The College Board has decided to release two new courses for the 2026-27 school year for a host of reasons, though largely due to a reported lack of business knowledge, financial literacy and career readiness among high school students. These classes are a part of College Board’s kickstart program, which aims to give more direct preparation to high-demand careers.
The official course names are Advanced Placement Business with Personal Finance and AP Cybersecurity, and both of these courses will be offered at West High next year. The AP Business with Personal Finance course will be taught by business teacher Diane Fickel, who is excited at the prospect of teaching her first AP class.
“The curriculum will go into a much deeper dive of various things that we cover in Marketing or Intro to Business, and there’s some finance and some entrepreneurship too,” Fickel said…