UCLA Lab School

Educating Los Angeles’ Bright Young Minds

You can find graduates of the UCLA Lab School excelling in every walk of life, from actors like Leonardo DiCaprio to educators like former Harvard University President Derek Bok and even in the Los Angeles mayor’s office.

Like many accomplished Angelenos, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti attended the elementary school on the UCLA campus — which then was known as the Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School — and graduated in 1984.

“UCLA Lab School fundamentally set me on a course that changed my life,” he says. “It taught me global history and helped me to understand the city of my birth and cultures and traditions far afield. … These lessons helped me to know myself and to embrace the world around me.”

As DiCaprio described the school in a January 2014 Los Angeles Times article: “It was like this little Garden of Eden. There was a park, and kids were playing in the sunshine, and everything was multicultural, everything was peaceful, every religion and race and attitude was respected equally.”

Part of the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, the UCLA Lab School is an innovative school for children ages 4–12. Teachers encourage children’s natural love of learning while also helping them develop a disciplined approach to their work. At the same time, classrooms and meeting spaces serve as a laboratory for exploring new ideas about teaching, learning and child development. The UCLA Lab School shares the results of these studies through collaborations with educators from other schools, through conferences, workshops and site visits, and in print publications and other media.

The UCLA Lab School relies on private contributions to maintain the excellence of its programs and keep tuition affordable for families. Tuition covers only 60 percent of the school’s annual operating costs, but the UCLA Lab School is able to generate another 35 percent from generous donors.