New Lab School Funding Approved: NOVA, George Mason & LCPS Partner for ACCESS Academy

The Virginia Board of Education recently approved funding for six more lab schools around the state, including Northern Virginia’s new ACCESS Academy. The Accelerated College and Employability Skills (ACCESS) Academy is a strategic collaboration among NOVA, George Mason University and Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS).

Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera sees lab schools, which represent unique partnerships between higher education institutions and K-12 schools, as the future of education. The state’s lab schools aim to provide innovative, high-quality educational experiences that prepare students for the careers of tomorrow.

More specifically, ACCESS Academy is dedicated to providing students from historically marginalized and underserved populations with more pathways to transition from high school to college and into well-paying, high-demand careers. The initiative, supported by three Northern Virginia educational behemoths, is about empowering and preparing students in our region for bright futures and family-sustaining employment.

On the College’s involvement in ACCESS Academy, NOVA Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer Eun-Woo Chang shared the following: “NOVA is excited to join this partnership to help students develop employability skills through an innovative curriculum that leverages our extensive dual enrollment program with high schools in the Northern Virginia region, especially with LCPS. Students will be immersed in activities designed to cultivate essential skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration and research.”

Dr. Chang added that ACCESS Academy will be located at NOVA’s Loudoun Campus for its first year. After that, the lab school will permanently relocate to an LCPS high school.

The ACCESS Academy grant totals $4M+ across the next five years, at which point it is hoped that the lab school will have achieved financial self-sustainability.

The recent funding approval follows Governor Glenn Youngkin’s formal decision in January 2022 to support the establishment of K-12 lab schools by Virginia’s colleges.

Click here to read the full press release on ACCESS Academy.

Submitted by:
Kathy Parkinson, PIO, KParkinson@nvcc.edu