History
University of Illinois Laboratory High School officially opened in 1921, and we are looking forward to our second century of innovations in learning, collaboration with colleagues worldwide, and impact on the world of education.
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1876: The Beginning
Preparatory School Established
- Located in University Hall basement
- One-year college prep program
- Students age 15+
- Foundation of Uni’s laboratory tradition
1890–1911: Transition & Reorganization
From Preparatory School to Academy
- Trustees consider elimination
- Renamed Academy of the University of Illinois
- Discontinued in 1911
- Proposal for a laboratory high school emerges
1913–1918: Building the Future
Construction of the Laboratory School
- Land purchased (1913)
- West wing approved (1916)
- Completed (1918)
- Temporarily used as WWI military hospital
1921: Uni High Opens
- 63 students, 14 faculty
- Tuition: $25 per semester
- Served as both college-prep high school and teacher-training lab
1932–1945: Program Expansion
Junior High & Experimental Programs
- Subfreshman (7th–8th grade) added
- Special Freshman Class
- Directed Study & remedial programs
- Strong extracurricular growth
1940s: Facility Challenges
- Criticism of inadequate building
- Ambitious expansion proposals (never realized)
- Kenney Gym later assigned to Uni
1943–1957: Modernization Era
- Academic and extracurricular growth
- Athletic expansion (including football)
- Postwar innovation groundwork
1957–1966: “Golden Era”
- National demonstration center
- Birthplace of “The New Math”
- Russian added to curriculum
- Major curriculum experimentation
1983: Public Laboratory School Status
- Financial crisis nearly closes school
- Illinois State Board of Education funding approved
- Uni becomes a publicly funded laboratory school
1980s–2000s: Innovation Continues
- Japanese (1980s) & Spanish (1995) added
- Mathematica curriculum leadership
- National teaching awards
- Traditions: Handprints & Agora Days
Today’s Uni
- ~325 students in grades 8-12
- Tuition-free public school
- Strong diversity commitment
Alumni Legacy
- 3 Nobel Prize winners
- Pulitzer Prize winner
- Authors, scientists, civic leaders
- National academic honors