The school was founded as the
laboratory school to the Teacher's College at the University of Hawaiʻi and dates back to 1895 when a teacher training department was formed at
Honolulu High School, located in
Princess Ruth's
former mansion. Between 1939 and 1941, an elementary school was built to give elementary and pre-school education students hands-on experience. A permanent building for this purpose, Castle Memorial Hall, was constructed at this time. It was a gift from Mary and Samuel Castle, who was one of the founders of
Castle & Cooke. Punahou School occupied Castle Memorial Hall and other buildings at the college during World War II (1942–1945). However, the college continued to operate. Buildings for the high school were constructed after the war, with University High School Building 1 opening in 1943 and University High School Building 2 opening in 1948. University High School Building 3 opened in 1957. The Multipurpose Building opened in 1963, and the school graduated its first high school class in 1951. In 1966, the school's focus changed to testing a curriculum developed by the college for use in the
Hawai'i Public School system under what is now called the Curriculum Research and Development Group (CRDG). Since this time, admission to the school is based on creating a cross-section of the state's socio-economic groups to meet the needs of the testing of the curriculum materials. Over the years, CRDG increased its marketing area of the materials they develop across the United States and then internationally. The university stopped funding the school in 1999 due to major budget cuts from the state of Hawai'i in the university's budget. Alumni and friends raised enough money to cover the loss of revenue for two years. In 2001, the University Laboratory School became the charter school Education Laboratory School. The
Hawai'i State Department of Education now contracts the CRDG to run the school, and the university allows the use of campus facilities in exchange for its use to test CRDG materials. ==Notable alumni==