Garfield Park Academy is a New Jersey state approved, private, non-profit special education school that provides effective, evidence-based special education services for students in grades K-12 who have a history of learning, social, emotional and behavioral challenges.
GPA offers programs that help students identify and minimize individual barriers to learning, and open the door to personal responsibility, self-reliance and cooperation.
GPA uses The Teaching-Family Model, an internationally-recognized, data-driven cognitive behavioral model, which is student-centered, and emphasizes self-determination.
With over 25 years of successful experience providing therapeutic educational services to children with disabilities, GPA provides a wide array of effective clinical services.
Our Mission
Children with emotional challenges and learning disabilities can be successful in life, if provided the resources to monitor and self-regulate their own behaviors. Through self-regulation, counseling, and truly individualized education, GPA helps students understand and achieve success by changing their attitudes and allowing themselves to achieve.
Comprehensive ‘Wrap Around’ Services for Students and Families
GPA’s therapeutic program, combined with traditional academics and preparation for college or the vocations enhances the chances of students with emotional and social challenges to succeed in an educational environment, at home, and in life!
Additional Programs at GPA
Momentum® Transition at GPA provides students with concrete skills for jobs and college, and a toolbox of individualized strategies to help them achieve real independence.
The Training Institute at GPA offers free trainings to all educators, focusing on approaches to serving students with social, emotional, learning and behavioral challenges.
GPA Parent Education Programs
Garfield Park Academy’s Parent Education Programs and Parent Support Groups (PEP) are available to parents, guardians and others during the school year. We provide both facilitated support group sessions and topic presentations each month. PEP sessions are presented virtually as Zoom Meetings.
GPA parents and guardians are encouraged to join us for these discussions and presentations to learn more about challenges they may be encountering and how to address them, and share their experiences with other parents.
What are People Saying About GPA?
As the nation’s first TFA-accredited school-based program, Garfield Park Academy represents the gold standard in positive behavioral supports for students with disabilities. Their commitment to excellence is unsurpassed.
Garfield Park Academy has consistently demonstrated clinical excellence in its service to students with complex educational, behavioral and emotional needs and their families.
Educational Outcomes That Make a Difference
We work hard to make sure our students learn the skills they need to succeed. Over the past five years, more than 95% of GPA graduates each year went on to further education, jobs or internships in their chosen vocation, or military service. And we couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of them.
GPA Graduates with Educational or Vocational Placements at Graduation
Recent GPA News
Unlocking Potential: Teaching Executive Function Skills
Executive function is rarely taught, but is the foundation for learning, planning, and carrying out complex tasks. It allows us to regulate thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
The Power of Play
Play therapy harnesses a child’s natural language of play. Through storytelling, puppetry, building, and imaginative play, students learn to express themselves within a safe and nurturing environment.
Dreaming Bigger: Transition & Post-secondary Choices
When GPA Transition Coordinator Jeff Dalrymple visits the school’s younger classrooms, part of his goal is to introduce them to possibilities they may have never imagined.
Music Production: Studio Update
The new Music Production studio has fast become one of the busiest instructional spaces at Garfield Park Academy. In it, students have the opportunity to make and record original music and find their creative voice.
Workshop: Teaching Students to Use Emotional Regulation: Best Practices for Educators
The Training Institute at Garfield Park Academy presents Teaching Students to Use Emotional Regulation: Best Practices for Educators Friday, March 7, 2025, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Featuring Michael C. Selbst, Ph.D., BCBA-D.
2023-2024 GPA Training Institute Workshop Series
Please Join Us for Our 2023-24 GPA ZOOM Training Institute Events. Dec 8, 2023 - The Role of Executive Function Skills in Motivating Struggling Students, and stay tuned for more in March 2024.
