The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab, Lab Schools, or U-High, abbreviated UCLS) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

pre-school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical s ...

and

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world. ...

school affiliated with the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Almost half of the students have a parent who is on the faculty or staff of the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

History

The Laboratory Schools were founded by

American educator ''American Educator'' is a quarterly journal published by the American Federation of Teachers focusing on various issues about children and education. In mid-2011, its total circulation was over 900,000. Recent authors include E. D. Hirsch Jr., ...

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overridi ...

in 1896 in the Hyde Park neighborhood of

. Calvin Brainerd Cady was director of the music department under Dewey. The school began as a progressive educational institution that goes from

nursery school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin c ...

through 12th grade. The school was an attempt to create a unified school system from the kindergarten to university. Managed by the university's Department of Philosophy, Psychology, and Education, it served as a laboratory to test hypotheses and build on the knowledge about education because John Dewey, who became head of the department in 1894, wanted to test certain ideas of his. In his book ''

How We Think ''How We Think'' is a book written by the American educational philosopher John Dewey, published in 1910. The 1910 edition is in the public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive in ...

'' (1910), Dewey acknowledged the significant contributions made by his wife Alice Dewey to the school's early development.

Campus

The Laboratory Schools consists of two interrelated campuses. The Historic Campus, located at 1362 East 59th Street, fills two full city blocks and is known for its Modern Gothic style architecture. It houses grades 3–12 (about 1,200 students) in five connected buildings: Blaine Hall (built in 1903), Belfield Towers (1904), Judd Hall (1931), the high school (built in 1960), the middle school (1993), and Gordon Parks Arts Hall (2015) which has 100 classrooms. Two connected gymnasiums also sit on this campus, Sunny Gym (built in 1929) and Kovler Gymnasium (built in 2000) and students have access to both Scammon Garden and Jackman Field. In September 2013, Lab opened Earl Shapiro Hall on its new Early Childhood Campus located at 5800 S.

Stony Island Avenue Stony Island Avenue is a major street on South Side of the city of Chicago, designated 1600 East in Chicago's street numbering system. It runs from 56th Street south to the Calumet River. Stony Island Avenue continues sporadically south of th ...

. This new building, designed by Valerio Dewalt Train and FGM Architects, is home to approximately 625 children in nursery through second grade. The building is named for Earl Shapiro, who graduated from Lab in 1956.

Student body and academics

The school has over 2,160 students in total from Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 12. Today the school is divided into a Nursery School (Pre-K and Kindergarten), Primary School (grades 1 and 2), Lower School (grades 3 through 5), Middle School (grades 6 through 8), and High School (grades 9 through 12). Many children begin in nursery school and continue through their high school graduation, and 75% of applications are for nursery school or 9th grade. The student/teacher ratio is 8:1. According to the 2021 Lab Student Wellness Survey, 48% of girls and 25% of boys, for a total of 37% of students, identify as part of the LGBTQ community. In 2007 The Wall Street Journal ranked the high school fourth in the nation for its record of sending graduates to 8 elite colleges including its parent university, University of Chicago. U-High offers more than 150 different classes. All are college preparatory in nature and there are more than 30 Advanced Placement or Advanced Topic courses. High school students may also qualify to take classes at the University of Chicago at no extra charge, and about 20 do so each year. The average composite ACT score is 31.5. The school maintains four separate libraries which collectively hold over 110,000 volumes.

Extracurricular activities

High school students may choose from over 40 different clubs and activities. The high school math, science, and

Model UN Model United Nations, also known as Model UN (MUN), is an educational simulation of the United Nations, which teaches students about diplomacy, international relations, global issues, and how the United Nations is run. During a model UN confe ...

teams are regular contenders for – and winners of – state titles. The school's newspaper/website, The U-High Midway, and the yearbook, U-Highlights, regularly win state and national awards, as does its arts magazine, Renaissance''.'' Other popular activities include theater, identity and affinity clubs, Student Council, policy debate, and Model UN. The Model UN team is consistently ranked among the top in the nation, and is world-renowned for its competitive excellence. In 2011, it was ranked the #2 High School Model UN team in the United States. The Debate Team has won numerous national circuit tournaments. Organized by the Office of Alumni Relations Development, members of the student body at U-High are nominated by faculty to serve in the Maroon Key Society. The Maroon Key Society serve as ambassadors for the school, and they help provide tours to visiting alumni, potential students, and other guests to the school. The high school's extracurricular activities occasionally make national and international news. For example, in 1990 then-Governor Thompson declared a "

Matthew Headrick Matthew Peter Headrick (born ca. 1973) is an American physicist who is an Associate Professor of Physics at Brandeis University. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2002 under Shiraz Minwalla and his A.B from Princeton University in 199 ...

Day" and the

US House The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

made a proclamation when then-student Headrick appeared on talk shows including

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

after winning the

Regeneron Science Talent Search The Regeneron Science Talent Search, known for its first 57 years as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, and then as the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) from 1998 through 2016, is a research-based science competition in the United St ...

. In response to the award, the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' described the school as: "where being on the math team ... can actually enhance one's social status." The Finance Club was founded in 2015 with more than $100,000 of donated funds to invest.

Notable alumni and people

Athletics

The 2019 boys soccer team won the IHSA 1A state championship. The 2019 girls tennis team won the IHSA 1A state championship, becoming the first U-High girls team to win a state championship. The 2021 girls tennis team was also 1A state champion, and the team won the 1A state championship again in 2023. The boys tennis team won the 1A state championship in 2018 and again in 2024, making the 2023-24 school year the first time in school history that both girls and boys tennis teams won state championships in the same academic year. University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

Notable teachers

* Eight Lab teachers have received Chicago's prestigious

Golden Apple Award The Golden Apple Award (1941–2001) was an American award presented to entertainers by the Hollywood Women's Press Club, usually in recognition of behavior rather than performance. History The award was presented from 1941 until 2001, when ...

—more than from any other school in the city. (2009 Christina Hayward; 2007 David Derbes; 2004 Rosa McCullagh; 1994 Michael (Spike) Wilson; 1992 Jan Yourist; 1989 Catharine Bell; 1987 Hanna Goldschmidt; 1986 Randy Fowler.) Others have received the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Award. * Mima Maxey (1885–1965) and Marjorie Fay (1893–1977) taught

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

at Lab in the 1930s. Evan Dutmer argues that their teaching approach, based on reading without formal grammatical instruction, was "virtually without precedent in American Latin education" and anticipated the theory of

comprehensible input The input hypothesis, also known as the monitor model, is a group of five hypotheses of second-language acquisition developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen in the 1970s and 1980s. Krashen originally formulated the input hypothesis as just on ...

as used later in language education. * A MacArthur “genius” award and the Erikson Institute Award for Service to Children are among the achievements of author/teacher

Vivian Paley Vivian Gussin Paley (January 25, 1929 – July 26, 2019) was an American pre-school and kindergarten teacher and early childhood education researcher. She taught and did most of her research at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and was ...

, who spent most of her career at Lab. * Created and funded in honor of Zena Sutherland (a former U. of C. faculty member and still considered among the world's most influential scholars of young people's literature), the annual Sutherland Award for Excellence in Children's Literature is one of the only student-selected book awards in the United States. * Lab teachers contributed to the

University of Chicago School Mathematics Project The University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) is a multi-faceted project of the University of Chicago in the United States, intended to improve competency in mathematics in the United States by elevating educational standards for chi ...

, the largest university-based mathematics curriculum project in the country. Their results included the nationally acclaimed ''

Everyday Mathematics ''Everyday Mathematics'' is a pre-K and elementary school mathematics curriculum, developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (not to be confused with the University of Chicago School of Mathematics). The program, now p ...

'' texts for elementary school students and ''Transition Mathematics'', a middle school pre-algebra text. *

Blue Balliett Blue Balliett is an American author. She is best known for her award-winning children’s novel, ''Chasing Vermeer''. ''Chasing Vermeer'', released by Scholastic Press in 2004, is her best-known and most highly praised book. Illustrated by Brett ...

, author of ''

Chasing Vermeer ''Chasing Vermeer'' is a 2004 children's art mystery novel written by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist. Set in Hyde Park, Chicago near the University of Chicago, the novel follows two children, Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee. A ...

'', '' The Wright Three'', and ''

The Calder Game ''The Calder Game'' is a children's novel written by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist, published in 2008. It is the sequel to '' The Wright 3'', which in turn is the sequel to ''Chasing Vermeer''. Some underlying themes includ ...

'', based her children's mysteries on her experiences teaching students at Lab.

References

External links

*
''100 Years of Learning at The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools''Guide to the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Records 1891-1986
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research CenterGuide to the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Work Reports 1898-1934
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
* Knoll, M. (2014

In D. C. Phillips (ed) Encyclopaedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy, Vol. 2 (London: Sage), pp. 455–458.
University of Chicago's Facilities Service Website
{{Authority control

Laboratory Schools A laboratory school or demonstration school is an elementary school, elementary or secondary school operated in association with a university, college, or other teacher education institution and used for the training of future teachers, education ...

Private middle schools in Chicago Private elementary schools in Chicago Gifted education Laboratory schools in the United States University-affiliated schools in the United States Private high schools in Chicago Hyde Park, Chicago