Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy (VHTPA), formerly Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, is a middle college

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

established within

Los Angeles Harbor College Los Angeles Harbor College (LAHC) is a public community college in Wilmington, California. It is one of two community colleges serving the South Bay region of Los Angeles. LAHC serves mainly students from Harbor City, Carson, San Pedro, Gar ...

(LAHC) in Wilmington,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is currently under the jurisdiction of the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

and is part of the Middle College National Consortium. Under the middle college/

dual enrollment In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university cours ...

program, students attend college courses at LAHC alongside high school classes, and can accumulate credits towards one or multiple

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

Freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

and

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

s are automatically enrolled in "contract education" courses, college classes exclusive to VHTPA students. Upon entering

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

year, students are allowed to self-enroll in college courses alongside LAHC underclassmen. VHTPA is a

California Distinguished School California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately 5-10% of California schools are awarded t ...

, with full accreditation under the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which certifies that "an institution meets or exceeds established standards and is achieving its own stated objectives". The academy received the

National Blue Ribbon The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

in 2008 and th
California Gold Ribbon
in 2015. U.S. News & World Report ranks VHTPA as #1 out of 181 high schools in LAUSD, #4 in the Los Angeles Metro Area, and #8 out of 1,675 high schools in California. The academy maintains a 100% graduation rate.

History

In 2002, VHTPA was established as a product of collaboration between Los Angeles Harbor College and LAUSD's Local District 8. Formerly hosted in a series of

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

s, construction of a multi-story facility was completed in spring of 2019. The academy also received its

namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...

, former district board membe
Dr. Richard A. Vladovic
for great contributions to its establishment and maintaining.

Demographic

As of the 2018–2019 school year, VHTPA is designated as a predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other (PHBAO) School. Hispanic students represent the majority of the student body at 53%, whilst Asian and African-American/Black students trail at 30% and 11% respectively. As approximately 64% of students are eligible for free/reduced-price lunches under the

National School Lunch Act The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (79 P.L. 396, 60 Stat. 230) is a 1946 United States federal law that created the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to provide low-cost or free school lunch meals to qualified students through ...

, the school receives academic and financial support from

Title I The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...

, Part A of the

Elementary and Secondary Education Act The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...

References

External links

Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy
{{Los Angeles County South Bay Schools Los Angeles Unified School District schools High schools in Los Angeles County, California