#928: The Innovation Hub: A Laboratory School Model to Provide Equitable Computational Experiences for Middle School Youth

This design paper describes the University of Virginia Innovation Hub, a laboratory school that is based upon a research-practice partnership (RPP) between the University of Virginia and Charlottesville City Schools. The Innovation Hub is committed to providing computationally-rich, community-driven, and project-based instruction to every middle school student in the school division. Instead of pulling students out of existing schools to form a separate laboratory school, the Innovation Hub uses a push-in model to provide experiences for all students across grade levels in a school district. Using principles of effective design-based implementation research as guiding principles, this paper describes the history of the RPP, the iterative refinement of the Innovation Hub, as well as current and future directions of the effort.