Advanced Curriculum

List of 13 frequently asked questions.

• What Advanced courses does St. Luke’s offer?

  Computer Science & Engineering
  Advanced Computer Architecture
  Advanced Programming Languages
  Advanced Computer Science I
  Advanced Computer Science II
  Advanced Engineering & Design

  
  English
  Advanced Feminist Literature
  Advanced Literature of War
  Advanced Shakespeare
  Advanced African American Literature
  Advanced America in Film
  Advanced American Studies

  
  Fine Arts
  Advanced Art Practices: Senior Thesis

  
  History & Social Science
  Advanced Government: Constitutional Law
  Advanced Political Theory
  Advanced Civil Rights Movement
  Advanced Government: Legal Studies
  Advanced European History
  Advanced American Studies

  
  Leadership Studies
  Advanced Classical Scholars Research
  Advanced Global Scholars Seminar
  Advanced Literary Scholars Seminar
  Advanced STEM Scholars Seminar

  
  Mathematics
  Advanced Multivariable Calculus
  Advanced Statistics

  
  Science
  Advanced Biology
  Advanced Chemistry
  Advanced Modern Physics: A
  Advanced Modern Physics: C
  Advanced Organic Chemistry

  
  Theater Arts
  Advanced Acting: St. Luke's Theater Company

  
  World Language
  Advanced Latin Literature

• Why did St. Luke’s create Advanced courses?

  We created Advanced courses because most APs were not providing our students with a truly college-level experience. We knew we could do better. That said, we acknowledge that the Advanced Placement program has great value in many schools, 特别是在标准化课程为教师提供重要指导的地方，以及大学可能不熟悉学校的学术课程的地方.

   
  For a school like St. Luke’s, with an established reputation and a desire to set standards for student learning at a higher level than those of the College Board, Advanced Placement courses may actually limit the scope and rigor of the instruction. AP courses are built on an audited curriculum set by the College Board (the audit is to protect the Advanced Placement trademark), and the standard for student performance is a single morning’s or afternoon’s test score. At St. Luke’s, we offer courses that go “beyond the AP,” challenging and inspiring our students.
  
  

  Listen below to Head of Upper School Liz Perry describe, in a clip from a podcast interview with the student-run Eye of the Storm, the reason for moving beyond APs. Or listen to the entire interview.
  

• What did St. Luke's gain by moving beyond the AP?

  这一变化使我们的学校有机会做自己——专注于完成一项使命，不仅是掌握课程材料，而且是支持我们的澳门在线威尼斯官方下载为智力和道德的人. 我们相信我们的使命和我们教师的力量，为学生创造学习经验，引发高度的智力参与和积极参与, authentic work toward gaining the deepest possible understanding of challenging concepts, difficult skills, and sophisticated content.

  
  

  On a more logistical level, courses without an AP focus regain four to six weeks of precious time to teach new content. For example, in the past, AP Biology students spent time before the St. Luke’s exam period in March preparing for a practice AP exam, then going over the completed practice exam, and then preparing for the real AP exam which was administered in early May. After that was over, teachers observed that students understandably lost momentum and focus during the remaining weeks of the year. St. 卢克的高级生物学课程把以前花在准备标准化考试上的所有时间都花在了深入研究生物科学主题上.

• How has the thinking around APs evolved at St. Luke's?

  When St. Luke’s first introduced AP classes in the 1980s, they represented a chance for us to demonstrate our academic chops. Over 40 years later, we no longer need an outside seal of approval on our academic program. St. Luke’s has a national reputation as an academic powerhouse, sending students to a range of selective colleges and universities and attracting many more qualified students each year than we can enroll. At the same time, 我们的教师已经准备好并渴望挑战学生的方式，而大学理事会对标准化考试的狭隘关注根本无法适应许多科目.
  
  

  Listen below to Head of Upper School Liz Perry describe, in a clip from a podcast interview with the student-run Eye of the Storm, where the idea for moving beyond APs came from, as well as some background on the multi-year evaluation process, including implementation timing. Or listen to the entire interview.
  
  
  In this clip, Head of Upper School Liz Perry describes the team which evaluated the move beyond APs.
  

• Have other schools moved beyond APs?

  许多优秀的私立学校在考察了大学先修课程后，决定要么一开始就不提供先修课程，要么在大部分或所有领域取消先修课程. Here is a sampling of such schools. 

  
  

  Archer School (CA)

  Baldwin School (PA)

  Berkeley Carroll School (NY)

  Boston University Academy (MA)

  Brearley School (NY)

  Chapin School (NY)

  Choate Rosemary Hall (CT)

  Concord Academy (MA)

  Dalton School (NY)

  Fieldston Ethical Culture School (NY)

  Groton School (MA)

  Haverford School (PA)

  Lakeside School (WA)

  Lawrenceville School (NJ)

  Loomis Chaffee (CT)

  Marin Academy (CA)

  Miss Porter’s School (CT)

  Packer-Collegiate School (NY)

  Phillips Andover Academy (MA)

  Phillips Exeter Academy (NH)

  Spence School (NY)

  St. Mark’s School (MA)

  St. Paul’s School (NH)

  The Cate School (CA)

  University of Chicago Laboratory School (IL)

   
  We spoke with and visited the academic leaders at many of these schools to learn about their journeys. Across the board, they reported flourishing admissions numbers, steady or improving college lists, and high student and teacher satisfaction. Change is never easy, but it is worth noting that none of these schools has reversed its decision and returned to APs. On the contrary, in our conversations we heard the refrain, “Why did we wait so long to make this change?”
  

• Are students penalized in the college admission process because they don’t have “AP” courses on their records?

  我们与大学招生主任以及每年访问我们校园的大学代表的谈话证实，学生记录上没有AP课程不会以任何方式伤害他们——如果有的话, St. Luke’s Advanced courses have helped applicants stand out in a competitive pool. Colleges evaluate students on the strength of the programs they have taken relative to the rigor of programs offered at the school. In other words, a student’s transcript is evaluated in the context of the courses that were available to that student. St. Luke’s provides colleges with a School Profile that accompanies each application; our School Profile clearly describes the nature of our programs and communicates which are our most demanding courses in each discipline.

   

  那些已经取消AP指定并开设自己的高级课程的学校，他们的决定受到了大学的热烈欢迎——即使是最挑剔的大学.

• What do colleges think about St. Luke's Advanced courses?

  我们与一些重点院校的招生主任分享了我们在高级课程方面的研究成果，并直接询问他们，如果学生的成绩记录中没有“AP”，是否会对圣. Luke’s applicants in the college admissions process. Here is a sample of the many responses we received:  

  
  

  “St. Luke’s School benefits from having a strong academic reputation among highly selective colleges and universities. 如果有类似的课程，从大学先修课程过渡到大学先修课程对学校和学生都没有坏处. As always, the University of Richmond looks forward to receiving applications from bright and talented students from St. Luke’s.” 

  Gil J. Villanueva, Associate Vice President and Dean, Office of Admission 

  University of Richmond

  
  

  "At MIT we respect the right of all secondary schools to offer the curriculum they deem to be best for their students. 圣卢克学院提出的改革不会影响我们评估学生的方式——我们仍然会意识到圣卢克学院提供了一个具有挑战性的课程，为学生在最高水平的高等教育学习做准备." 

  Stuart Schmill, Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services 

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

  
  

  “圣母大学对AP或IB课程没有偏好——我们主要考虑的是高中告诉我们他们的顶级课程是什么，以及我们的申请人是否学过其中的大部分课程. High schools like St. 那些放弃AP，专注于他们认为是荣誉或高级课程的学校不会减少他们的优等生被圣母大学录取的机会.” 

  Don Bishop, Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Enrollment

  University of Notre Dame

   

  “At Middlebury, we look at applicants within the context of what their schools offer; we see many students whose high schools have chosen to veer away from AP classes, 相反，选择提供更具体的课程内容，以满足教师和学生的热情，以及学校文化中特定的资源和机会.  As long as St. Luke’s clearly identifies what it considers to be its advanced classes, we will take those designations into account when evaluating the rigor of a student’s course selections as seen on a transcript. Not offering APs does NOT put students at a disadvantage in the admissions process. As a former teacher myself, I applaud any move that allows for and encourages greater levels of innovation and specialization from teachers and schools.”

  Samuel N. Prouty, Director of Admissions

  Middlebury College

   

• How have Advanced courses affected courses offered in 9th and 10th grades?

  The introduction of Advanced courses is part of a larger focus on innovative teaching across the Upper School. Students in the first two years of high school at St. 卢克已经受益于这样一个环境:他们的老师被鼓励去创造最好的课程，而不受大学理事会的束缚.
  
  That said, 9th and 10th grade Honors level courses often served as a kind of “pre-AP,” with methods of assessment and areas of curricular focus that were designed to set students up for success on AP exams in the coming years. For example, students in Honors British Literature, a 10th-grade course, used to do a fair amount of timed writing on poems they had not studied yet; that was a practice based on the old 11th-grade AP Literature exam. Now that teachers no longer see 9th- and 10th-grade honors courses as “pre-AP,” they, too, 是否有设计创新课程的自由，以最好地激励学生，并为他们在该学科中真正的高级工作做好准备.

• What impact do Advanced courses have on the school calendar?

  Teachers in Advanced Courses reclaim 4-6 weeks of teaching time when they no longer need to prepare students for the AP exams in May. It also allows greater consistency for the whole Upper School calendar in the month of May since we administer fewer AP exams. Students taking an AP exam are still excused from their classes for the entire day, but the interruption to non-AP courses because of missing students taking AP exams has decreased significantly.

• Can’t students use AP scores to earn college credit or place out of college requirements?

  Yes. Some St. Luke’s alumni have benefitted from this opportunity, and if students choose to take AP exams they can continue to use high scores in this way. As has been reported in the news media starting about a decade ago, however, an increasing number of highly selective colleges are declining to offer students college credit for AP scores. 

  
  

  Calculus, French, and Spanish are the areas where St. Luke’s alumni report most often using an AP score of 4 or 5 to place into a higher level college course or to fulfill a college requirement. This is part of the reason we have elected to keep these AP courses (AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP French Language, and AP Spanish Language) in our curriculum going forward. Also, 这些特殊的考试是值得教学的——它们符合我们自己的高标准，更注重真正的学习和应用，而不是记忆内容.

• Are St. Luke’s students still able to take AP Exams if they wish to?

  Yes. 我们学校继续为高年级学生提供参加他们感兴趣的任何学科领域的大学先修课程考试的机会.

   

   

• If a student wants to take an AP course no longer offered at St. Luke’s, are there any options?

  Yes. While we believe strongly that Advanced Courses challenge and engage any motivated student ready for college-level work, we acknowledge that there may be particular reasons a student might want a traditional Advanced Placement course. For example, students interested in attending college abroad may need AP scores to be eligible for admission. 2023级和2024级的学生，如果符合学术条件并被推荐参加高级课程，可以选择通过One Schoolhouse或约翰霍普金斯大学有才华的青年中心在线学习最多两门AP课程. The AP courses must be ones we offered as of 2019.  Eligible students may count one online AP course toward their total required SLS courseload per year, and we will not pass along the fee for this online course to families.

• What is the difference between Honors and Advanced at St. Luke’s?

  荣誉是我们在高中水平课程中使用的名称，其中荣誉部分涵盖的范围更广，速度比标准部分更快. Advanced is the designation we use for college-level courses that have a prerequisite (usually an honors course). For example, students may take Biology at either the standard or honors level, typically in 9th grade. Advanced Biology, however, is a college-level course, typically taken in 11th or 12th grade.