This summer was one of progress and change at the Union County Academy for Performing Arts (APA), with program administrator Scott Rubin moving on to East Hanover School District and supervisor Kelly Douglas-Jackson taking over in his place. In spite of turnover at the top of this innovative program, Ms. Douglas-Jackson reported that APA has only gotten stronger from last year, when it earned our Excellence in Action award for the Arts, A/V Technology and Communications Career Cluster®.
Deepening its partnership with Kean University, which sees APA students spend their entire senior year attending college courses while earning full credit toward their high school diploma, APA students amassed over 1,500 credit hours at Kean with 3.4 collective GPA. APA was also ranked as one of the top high schools in America by Newsweek.
APA also has set a course for expansion, inviting more industry professionals to the school to teach master classes and will add a Technical Theatre program including, scenic design, lighting design, sound design, and costume design. The new major will coincide with another bump in enrollment putting the program at its highest enrollment in its six-year history.
Continuing with their tradition of extremely high postsecondary placement, APA recorded a 100 percent graduation rate and a 100% postsecondary placement rate in the 2013-2014 school year. Check out all the details of APA’s Excellence in Action award here. Also, keep an eye on the Learning that Works Blog for the opening of Excellence in Action application period this fall!