Community Lab School presents project‑based expansion, lottery admissions and IB capstone to Albemarle school board
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Summary
Community Lab School leaders briefed the board on their project‑based, interdisciplinary model, recent expansion to grades 9–10, International Baccalaureate capstone, admissions lottery process and plans to pilot mastery transcript features.
Community Lab School leaders presented a detailed update to the Albemarle County School Board on May 20 outlining their project‑based instructional model, admissions process and curriculum developments across grades 6–12.
Principal Chad Ratliff and staff described the school’s five instructional principles—project‑based learning, interdisciplinary units, standards‑based grading, multi‑age classrooms and collective leadership—and explained how those components operate together across middle and high school cohorts. School leaders said sixth through eighth graders use an advisory, extended morning project blocks, self‑paced math, and electives; ninth‑ and tenth‑grade students work in interdisciplinary project teams that combine government, biology, English, design thinking and freshman seminar. Eleventh and twelfth grades use International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum as a capstone.
Staff described recent project examples: a middle‑school entrepreneurship unit that produced business plans and Shark‑Tank style pitches, and a 9–10 advocacy project with documentary, visual, speech and expert‑interview deliverables. The school partners with the University of Virginia on research and invited UVA guests and local entrepreneurs to participate in student assessments.
Admissions are run as a true lottery per state law, the presentation said: the school markets via county emails, classroom visits and open information sessions; applications are submitted through PowerSchool enrollment; lotteries occur in February with results released in March; admitted students are offered a shadow/admitted‑student day and paired with a current student. The school keeps a numbered waiting list and admits from it if space becomes available.
Leaders said Community Lab is exploring mastery‑based recordkeeping and greater dissemination of practices during the coming years, including a planned launch of a mastery learning record and eventual consideration of a mastery transcript. Panorama and SOL results were presented as part of their self‑evaluation; staff reported generally strong student outcomes and positive teacher and family survey results.
Board members asked about retention between grade bands and demographic representation; presenters said about half of students historically leave after eighth grade but that retention into high school has increased recently. They said the school’s demographics generally approximate district distributions with somewhat lower Black student representation and higher representation of students with disabilities. The board did not take any formal action during the presentation.