While both schools are located on LSU’s campus and affiliated with the College of Human Sciences & Education, they are separate schools with separate admissions policies. The LSU ECELP is not a direct feed into University Laboratory School.

Being a laboratory means that we are aligned with the Early Childhood Academic Programs in the School of Education, College of Human Sciences & Education. As part of the teaching mission of the university, you will see preservice students from early childhood education, and other disciplines, in our classrooms learning more about young children. We also host graduate students from early childhood and other disciplines who are interested in studying young children, conducting research in our classrooms. These practices ensure that we are not only in alignment with recommended practices, but that we are contributing to the knowledge base on best practices for young children’s education and development.

The Reggio-inspired philosophy is an approach to learning that cultivates a lifelong love of learning and supports a child’s natural curiosity through child led inquiry. Developmental skills are embedded in child-selected projects, which address holistic development across domains.

Information on tuition and fees can be found on our website by navigating here.

Tuition is required in order to maintain enrollment at the ECELP during any health exclusion period.

Applications for admission may be submitted to the ECELP at any time. Once an application is received, the child will be placed on the ECELP’s waiting list in order of postmark. The admission decisions are made annually in March.  Applications will be considered in order of priority only after the current waiting list has been exhausted and to the extent that any vacancies remain for the upcoming Program Year. Your application is not complete until we receive your registration fee. Applications without registration fee can only be held for 30 days.

Once admission decisions are made, the ECELP will begin notifying parents whose child(ren) has been accepted for enrollment for the upcoming Program Year. Parents must respond within 72 hours of being contacted. If no response is received, the spot will be offered to the next child on the waiting list, in order of priority. It is the Parents’ responsibility to keep their application up-to-date with their current email address and phone number. Additionally, if a child’s parents fail to respond to two separate, consecutive enrollment offers, the child’s application will be removed from the waiting list. 

Parents may decline the spot offered and remain on the waiting list for the next program year or enrollment opportunity. However, after two declines, the application will be removed from the waiting list. 

If a child’s application is not accepted for the upcoming program year, the application remains on file until the child is either placed, parents request that the application be removed or the application is removed for the reasons stated above.

We are proud to be one of only 5 early childhood programs accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children in the Greater Baton Rouge areas and only 1 of 22 accredited program in Louisiana.

A typical day at the ECELP includes indoor exploration in classroom centers designed to facilitate developmentally appropriate skills, active outdoor play time and planned activities based on child interest. Meals are served ‘family style’ with a focus on social interaction, communication and development of self-help skills.

All families have a personal code to enter the building. Every family member has a unique code to access the additional entry doors to access either the infant/toddler or preschool side of the building.. All personnel who have access to the classrooms have a Child Care Criminal Background Check.

As a NAEYC Accredited center, our classrooms are staffed at lower child to teacher ratios and maximum group sizes than required by the state. You can find our Teacher to Child Ratios on our website.

Louisiana requires an Early Childhood Ancillary certificate to be a lead teacher in a child care center. All teachers at the ECELP have this credential; our lead teachers exceed this requirement. Our teachers’ educational requirements can be found on our website.

Students who observe at the ECELP are conducting observations as part of their academic program. Student workers receive the same orientation and training as our regular staff.

Our kitchen staff that prepare meals and snacks are careful to keep children who have food allergies safe.

Parents are welcome to visit their child’s classroom; we have an open door policy.

Our hours are 7:15 a.m. – 5:15 p.m., Monday - Friday.

We are a year round program, but close for university holidays and have scheduled days designated for staff professional development. View our program calendar by clicking here.

The school year begins in August; children stay with their teacher for the school year.

Children transition to new classrooms each August; however, if children move during the year, we will offer the spot to a child on our waiting list.

Tours are conducted weekly on Thursdays. Tours can be scheduled through our website.

Children should arrive prior to 9:00 a.m., unless they have doctor or therapy appointments. This ensures children have time to eat breakfast and settle into the classroom prior to the beginning of the day's activity.