Community Lab School (formerly Murray High School, renamed after merging with Community Public Charter Middle School in 2020) is a district-backed public charter school serving grades 6-12 located in

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. It is a part of Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS). In August 2018, the Albemarle County School Board renewed the school's charter to provide Albemarle County families the option of a small,

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

school experience with elective pathways focusing on the creative arts, media, and design. Admission is open to all Albemarle County residents on a lottery basis. The school began offering the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme in 2020.

Community Lab School

As an Albemarle County Public Schools charter school, Community Lab School designs and pilots evidence-based approaches to

student-centered learning Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. In original usage, student-centered learning aims to develop lear ...

for possible scale to other ACPS secondary programs. In 2017, it became one of twenty schools in the country to partner with

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

to develop

open educational resources Open educational resources (OER) are Instructional materials, teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and Free license, licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" descri ...

to help schools implement maker learning. In July 2018, it became the first public school in Virginia and one of the first in the country to join the

Mastery Transcript Consortium The Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC) is an international group of private and public secondary schools working to create a new type of Transcript (education), secondary school transcript, referred to as a " Mastery Transcript." Elements of th ...

. Community Lab School also works in partnership with nearby

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Communtiy lab school gained the favor of students and parents with their system of mixing all grades together.

Academics

Community Lab School's philosophical approach is grounded in

based on the

progressive education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...

movement that began in the late nineteenth century. Students are encouraged to pursue personal interests through the curriculum and independently. The Albemarle County School Board approved the school's adoption of the

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...

at its July 11, 2019 meeting.

Athletics

Community Lab School added a

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

team in 2018 in collaboration with

's McArthur Squash Center. Otherwise, Community Lab School students may participate in athletic offerings or extracurriculars available at the ACPS comprehensive school to which they are districted.

Facility

Since 2017, the school has added a recording studio, rapid prototyping and advanced manufacturing lab, digital media lab, additional art studio space, a bunch of trailers, and a renovated student commons and kitchen area.

References

Public high schools in Virginia Schools in Albemarle County, Virginia Charter schools in Virginia Educational institutions established in 1988 1988 establishments in Virginia {{authority control