Dear Fifth-Grade and Eighth-Grade Students and Families:

One of our school division’s strengths is the range of educational choices we offer all of our students, allowing you to make the best decisions for the future. We want our students and their families to be excited about the opportunities that await them and to find a sense of belonging in a supportive school environment.

We hope one option you will consider is Community Lab School (CLS), a specialty program open to Albemarle County Public Schools students in grades 6-12 who live in Albemarle County.

CLS promotes creativity and intellectual curiosity through an interdisciplinary, project-based, and experiential learning approach. Students are graded on content mastery rather than traditional letter grades. CLS often collaborates with the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development and other organizations to design and pilot innovative approaches to learning. We share many of these experiences with schools both inside and outside of our division. The CLS experience culminates in the 11th and 12th grades with the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme, renowned for its intellectual rigor and comprehensive educational approach. Additionally, CLS is a member of Mastery Transcript Consortium, a collective of private and public high schools organized around the development and dissemination of an alternative model of assessment, crediting, and transcript generation.

Admission to CLS is lottery-based. To apply, simply complete the online General Information Form for 2025-26 Admission found on our Admissions web page by 5 p.m. on February 28, 2025. The application will open on Friday, December 6.

For more information about CLS and the lottery admissions process, we encourage you to attend an upcoming virtual information session:

• Tuesday, December 10, from 2 to 3 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 15, from 10 to 11 a.m.
• Thursday, February 20, from 6 to 7 p.m.

Please click here to register for an information session. We will provide you with a Zoom link on the day of the meeting you select!

You can also learn more about the CLS admissions process and timeline by visiting Community Lab School’s Admissions page. If you have any questions, please contact your current school counselor or email us at CLSadmissions@k12albemarle.org.