For the fifth straight year Harmony Magnet Academy has received national recognition from Project Lead the Way for Excellence in Career Connect learning by being named a Distinguished School "for transforming the student experience through real-world connection and workforce-aligned pathways.
Harmony has now been named a PLTW Distinguished School for the 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. Harmony is among a select group of high schools across the U.S. to receive the honor "for its commitment to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in career-connected learning," PLTW said.
Through PLTW, Harmony offers an Engineering Pathway program. "Through its PLTW Engineering program, Harmony is helping students develop transferable skills needed to succeed in an evolving future," PLTW stated.
“Students who complete the program at Harmony definitely have an advantage competing at the next level," Harmony principal Jeff Brown said. "PLTW provides applications for real-life experiences and skills, which transcend beyond the Engineering Pathway.
PLTW is a national nonprofit designed to help students develop in-demand knowledge and skills for future careers. PLTW serves millions of PreK-12 students and teachers in more than 12,200 schools across the U.S.
The PLTW Distinguished School recognition honors schools committed to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in PLTW programs, PLTW stated. To be eligible for the honor, Harmony had to meet multiple criteria in the 2024-25 school year, such as the number of PLTW courses available to students, the percentage of students enrolled in PLTW, and the percentage of students taking more than one PLTW course.
"We are proud to honor Harmony Magnet Academy for giving students hands-on, career-connected learning that builds the confidence, knowledge, and skills to navigate their futures," said Dr. David Dimmett, PLTW President and CEO. "Their commitment to real-world, project-based learning ensures students experience education that is meaningful and directly connected to what comes next."
For more information about PLTW’s Distinguished Program Recognition, visit
https://www.pltw.org/pltw-program-recognition
The honor adds to the growing list of awards Harmony has received. Harmony's Performing Arts and Engineering Academies have been named as Distinguished Schools by NAF, a national education program that operates and assesses academies across the country.
And year in and year out Harmony is ranked as Tulare County's No. 1 school and one of the top five percent schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.
Harmony has been in partnership with PLTW since the school's inception. Harmony's engineering pathway is designed to offer a student-center curriculum students want.
Harmony offers eight PLTW engineering courses over four years. Brown has said he doesn't know of any other school in the country that does that.
PLTW engineering programs adopt a problem-solving curriculum in which students participate in collaborative real-world projects such as working with clients.
To be eligible to be a PLTW Distinguished School schools must have students enrolled in at least three PLTW courses and 25 percent of their students taking at least one PLTW course or 33 percent of its students taking two or more PLTW courses.
For more information about PLTW’s recognition program, visit pltw.org. For more information on the Harmony Magnet Academy PLTW Engineering program, call Brown at 559-568-0347 or visit harmony.portervilleschools.org.