Lab School teaches by asking big questions

In a classroom at East Rockingham High School in Elkton, Virginia, 50 ninth graders are discussing what it means to be human.

The theme, which kicked off in August, will continue throughout the academic year as part of the state-funded Laboratory School for Innovation and Career Exploration.

The effort is a partnership among James Madison University, Blue Ridge Community College and Rockingham County Public Schools. Students from four local high schools have signed up for project-based lessons through the Lab School curriculum, which offers a creative, collaborative environment. 

At East Rock, about a quarter of the ninth grade is enrolled in Lab School. As part of the program’s pilot year, students have been contemplating various questions to get them thinking about how to self-evaluate, said Danielle Matheny, a health and physical education teacher and department chair. “How do you interact with other people?” she said. “What resources do [those people] need? What resources, as you’re looking from an overall perspective, does the world need?” 

“And that’ll take us all the way through,” Matheny explained. “The last unit, I believe, is their personal wellness plan before we go for the summer.” 

In Lab School, the ninth graders study English, world geography, science, health and P.E. in a collaborative setting unlike anything offered at the schools before. Participants were randomly chosen from applicants for a maximum of 50 seats for ninth graders at each school. As students continue their high school education, they can choose whether to remain in Lab School or switch back to their school’s regular curriculum. 

The initiative was launched by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and approved by the Virginia Board of Education in January. According to the Virginia Department of Education, at least 16 other higher educational institutions around Virginia also applied to participate in the Lab School effort. Local participation started with East Rockingham and Broadway high schools, and a fall 2025 launch is planned for Spotswood High School in Penn Laird and Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater. Additionally, with the current ninth graders moving on to 10th grade, the program is set to expand from eight teachers to at least 21 starting next fall.

JMU’s participation includes meeting with principals from Spotswood and Turner Ashby, onboarding new Lab School teachers and incoming students, and offering professional development opportunities to build the curriculum along with other collaborative efforts.

Incoming students were surveyed prior to curriculum development to learn their expectations and hopes for Lab School, said Dr. Donica Hadley, assistant professor in the Department of Early, Elementary and Reading Education at JMU and executive director of Lab School for Rockingham County.

To conduct the surveys and maintain a database of feedback, JMU has been working with ARETGroup (Applied Research and Evaluation Technologies Group) and two Public Administration professors, Dr. Amanda Teye and Dr. Liliokanaio Peaslee, who specialize in data collection. They created surveys specific to students and parents, and the program will continue to survey students every few months to gauge their experience and adjust as needed. 

The program curriculum is “a breathing document,” Hadley said. She and the teachers often reflect on what’s working and what can change, so they can be “very thoughtful and mindful of not just what we’re teaching, but who we’re teaching.”

There’s no ideal Lab School learner. “This is an opportunity for all students,” Hadley said. “In the College of Education, we’re always trying to Be the Change. We’re trying to figure out what it is that we can do as human beings to take all of us one step higher, to do things better. When you know better, you do better.”

At East Rock, the morning is divided into two, 80-minute class periods with a 40-minute advisory block in between. Most days, students participate in a brain question, followed by a movement activity, Matheny said.

“So that’s just daily. Every single day. It gives them consistency,” she said. “It gives them that routine … [It] gives them the opportunity to get warmed up to the space before we say, ‘OK, get out this assignment.’ It gives them the opportunity to get their brain going. So that really helps.” 

Co-teaching with Matheny is environmental science teacher Bonnie Altstaetter, world-geography teacher Jordan Biller (’23M) and ninth-grade English teacher Robert Mann. Working with them are three JMU graduate assistants — Elementary Education student Kevin Wheedleton (’24), who’s participating with Lab School for a year while pursuing a master’s degree in Teacher Leadership; Psychology major Riley Grizzard, who’s assisting with the Department of Graduate Psychology through her concentration in School Counseling; and Lab School Community Engagement Liaison Xavier Grier.

Through Lab School, Grier said, “We’re trying to build a new kind of culture, a new mindset about education ... It just makes people excited to come in and learn.” 

Part of Grier’s role has been identifying community experts to speak to the classes on various topics or host them at JMU and the surrounding area. Besides being a favorite with students, the guest speakers bring expert knowledge on topics like mental health, providing more depth to lessons and helping teachers focus on other topics.

“I’ve never been able to do that and have that guest speaker come in as we’re doing mental health,” Matheny said. “That’s this big bridge we’re building [within] the curriculum. … We can have multiple guest speakers; we can go on a lot of different field trips because we have that bridge built.” 

When Lab School started, teachers focused on helping students get comfortable with the setting, so they could learn to better relate to others and themselves. Students were only sitting with their friends, Matheny recalled, but after a few days they started collaborating with others. About halfway through the fall semester, they all knew each other’s names and could work well in different groups. 

“And that’s the beauty of it,” Matheny said. “You can foster it in other classes — but not like you can when you have the amount of supports you have in this room.

“It’s been amazing to watch those life skills come out — collaborating, communicating, all those things — the critical thinking today. They were getting frustrated, but they were frustrated because they haven’t been challenged to think that deeply about questions and where they fit into the world. It’s hard, but it challenged them to really dive into themselves.”

Lab School teachers have enjoyed the collaborative nature of the program. “We can go in a different order, because they’re still going to learn the content,” Altstaetter said. She recalled sharing with 10th-grade teachers how different the program will feel for them if they join the instruction team next year — though “different” is also the point of Lab School.

“I do not expect this program to be for everyone,” Altstaetter said. “It’s the beauty of having options. … That’s why a lot of parents are like, ‘Get my kid in here, because we want something different.’” 

Parents have also been excited about their kids learning from guest speakers and taking field trips to JMU to see if higher education is for them. “Long-term wise, the big buzz was them having an opportunity to get [college] credit,” Altstaetter said.

“I am so grateful to be a part of this initiative,” said Hadley, previously an administrator with Rockingham County schools.

“The collaboration has just been tremendous,” she said. “For me it is just a blending of our community, resources, talent, expertise, our energy — it’s that ‘it-takes-a-village’ mentality — and it’s been such a wonderful community effort. JMU brings a lot to our community, and our community brings a lot to JMU as well. So, it’s just such a perfect blend of the power and positive energy that a university can bring to a community.”