UNI's Price Lab School named one of five new 'First Amendment Schools' in United States

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The University of Northern Iowa's Malcolm Price Laboratory School is one of five schools selected from a national pool of candidates to become a First Amendment Project School. It will receive a $10,000 stipend from the First Amendment Schools initiative, a multiyear reform effort of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and the First Amendment Center designed to transform how all schools practice and teach the rights and responsibilities of the First Amendment.

Price Lab School will join the project's national network of nearly 90 project and affiliate schools --a diverse group of elementary, middle, and high schools serving urban, suburban, and rural communities -- that are working to integrate First Amendment rights and civic responsibilities into the daily lives of their schools.


"We see Price Lab School as a crucial anchor for this work nationally, both because of its ability to reach hundreds of future teachers as a lab school, and because of its outstanding history as a model school in the region. We believe Price Lab will become a true laboratory of democratic freedom, and a place where people from around the country can see first-hand what's possible when a school commits to educate all members of its community about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy," said Sam Chaltain, coordinator of the First Amendment Schools project.


"All of the First Amendment schools are committed to upholding the democratic and public mission of schooling in America, to providing their students with an apprenticeship in freedom and responsibility," said Gene Carter, ASCD executive director.

Other schools joining the program are Bronx Preparatory School, Bronx, N.Y.; Red Mesa High School, Teec Nos Pos, Ariz.; Goodyear Middle School, Akron, Ohio; and Northport Pathway, Northport, N.Y.

"Malcolm Price Laboratory School provides care and excellence through comprehensive early childhood through post-secondary educational programs advancing learning, scholarship, partnerships and innovation," said Jeffrey Cornett, dean of the UNI College of Education. "The school serves as an integral component of the University of Northern Iowa's teacher education program. It's faculty and staff engage in scholarly work and service to advance teaching practices and provide resources for teachers in Iowa and beyond."