Appalachian State University is the only UNC System institution to operate two of the System’s nine lab schools — the App State Academy at Middle Fork and the App State Academy at Elkin.
The Academy at Middle Fork opened in August 2018 in collaboration with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. The school serves approximately 274 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
The Academy at Middle Fork is a literacy-focused lab school that uses a workshop approach to improve and enrich literacy via immersive reading and writing instruction.
Students are actively engaged in adaptive, guided, small group instruction in which teachers model effective reading and writing strategies. They have the opportunity to read a wide variety of texts featuring identifiable characters and themes and to participate in literacy-based activities.
The Academy at Elkin opened in August 2022 in partnership with Elkin City Schools. The “school within a school” serves approximately 100 students in second through fourth grades at Elkin Elementary School.
The Academy at Elkin is a learner-centered community that promotes exploration-based learning.
Students are encouraged to think deeply and critically about learning that is meaningful and relevant to their cultures, lives, and futures.
The Academy at Elkin is committed to providing an inclusive, welcoming, and learner-centered environment focused on the whole person. The school empowers its learning community to ask questions, explore their curiosities, make connections, and develop skills for lifelong learning.
UNC System lab schools are designed to provide enhanced educational programming to improve student performance and to plan demonstration sites for the preparation of future teachers and school administrators.
Lab schools are a partnership between the UNC System, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, a UNC university that has a strong educator preparation program, and a local school district. Lab schools operate for a minimum of five years.
Lab schools were mandated by the state legislature and executed by the UNC Board of Governors in compliance with North Carolina House Bill 1030. Governance and operation legislation was modified in North Carolina House Bill 532.
Lab schools are granted the flexibility to be innovative. They are designed to propose solutions to current educational challenges that improve educational outcomes for students.
The core values of App State’s lab schools — Honesty, Integrity, Kindness and Excellence (HIKE) — promote a positive school culture and behavior support system.
Students, also known as mini-Mountaineers, work individually and collaboratively to demonstrate these values. Restorative meetings centered on community development and building relationships help to resolve conflicts and encourage students and teachers to learn together.
App State provides enhanced educational programming to lab school staff and students and serves as the schools' "central office":