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The Global Division

Access our unique, highly specialized approach to learning from anywhere around the globe!

Online school designed for students eight to fourteen years old with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and other mild to moderate language-based learning needs.

For an overview of the Global Division, watch this video:

The Global Division provides daily synchronous online learning that prepares students with language-based learning differences, such as dyslexia, to thrive.

Students learn both the academic and the self-advocacy skills needed to improve their academic performance by engaging in daily classes — each held for an hour — in the core areas of reading, math, and writing and weekly classes in the elective areas of science, social studies, and visual art.

We know that students take academic risks when they feel supported. We greatly value the personal relationships that develop among teachers and classmates and, our skilled teachers, with their small-group classes, ensure that these relationships are an integral part of the online learning experience.

The Global Division is divided into two “schools”:

  • The Lower School for ages 8-11 (roughly grades 3rd-5th)
  • The Middle School for ages 11-14 (roughly grades 6th – 8th)

Students work synchronously with a skilled and experienced teacher.

  • Core academic classes, Reading, Writing, and Math, meet daily for sixty minutes each
  • Students are placed in small groups to allow for individualized instruction while providing a sense of belonging in a online environment
  • Focused on the development a toolbox of technology skills and self-advocacy strategies to enhance success in any educational setting
  • Electives classes, History, Science, Visual Art, and Academic Club, are offered and meet synchronously several times a week depending on the class

Students in our Lower School may choose to take classes in Reading, Writing, Math, and Academic Club

Students in our Middle School may choose to take classes in Reading, Writing, Math, History, Science, and Visual Art

Students who enroll in a full course load receive their transcript from Lab School. Enrollment in Reading, Writing, Math, and Academic Club is considered a full course load for our Lower School students. Enrollment in Reading, Writing, Math, History, Science, and Visual Art is considered a full course load for our Middle School students.

Global student

Student Groups

  • Small group instruction to create a collaborative online learning environment
  • Typical group size Lower School: 2 to 4 students; Middle School: 4 to 6 students
  • Match instruction to each individual student’s need
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Teaching Faculty

  • Experienced, creative, and well-trained teaching faculty
  • Utilize a strengths-based approach to learning
  • Lead our learning community to ensure all students find academic success and a sense of belonging
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Measuring Progress

  • Daily formative assessments are used to guide instruction; summative assessments used to track student growth
  • Use of learning competencies to track progress 
  • Face-to-face conferences (via our online platform) three times per school year

"Our daughter has absolutely thrived in The Lab School's online learning platform; Lab's engaging and tailored curriculum has brought many amazing options to her academic life. Every single member of The Lab School has gone above and beyond to make her online learning experience inclusive. For work, we needed to leave the DC area and were devastated at the thought of leaving Lab. Being able to stay with Lab, while simultaneously engaging in extracurricular activities at our local school, is a dream come true. Our daughter has the absolute best of both worlds and could not be happier.” —    a parent of one of our online learners

 

The Global Division: Beyond Class Time 
 

Students outside
  • Bi-weekly one-on-one coaching sessions to help our students stay on track while online, to help ensure each student’s unique needs are being met, and to help them begin to learn self-advocacy skills
  • Optional in person meet ups throughout the school year allowing students and parents the opportunity to hang out together in a fun, relaxed environment
  • Annual in-person events such as our Destination Imagination competition in Baltimore each spring and our family “Return to the Nest” retreat at the Lab School in Washington DC each August allow our students to participate in team building activities and help to enhance their sense of community