Located in downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School (LAB) was founded as a middle school in 2014 to give outstanding teachers access to the technology needed to personalize learning for all students. In 2016, the school’s founders entered the XQ Super School Challenge to bring their full vision for LAB to life by adding a rigorous college-preparatory high school. Its goal is to give all learners an academic foundation built on research, reasoning, data and digital literacy, and the leadership skills they need to succeed in college and professionally.

Brooklyn LAB has a greater share of students with special needs than the average for New York City public schools, whether district or charter. Its strong mission and culture focus on ensuring all students graduate ready for college and careers. Strong teacher development is built into every aspect of Brooklyn LAB—from its hiring process to its master schedule. The school’s Advanced Placement for All approach means teachers view all learners as capable of meeting rigorous academic standards, and all students have access to increased rigor and college-level academics.

Brooklyn LAB High School serves about 560 students. Its leaders are committed to hiring a teaching staff that mirrors their student population. Teachers work to form personal relationships with students to provide stability and gain a better understanding of how to serve their students’ needs. 

The school’s experience serving complex learners with personalized instruction led other schools to seek the advice of its educators on how to support students with disabilities during the pandemic. In response, Brooklyn LAB joined five other partners in creating the Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA)—unveiling a digital hub and online community for schools and districts to join webinars, access professional development resources, and more. Since then, EALA has continued to grow with the support of disability rights advocates, nonprofit education organizations, and parents.

Student Outcomes

In 2022, Brooklyn Lab graduated almost 95 percent of its 99 seniors in four years. This compares to a four-year graduation rate of 83.7 percent in the New York City Public Schools, 72.2 percent for New York City charter schools, and 87 percent statewide. 

According to XQ’s Senior Survey for the class of 2022, nearly eight in ten Brooklyn LAB 12th graders said they felt at least somewhat prepared for the future (79 percent). Of those students, two in three (65 percent) said they had developed creativity and problem-solving skills during high school that made them feel prepared for the future.

When asked which aspects of Brooklyn LAB had helped them achieve their goals, two answers stood out for the school’s 12th graders: “lets me work at my own pace until I truly master the things I need to learn” (56 percent) and “opportunities for students to play leadership roles” (46 percent).