Star Lab chosen by The Drexel Fund

The Drexel Fund announces Star Lab as one of its chosen schools for its 23-24 portfolio. Launched in 2015, The Drexel Fund is a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund that seeds new school models, scales networks of existing schools with a track record of academic and operational excellence, and strengthens the educational ecosystems needed to create the market conditions necessary for new private schools serving low-income students to thrive. 

Star Lab's founder, Alison Rini, has been a teacher and school leader for over 20 years. Along with her partner, Mydahlia Glover, she plans to combine Montessori learning principles and a mastery-based model to create Star Lab. In this context, “mastery-based” refers to a system whereby a student advances to the next lesson once they have demonstrated mastery of a learning unit, skill, or concept. When implemented well, the system gives teachers more flexibility to teach and coach students individually. Alison was also selected as a fellow by 4.0 Schools, a new-school incubator focused on community-centered education innovation. Star Lab will be located in Newtown, a historic Black community within Sarasota.