College Park Academy (commonly CPA) is a

college preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...

middle and high school located in

Riverdale Park, Maryland Riverdale Park, formerly known and often referred to as Riverdale, is a semi-urban town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, a suburb in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 6,955 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. T ...

, United States. The school is a joint collaboration project with the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

. This will provide benefits such as interaction with college students and allow students to take

classes.

History

Established in 2013 as the first online blended learning school in

Prince George's County Public Schools Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) is a large public school district administered by the government of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is overseen by the Maryland State Department of Education. The school system is ...

, College Park Academy uses the online education program ''Connexus''. This allows students to complete their classes via computer in school, providing a more resource efficient method of teaching, with teachers acting as aids and guides whenever the students need them. The school currently has 661 students in grades 6–12. The school uses a lottery-based system to allow students from all parts of the community to attend the school. Founded as part of a

College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known a ...

revitalization project led by the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, College Park Academy first attempted to lease the previous College Park elementary building in College Park, but there was community opposition. Instead it chose to lease space in the former St. Mark's School in

Hyattsville Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and also a close, urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States Census. History Before Europeans reached the area, the upper An ...

. The school opened with grades 6–7 in August 2013 with about 300 students. The school built a new facility to house the students and plans to open in fall 2017 at its new location, south of

College Park-University of Maryland station A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a University system, constituent part of one. A college may be a academic degree, degree-awarding Tertiary education, tertiary educational institution, a part of a coll ...

and opposite the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

building at the University of Maryland. Its permanent campus in Riverdale Park opened on Tuesday October 3, 2017. At the time the school had 500 students.

Curriculum

In 2013, all course modules and information are available for students on the internet. About half of the teaching is done in person while students use the internet service to access the remainder of the teaching information. Seven foreign languages were taught.

References

Public high schools in Maryland Public middle schools in Maryland Charter schools in Maryland Schools in Prince George's County, Maryland {{Maryland-school-stub