4 minute read
ULL to offer new Laboratory School experience
written by Sara Exner Whittaker '00
Dr. Nathan Roberts '80, under the oaks of LSU and the University Laboratory School on the Baton Rouge campus.
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A quote from his grandfather, E. B. “Ted” Robert, serves as daily inspiration for Dr. Nathan Roberts
A little less than 60 miles southwest of the LSU Laboratory School, a U-High alumnus is bringing a lifetime of experience to an exciting new project: restarting a long-shuttered laboratory school near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s campus. Nathan Roberts, Ph.D., JD, is dean of the UL Lafayette College of Education, a 1980 graduate of ULS, and an avid believer in the importance of laboratory schools.
Dr. Roberts '80 sits by the building where his grandfather's name is displayed on the University Laboratory School's auditorium. The quote above from his grandfather's desk gives him daily inspiration.
Roberts sees laboratory schools as changemakers and proving grounds for innovative teaching methods that elevate the K-12 experience for both students and teachers. Pointing to the Louisiana Legislature’s unanimous approval of the proposed tuition funding model and parents’ and teachers’ eagerness to apply, Roberts contended, “That’s the reputation of a lab school. Everyone wants to be a part of it.”
In considering the role of a lab school in the broader community, Roberts envisions forming a “community school” where teachers team with sister schools. Research projects originating from the school will happen in tandem with sister schools, yielding more powerful results by extending findings to include 1,500 students throughout the region. Similarly, teachers from sister schools will do short-term sabbaticals at the lab school. He explained, “We will bring our sister schools in to learn it first, then they go back to their district to teach the other people in their district.”
Roberts’s commitment to transforming education runs generations deep. His maternal grandfather, the late E. B. “Ted” Robert, was dean of the LSU College of Human Sciences & Education from 1940-64 and made several ULS renovations possible, including the auditorium, named in his honor. Robert’s impact on the college also lives on through an eponymous endowed professorship held by the dean. It was established by Roberts’s mother, the late Helen Robert Roberts, 17 years ago in memory of her father.
Three generations of Robert’s family have graduated from ULS so far, including Roberts and all three of his siblings. For Roberts, who “walked across the street” to earn his bachelor’s degree, Juris Doctor, and Doctor of Philosophy from LSU, an academic experience that started as a first-grader at ULS (before the school offered kindergarten) would span 25 years on campus. While commuting from Lafayette, La., to Baton Rouge to earn his Ph.D., Roberts found himself drawn to “the education side of the legal practice.” He was working in the Lafayette District Attorney’s office at the time, representing the School Board. “They took me to see every school in the parish so I would understand how to represent them. With rezonings, you would see parents fighting to get their children to go to the school they wanted, because it was the future of their child.”
Dr. Roberts touring the ULL campus with a future Rajun' Cajun, his granddaughter.
Given this up-close look at schools in his district, coupled with his personal experience at ULS, Roberts was hooked. By chance, UL Lafayette had a short-term need for an instructor to teach school law; Roberts stepped in and never looked back, soon accepting a permanent position. Having now risen to the role of dean of the College of Education, Roberts’s daily work is focused on strengthening the education model to attract and retain great teachers and support every student in Lafayette, with a ripple effect that extends statewide.
With the framework for UL Lafayette’s lab school established, financial support for the building is the only thing standing in the way, and Roberts is working to demonstrate to his community that investing in a lab school has long-term benefits for everyone.
For him, there is no mission more personal or important than education. “It’s what every parent wants for their child. It’s what drives businesses to come to your area. You have great kids who can’t go to college because they didn’t have teachers who could prepare them for college. The teacher crisis is pulling the state further and further down when it needs to be the part that’s lifting us up.”
Recalling his time at ULS, Roberts remembered, “I certainly had some outstanding teachers, and what I remember about the student teachers is they were pretty influential because of the skill and ability they had.” He sees that same passion reflected now in his work with educators. “When you work with teachers, they all believe they can make a difference. That’s the invigorating part.”
Roberts is also motivated to positively influence the nature of the classroom experience. In planning for UL Lafayette’s lab school, he has drawn heavily on his alma mater—which he said “is one of the best schools in the state”— as a model, and hopes to replicate many of its successful programs. He explained, “We have to make teaching fun for the teacher again, as well as the student. That’s what school needs to be like.”
