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UVA establishing lab schools with local districts
The University of Virginia is partnering with city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools to create what they say would be the first laboratory schools in the nation for high-tech job training.
Below are details from U.Va.’s media relations office on the project being launched in the Charlottesville area.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 27, 2013 — The University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and School of Engineering and Applied Science are collaborating with Charlottesville and Albemarle County public schools to establish the first U.S. Laboratory School for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, backed by a $300,000 planning grant from Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell.
The Virginia College/University Partnership Laboratory School Application Planning Grant will support design and implementation of the lab schools, which will be located in area public schools. The lab schools will provide training for students in science and engineering in preparation for high-tech jobs and will help prepare future teachers in the integration of engineering concepts into science education.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for partnership between the local school divisions and the University focused on a highly innovative project of great mutual benefit,” Robert Pianta, dean of the Curry School, said. “University students and faculty from Curry and Engineering will gain from the opportunities for their own professional training and research, while at the same time local students and educators will draw from the expertise of the University.
“This partnership has great potential not only to foster advanced technical training and career-pathway skills for local students interested in manufacturing, but as a proof of concept in education innovation that we hope to replicate and evaluate more broadly.”
Laboratory schools are model schools operated by a university in collaboration with a local school system. They allow collaboration between schools and universities to develop best practices that can be replicated and used to improve education in schools across the country. There are approximately 15 lab schools in the United States, including four that are in the Virginia and Washington, D.C. region, but this is the first dedicated to Advanced Manufacturing.
