Ten years ago, Sunnydale High School leaders worked with teachers and community members to create an international baccalaureate (IB)-for-all model to prevent racially and socioeconomically identifiable class levels. For nearly a decade, the program has been successful with stakeholders largely supporting the model. Following pandemic-related…

This document contains a model policy for the creation of a portfolio of options for accelerated college credit courses. This model legislation outlines a variety of accelerated college credit courses to be available within each public high school. This policy does not include the funding mechanism for accelerated college credit, but it is…

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is an advanced course of study that spans all four years of high school and research finds that participation can boost high school graduation rates for students from low-income families. This fact sheet examines IB's impact in Chicago Public Schools and guides state and district leaders through various…

Over the past decade the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) has sought to expand participation in Advanced Placement (AP) courses in order to improve high school outcomes (attendance, achievement, and graduation) and longer-term outcomes (postsecondary enrollment and degree completion). DCPS wants to understand policies and recommendations…

Project-based learning is popular with many parents, students, and teachers because of its focus on problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and real-world application (Gallup, 2019). It encourages teachers to act as facilitators while students actively engage in teacherand student-posed learning challenges, working alone and in groups on…

AP Human Geography students need to develop an understanding of what it means to examine the world around them from a geographic perspective. Focusing attention on geography's concern with spatial relationships, place characteristics, and geographic context helps student appreciate the nature of the discipline and the insights it offers. These…

Two trends have remade the field of political geography over the past quarter-century. First, a revision of taken-for-granted concepts that amounted to "spatial determinism." Second, pioneering many new and emerging concepts such as political ecology. Both trends are important contributions to the evolving section of the AP Human…

With more than 3 million participants per year, the Advanced Placement (AP) program is one of the most popular programs in the United States for exposing high-achieving high school students to advanced academic content. Sponsored by the College Board, the AP program provides a framework in which high school teachers can teach introductory…

A study of human geography begins with the human population. In fact, demographic topics frequently relate to other units in the AP Human Geography course. The three main concepts elaborated upon in this article are (1) the demographic transition model, (2) Malthusian theory and its critics, and (3) pronatalist and antinatalist policies that might…

Using the water molecule as a metaphor, Marilyn Doerr presents a study of a Montessori high school that combines the elements of Montessori with International Baccalaureate (IB) and other institutions in the surrounding community that enrich the experience of the students. The pedagogy of the high school, she explains, must be based on an…

Advanced Placement (AP) Human Geography faced a number of hurdles that nearly derailed the course before it launched in 2000-2001. A dedicated cadre of geography professionals and high school teachers rose to the challenge and the course remains one of the fastest growing AP courses currently offered by College Board. Seventeen readers and leaders…

This article provides an overview of selected current concerns in cultural geography and the way it is taught. It includes coverage of cultural convergence and divergence, race and gender as culturally defined topics, and best teaching practices, including those related to analyzing controversial issues. Two important geographical models are laid…

Economic geographers have traditionally concerned themselves with the primary and secondary sectors of the economy. As the world becomes more service-oriented, however, as much attention must be paid to the service economy and the role of technology. This article focuses on deindustrialization and the rise of the contemporary service--and…

Advanced high-school courses, such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses in the United States, present a content selection conundrum of major proportions. Judicious content selection is necessary if students are to learn subject matter meaningfully, but the sheer breadth of tested material in these courses promotes nearly the opposite:…

The Trolley Problem as defined in this paper is a series, or continuation, of increasingly difficult ethical riddles successfully implemented in a classroom environment to spur complex, critical thinking and dialogue. The activity is designed upon the scenario of a runaway train with different and challenging choices, segueing neatly into group…