The Education InnovationsLAB Charter School - COMING IN FALL 2007

The mission of The Education InnovationsLAB Charter School is to create a nurturing environment where students and teachers connect to the community through a rigorous, integrative program of studies that focuses on creative problem solving and critical thinking.

Charter Update
On Tuesday 2 October, the Pennsylvania Charter Appeal Board finally heard our appeal in Harrisburg, more than a year after the
application was denied by the Pittsburgh School District.  Above all, the process is a political one and we do not hold much hope that
we will win our appeal.  The Pittsburgh School District has many friends in Pittsburgh and in Harrisburg.  We cannot say the same
for the students that are failed by the current system. 

We feel we have designed a powerful school, so we will not let the ideas die at the
hand of the District.  In denying our application, the District has claimed that our program can already be found in the District.  For this
reason, we will be focusing our programming outside of the city.  We would like to thank the over 50 people who contributed to the wild ride we've had the last
3 years and wish you luck as you fight for better education choices in the city.

For students in grades K-12, the school will provide a program that ensures the mastery of required content in the major subject areas. Further, through the InnovationsLAB curriculum, students will utilize project-based learning so that they can realize their talents and abilities and the ways in which their acquired skills can be used to serve their communities and make the world a better place. We believe that students should not only be able to function at a high level when they leave high school, they must also be able to contribute to betterment of their communities, create structures that improve the life of their community, and provide leadership in their community. That contributing, creating, and leading cannot wait to happen after high school but must start as a integral part of each child’s education. To carry out our mission, we have developed an infrastructure for rigorous learning for all our students: A n integrated core set of skills in a project-based, multidisciplinary environment that involves strong and constant collaborations with other students; I nnovative learning environment Broad and deep specializations that prepare student for life beyond the classroom; Financial, entrepreneurial, and job-readiness skills connected to academic goals; Deep community relationships through on-going community learning and service projects connected to academic goals Local, direct learning of issues of race, gender, class, economics, and community to understand the world writ-large; We are accepting applications from students, teachers, and perspective partners.		Partners, Curriculum, and Service Providers  We are pleased to be working with or using products and services from the following organizations: Total Learning Centers - to manage the special education programs and professional development for teachers on providing individualized instruction in the classroom. Educating America - to provide Destination Success, our primary curriculum for Language Arts, Math, and Science. American Reading Company - to implement the 100 Book Challenge and the Curriculum Integration Project. Free Ride! - to teach kids in the 5th Grade DesignLAB the physics of movement and how to fix bikes. CMU School of Architecture - to tailor their outreach programs for the DesignLAB studens Wolf Consulting - to manage the IT aspects of the school
		A big THANKS! to our supporters Over 25 teachers, parents, educators, and community members joined in designing the eiLAB CS program 163 children have been enrolled in the school (K-7) 8 teachers have signed on to teach State Representative Jake Wheatley City Councilman Bill Peduto Pittsburgh City Council Proclamation East Liberty Chamber of Commerce East Liberty Development, Inc. Total Learning Centers Educating America Free Ride! Wolf Consulting

Background
Education Innovations, Inc. is in the process of seeking a charter from the Pittsburgh School District to open the Education InnovationsLAB Charter School. The school, eiLAB for short, will usher in a new model for public education in Pittsburgh. Our model, a even mix of high/low technology, applied/theoretical understanding, community/world participation, book/project learning, and desk/active learning, will offer a seamless transition K-12.

We originally submitted our application to the District in November 2005. They subsequently denied our applicaiton in February 2006. We resubmitted our application in May 2006, only to find out 35 days later that the District did not intend to accept it and provided a format acceptable to them. Rather than test the waters on the District's tactics, we chose to re-resubmit our application within a week of their correspondence. The District again denied our application in August 2006.

Two days after this last denial, we started collecting the 1,000 signatures needed according to PA Charter Law to appeal the District's denial. On 2 October, we submitted the 1600-strong petition for our appeal. Please visit this page in the future to see the progress of our appeal.

People ask a variety of questions about eiLAB. Rather than try to answer each one out of context, we are designing a comprehensive site that will explain the school, from the reasons we believe eiLAB is necessary for Pittsburgh, how we are trying to close the gap between what is taught in schools of education as best practices and how our schools teach children, why we believe that daily work in the community is a necessary part of our school, and how our children's community involvement will not only help them turn around our inner-city neighborhoods but have an enlightened understanding of their role in our world.