"A Laboratory of Learning": Alabama State Teachers College Laboratory High School

• In Event: "Schools of Tomorrow," Schools of Today Revisited: Lessons From Five Historically Progressive Schools

Abstract

1. Objectives: Led by progressive educators, Alabama State Teachers College Laboratory High School came into its own in the 1920s, offering a privileged education to its students and preparing college-ready graduates for almost fifty years. Situated in Montgomery, Alabama, the world in which the laboratory high school progressed was challenging. This paper provides a history of the school, its founder and leaders and how the school maintained an elite secondary for African American students in the South.

2. Perspectives: This paper uses the perspective summarized in the Paedagogica Historica special issue on ISCHE 30, which argues for the use of both historical and sociological analyses to examine education and inequality. The paper provides a sociological analysis of the history of the school through an examination of the evolution of its curriculum and pedagogy, its changes and leadership, its problems with sustainability and its effectiveness in serving a diverse student population.

3. Methods: The paper uses historical methods, including archival research and document analysis and interviews.

4. Data sources: The paper analyzes archival documents, including memos, letters, newspapers, and planning documents and interviews.

5. Conclusions: Alabama State College Laboratory High School was the first Black public high school in Alabama to be reviewed by SACS and earn a “Class A” accreditation. It was one of the sixteen schools from the Southern region of seventeen states to be selected to participate in the Secondary School Study for Negroes. Lab High served its mission to educate at the highest level and inspire emulation and achievement. Expectations were high, not only to do well academically, but to commit to making a difference in society. Its graduates entered colleges and universities, the vast majority earning degrees and becoming professional educators, doctors, lawyers, or business professionals. The history of Alabama State College Laboratory High School contradicts the myriad articles that appeared about the “sad” condition of Black secondary education. The work of progressive educator H. Councill Trenholm in advancing Black education was recognized by scholars of the period and in retrospect as “magnificent” which deserved “not only the thanks of the citizens of Alabama, but those of the nation as well.”

6. Significance: The paper provides an important contribution to the literature on the history of progressive education through the analysis of a historically black laboratory school, one that has been absent from the literature.

Author

• Sharon Gay Pierson, Ramapo College of New Jersey