Curriculum changes are continuously shifting in order to incorporate the evolving educational needs of students. These changes are required to make sure that students are learning subjects thoroughly and the information is up to date. Teachers come together each year to make sure that the curriculum is beneficial to students. Some of these changes have occurred within Art History, American Studies (AMSTUD) and Environmental Systems.

“For all Advanced Placement (AP) courses, a committee comprised of both high school and college teachers, is formed to make these changes,” AP Art History teacher Douglas Darracott said. “In the end, however, the College Board decides on and implements these changes.”

AMSTUD is a double block class, where AP English and AP History are combined. This year, the curriculum had a major style change because each year the committee has the latitude within the curriculum to make changes based on the student needs.

“We attempted to look at curriculum differently last year and tried to go with a thematic approach,” AMSTUD teacher Aaron Sands said. “This year we decided to go back to chronological again, because we felt like it worked better for what the students needed.”

Many curriculum changes are based on new project ideas in order to have better ways for students to learn the subject.

“For Environmental Systems, we are trying to include more thought-provoking labs and projects,” Meghann Dodd, cheer coach and Environmental Systems teacher, said. “We have added many interactive labs, projects and activities that require more hypothesizing and attention to detail.”

Many classes require a curriculum change because of research advancement that influences new discoveries that can alter subject course work.

“I think the curriculum should have a constant direction,” Dodd said. “However, if it is not continuously updated it becomes stagnant and outdated. Environmental Systems needed to be constantly revamped and updated to go along with the current issues we are seeing worldwide.”

Classes, like AP Art History, have curriculum changes to revamp the whole subject. Instead of making the class based on one specific country, they changed it to be more focussed on the world. “This year, the curriculum is now more global, less European,” Darracott said. “I started to incorporate these changes a few years ago. It’s exciting to study art from different cultures from around the world. It makes the course more meaningful. We have a lot of students at West who have come from different parts of the world and now they can contribute more to our classroom experience.”

Curriculum changes are also made in order to attract more students to the subject and ensure they are well prepared for college.

“The College Board has been redesigning AP courses based on the changes that have occurred in education over the past few years,” Darracott said. “They are responding to the ideas and methods found in IB and Common Core. They are also hoping that more students from diverse backgrounds will take AP classes so that they can be prepared for college.”