
- Continued pre-professional courses offered by JMU
Yes! Your child will be receiving credits for the courses they are taking. These courses align with the courses their peers take (for example, 9th-grade students will receive the credit for 9th-grade Health and PE, just like their peers). Students within Lab School will have opportunities to take other required courses and electives to meet graduation requirements. Please refer to the Lab School Academic Information tab below to see which courses they are taking while in Lab School!
Updates from Dr. Donica Hadley
Since the opening of the Lab School’s doors this past August, teachers and students have spent time building relationships, strengthening content knowledge, and working towards increasing collective efficacy while simultaneously meeting individual academic and social goals and needs. Students spend time every day working alongside four highly effective content-area teachers as they are authentically engaged in units that are designed to align with state standards in a manner that is interconnected and cross-curricular. Students have worked hard to meet the high expectations set forth by their teachers and have learned to lean on one another in a way that directly mirrors experiences and skills sets needed beyond their years in K-12 education.
I cannot say enough about the overall positive energy put forth from our teachers, students and Lab School support staff. The overall support of public education, passion for learning and belief in student achievement for ALL students is truly the foundation of our Lab School. This is evident in the relationships being built between students, amongst faculty and our surrounding community partners. Our students pride themselves in welcoming visitors into their learning spaces, writing thank you cards to community members who have enhanced their learning experiences and building up one another as they work collaboratively with their peers daily. We celebrated our opening on October 3rd as a collective unit, and I look forward to continuing to celebrate the learning, achievement and individual and collective growth of those within our Lab School community, during the months to come.
It truly “takes a village” and it is my true honor to be a part of this incredible learning initiative designed to reimagine how successful learning could look like within our secondary schools.
Donica O. Hadley, Ph.D.
jmulabschool@jmu.edu
540.568.8753
JMU Lab School Executive Director
Current Events & Activities
- Reading groups: The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney & Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Biodiversity & Trophic Levels
- Archery
- UN Debate
- Presentation of Sustainable Cities
- Understanding Substance Abuse
- Wellnet Logs (Daily)
- Urban Geography
- Needs of a city
- Sustainability
- Creation of Sustainable Cities
- Value of a Tree Lab
- 12/11- MTC Field Trip
- 12/19- Guest Speaker