Lab School of Washington
| Lab School of Washington | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
|
Reservoir Campus: 4759 Reservoir Road, NW Washington, DC 20007 Foxhall Campus (Elementary Division): 1550 Foxhall Road NW Washington, DC 200074759 Reservoir Road, NW Washington, D.C., United States |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Private school |
| Established | 1967 |
| Head of school | Katherine Schantz |
| Faculty | 150+ |
| Enrollment | 350 |
| Mascot | Dragon |
| Information | (202) 965-6600 |
| Website | http://www.labschool.org/ |
Reservoir Campus: 4759 Reservoir Road, NW Washington, DC 20007
Foxhall Campus (Elementary Division): 1550 Foxhall Road NW
The Lab School of Washington is a small private school in Washington, D.C. for students with learning disabilities, established in 1967 by Sally Smith. Katherine Schantz has directed the school from 2009 to the present. The Lab School of Washington is currently being renovated and has plans to establish a new high school building by the Fall of 2016, as well as an expanded Theater and Arts Wing and a renovated Middle School.
Although the school was not officially incorporated until 1982, Lab School of Washington cites its founding date as 1967, when Sally Liberman Smith, faced with her son Gary's learning difficulties in school, began home schooling Gary and eventually started teaching other children faced with similar learning difficulties. At the time, Gary was a first-grader at Beauvoir elementary school who could not read and who struggled with simple math. Beginning with Gary and three other students, and originally as an extension of the Kingsbury Diagnostic Center, a testing, education and remediation facility dealing with learning difficulties and related issues, Smith started her own school to help children with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning differences. Borrowing ideas from the 19th century philosopher, psychologist, and education reformer John Dewey who championed progressive education, Smith also figured out through themed birthday parties that kids, even those like her son who had significant learning differences, could successfully learn through the arts.
Originally located at the Kingsbury Center on Bancroft Place, the school later moved to a small annex of the center on Phelps Place, where, in 1973, Smith designed the curriculum for the Lab School of Kingsbury Center's Junior High Program, and the school relocated to the current campus on Reservoir Road.
Incorporated as its own school in 1982, The Lab School of Washington is now an independent non-profit educational institution. its Board of Trustees headed by Ann Bradford Mathias.
The head of the school is Katherine Schantz. There are two campuses of the Lab School: the main campus, which houses the intermediate division, junior high and high school, is on Reservoir Road, while the elementary school campus is on Foxhall Road.
The school teaches students from first through twelfth grades who have moderate to high-level learning differences and average or above average I.Q. levels. These students can have challenges with reading, writing, spelling, and math as well as moderate executive functioning issues. Many of the academic subjects are taught through an arts-based curriculum, whether through the performing arts, dramatic arts, or visual arts, but there is also traditional work with textbooks and worksheets. In addition, all class sizes are smaller than those in public schools and in most private schools and are scaled according to the subject; this enables the teacher(s) to prepare lesson plans in order to meet the students’ academic learning styles and needs. More than 84 percent of Lab teachers have advanced degrees.
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