Academics Versus Service In Child Development Laboratory Schools Complementary And Competing Pressures

University-based child development laboratory schools for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers have a long and rich history. Since their inception in the mid-1920s they have played a vital role in adding to our ever expanding knowledge base on child development and early childhood education. In recent years, many lab school programs have shifted from providing traditional half-day preschool classes to offering full-day child care programs, while at the same time maintaining the teacher training and research functions associated with lab schools. Although offering full-day child care classes has expanded opportunities for lab schools to facilitate teacher training and research activities, it has also brought on many challenges not faced when working with halfday preschool classes. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of these unique challenges, as well as a discussion of possible strategies which lab school programs can implement in order to overcome such challenges.