"The history of the Lab Schools parallels that of the University's since 1857. They started as one. They continue as one and teacher education is the reason why the two histories are so closely intertwined. The fact of the matter is that in the Lab Schools we provide 45-50,000 hours of clinical experiences for student teachers each year. To put that in perspective, that is one-third of all the pre-student teaching clinical hours that occur across 18 academic programs in this department. It takes 450 other schools and public agencies to take care of the other two thirds.
"So the scope here is large, you have two buildings, a pre-K through grade eight school, Thomas Metcalf School, a nine to 12 school, University High School, providing placements for anywhere from 750 to 1,000 university students each semester.
"That's really the story. That's really what was intended by Charles Hovey, who first started these schools in 1857. He was the one that thought from the very beginning that there ought to be a practice component, not just a theoretical one to preparing teachers. So for 146 years, the Lab Schools have been about that business. It's very unique here in Illinois, but it's unique all across the country in that these schools are one of the largest lab schools remaining anywhere. There aren't many left and that's unfortunate given the scale of economy I think that we provide to this university."
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