Core Beliefs
We believe in:
Equity
- Creating a teaching and learning environment that supports all student identities
- Supporting children’s cognitive, emotional, social and physical development
- Building a community of caring learners guided by safe school norms
- Putting into practice an ethic of mutual respect and inclusiveness
- Promoting interchange of ideas through conversations and dialogue
- Developing a learning community based on appreciation of differences
Critical Thinking
- Teaching to big ideas and concepts
- Embedding and integrating skills across subject areas
- Assessing and building on students’ prior knowledge
- Designing inquiry-based learning experiences based on concepts and big ideas
- Offering multiple entry points into each curriculum area to meet individual learning needs
- Offering multi-sensory experiences to build meaning
- Making student thinking explicit through multiple representations
- Providing opportunities for teachers and children to articulate how they arrived at their understandings
Building Community
- Participating with parents as collaborators in their children’s educational progress
- Encouraging collaborative teacher-student relationships
- Encouraging collaborative relationships among all members of our learning community
- Supporting public engagement to exchange ideas and work with the broader community
Lifelong Learning
- Developing a culture based on love of learning
- Fostering students’ initiative to become self-directed learners
Innovation, Research and Public Engagement
- Encouraging intellectual risk taking among teachers and staff
- Assessing and reflecting on our programs and teaching practices
- Supporting the research function of the university
- Collaborating with a variety of educational organizations
Initiatives
UCLA Lab School is working on programs to strengthen and enhance teaching and learning in PreK-6 education. Our major areas of focus include:
- Advancing partnerships with schools and districts in Los Angeles and California
- Expanding professional development programs for teachers
- Expanding educational opportunities for students and families in traditionally underserved communities in Los Angeles
A Commitment to Diversity
“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.”
— Margaret Mead (1901-1978, anthropologist)
Our diversity is an integral part of who we are as a school community. The diversity of our families, teachers, and staff enhances and enriches the learning environment, provides opportunities for children’s growth, and helps us conduct research and develop curricula that are relevant for a wide variety of schools.
The factors that contribute to our diversity encompass race, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, geography, language, sexual orientation, socioeconomics, class and income, religion, physical ability, and family structure. We continuously seek ways to build connections among the members of our community so that we can advance what we know and experience regarding diversity and inclusiveness at our school and in the world around us.
Student Ethnicity
Figures are typical from year to year
Board of Advisors
The role of the UCLA Lab School Board of Advisors is to foster community support and further the mission and goals of the school. The board consists of parents of current and former students, community members, lab school faculty members, the dean of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, and the principal. It serves as a forum for discussion and consultation related to development, finance, and advocacy for the school.
2019–2020
- Mia Riverton Alpert – Chair
- Mitch Smelkinson – Vice Chair
- Jeremy Barber
- Tamar Chafets
- Tina Christie
- Bobby Daly
- Craig Fox
- Joyce Friedman
- Ryan Gates
- Ben Goldhirsh
- Rebecca Heneise
- Sally Katovsich
- Gauri Kolhatkar
- Jennifer Lang
- Amy Lassere
- Georgia Lazo
- Sara-Jean Lipmen
- Leo Marmol
- Ashley May
- Vanessa Nacif
- Mandore Oviedo
- Akia Pacheco
- Luz Padua
- Nikki Parrish
- Desa Philadelphia
- Jody Priselac
- Kal Raustiala
- Chip Robertson
- Marcelo Spina
- Adam Stein
- Marcelo Suárez-Orozco
- Philip Tseng
- Cash Warren
- Stephanie Weiss
- Renata Gusmão-Garcia Williams