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?

  我们开设了高级课程，因为大多数ap课程并没有给我们的学生提供真正的大学水平的体验. 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课程建立在美国大学理事会(College Board)制定的经过审核的课程基础上(审核是为了保护大学先修课程的商标)。, 学生表现的标准是一个上午或下午的考试成绩. At St. 卢克，我们提供的课程“超越AP”，挑战和激励我们的学生.
  
  

  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bet356app在线登录为智力和道德的人. 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, 没有AP课程的课程可以重新获得四到六周的宝贵时间来教授新的内容. 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, 老师们观察到，学生们在一年中剩下的几个星期里失去了动力和注意力，这是可以理解的. 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. 40多年后，我们的学术项目不再需要外界的批准. St. Luke’s has a national reputation as an academic powerhouse, 将学生送到一系列精选的学院和大学，每年吸引更多的合格学生，而不是我们可以招收的学生. 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.
  
  
  在这段视频中，高中校长莉兹·佩里描述了评估超越ap的团队.
  

• 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)

   
  我们与其中许多学校的学术领袖进行了交谈和访问，以了解他们的旅程. Across the board, they reported flourishing admissions numbers, steady or improving college lists, and high student and teacher satisfaction. Change is never easy, 但值得注意的是，这些学校都没有改变决定，重新启用ap. On the contrary, in our conversations we heard the refrain, “Why did we wait so long to make this change?”
  

• 学生在大学录取过程中会因为没有AP课程而受到惩罚吗?

  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. 大学是根据学生所修课程的强度和学校课程的严谨性来评估学生的. In other words, 学生的成绩单是在该学生所修课程的背景下进行评估的. 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. 卢克的学校受益于在高选择性的学院和大学中拥有强大的学术声誉. 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, 里士满大学期待着收到来自St. Luke’s.” 

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

  University of Richmond

  
  

  “在麻省理工学院，我们尊重所有中学提供他们认为最适合学生的课程的权利. 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, 在评估学生在成绩单上选择课程的严谨性时，我们会考虑这些指定. Not offering APs does NOT put students at a disadvantage in the admissions process. As a former teacher myself, 我赞赏任何允许和鼓励教师和学校提高创新水平和专业化水平的举措.”

  Samuel N. Prouty, Director of Admissions

  Middlebury College

   

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

  高级课程的引入是整个高中创新教学的更大重点的一部分. 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,的评估方法和课程重点领域，旨在帮助学生在未来几年的AP考试中取得成功. 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?

  高级课程的教师可以节省4-6周的教学时间，因为他们不再需要为学生准备5月份的AP考试. 由于我们管理较少的AP考试，这也使得整个5月份的高中日历更加一致. Students taking an AP exam are still excused from their classes for the entire day, 但因缺席AP考试的学生而中断非AP课程的情况明显减少.

• 学生不能用AP成绩来获得大学学分或大学外的要求吗?

  Yes. Some St. Luke’s alumni have benefitted from this opportunity, 如果学生选择参加AP考试，他们可以继续以这种方式使用高分. As has been reported in the news media starting about a decade ago, however, 越来越多的名牌大学拒绝为AP成绩提供大学学分. 

  
  

  Calculus, French, and Spanish are the areas where St. 卢克的校友报告最常用的AP成绩是4或5分，以进入更高水平的大学课程或满足大学要求. 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. 虽然我们坚信，高级课程挑战和参与任何积极进取的学生准备大学水平的工作, 我们承认，学生可能有特殊的原因需要传统的大学先修课程. For example, 有兴趣在国外上大学的学生可能需要AP成绩才有资格入学. 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.  符合条件的学生可以将一门在线AP课程计入每年所需的SLS课程总额, 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. 高级是指有先决条件的大学水平课程(通常是荣誉课程)。. For example, students may take Biology at either the standard or honors level, typically in 9th grade. 然而，高等生物学是一门大学水平的课程，通常在11年级或12年级学习.