Samson Naleway

District changes have led to restrictions on AP classes for underclassmen [Graphic made with Canva].

Changes are coming to humanities courses at Beaverton High School. The district is cutting AP options for sophomores and requiring standard social studies and English courses for 10th grade students. District leaders are aligning BHS’s curriculum with IB schools in the district, which restrict advanced classes to upperclassmen. 

Next year, sophomores will not be allowed to take AP US History, as the District will standardize the social studies curriculum for 6th grade through 10th grade. Moving forward, every 10th grader in the district must take 10th-grade social studies (US History and Economics).

Social Studies Department Head, Eric Lantz, said the change makes sense as many sophomore students taking AP US History did not have sufficient background knowledge on the subject to succeed. The pace of the class needed to be slowed to accommodate this. 

“At the start of the year, I did not have the skill of managing my time or studying,” said sophomore Zinnia Berg, who took the class this year. She elaborated that she “was not prepared [for] note taking or textbook reading,” but did not mention a lack of background knowledge on the subject as a challenge.

While sophomores must now take US History and Economics, they still can take AP Human Geography, in addition, as an elective course. AP Human Geography, according to Lantz, is a good “intro to AP” course, lighter on reading and Document Based Questions (DBQs) than AP US History.

This has led to AP Human Geography being the AP class with the highest enrollment at BHS, with 168 students taking the AP exam this year. However, Kristi Russell, the AP Coordinator, predicted that “the number of students in [AP] Human Geo will go down,” as a result of more changes made to the Social Studies Department.

These changes include the addition of AP Seminar and AP Research, the removal of Economics and AP Economics, and the class of 2026 and younger being required to take either Civics or AP Government. AP Seminar and AP Research are two new AP classes focusing on research and communication. They are part of the AP Capstone Diploma, which can be earned with a score of 3 or higher on the exams for AP Seminar and AP Research and scores of 3 or higher on the exams for four other AP classes.

The Language Arts Department will be experiencing a change on a smaller scale than the Social Studies Department: Sophomore students will no longer be permitted to take AP Lang. Only two AP Language Arts classes are offered at BHS, AP Lang and AP English Literature and Composition (AP Lit), so it makes sense that those classes be taken consecutively in 11th and 12th grade. In addition, many sophomores require the “prerequisite” foundational skills for AP Lang, likely because those skills are taught in Lit and Comp 10.

This was the result of a district-wide decision to promote equity in course offerings at comprehensive high schools. The IB schools in the Beaverton School District–Sunset, Mountainside, and Southridge–do not offer advanced Language Arts classes until junior year.

Despite the change, freshmen still express interest in the class. Alice Cole, a freshman, said, “I find myself leaning towards a profession that involves writing, so I see AP Lang as a way to explore that.” Cole also cited interest in expanding her current knowledge of language arts as a reason to take the course.

Outside of the humanities departments, few changes have been made to course offerings. The exception to this is to the Science Department, where students will be required to take STEM Physics their freshman year. Previously, freshmen were allowed the choice between STEM Physics and STEM Chemistry. In the past, freshmen who took STEM Chemistry took AP Physics later in high school to fulfill the physics graduation requirement.

Overall, the changes being made to the AP classes at BHS are concentrated in the humanities department and mostly impact underclassmen. It is yet to be seen how these will affect college preparedness at Beaverton High School.