The Efficacy of The Lab School Approach

A grant from the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities (ACLD) has underwritten the first research study examining the efficacy of the Academic Club Method; the results were shared at the March 2005 Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) National Conference in Reno, Nevada.

This study reviewed the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-educational Battery – Revised Test of Achievement scores of 514 Lab School students over a five-year period. Students who entered the Lab School in the early grades and participated in the Academic Club curriculum were compared to students who entered Lab in the secondary program and had been instructed up until that time by more traditional methods. Those students, who completed the Academic Club curriculum, showed significantly higher scores on the standardized Woodcock-Johnson Knowledge Cluster subtests (social studies, humanities and science) than those who had not participated in Academic Clubs. This, despite the fact that students who enrolled in this full time special education placement at a younger age presumably have more severe learning
disabilities than those who entered later.

Download The Efficacy of The Lab School Approach (Powerpoint)