Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Academic Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves 2025–26 academic program changes, adds state-mandated personal finance and AP African American Studies option
Summary
The board approved several high-school program updates for 2025–26 including a required personal finance course (per Act 35 of 2023), renaming and retitling of several family- and career‑focused courses, a financial algebra elective, AP African American Studies, and splitting AP Physics C into two courses.
The Abington Board of School Directors approved multiple changes to the district’s Program of Studies for the 2025–26 school year, including a new required personal finance course for 10th graders to meet Pennsylvania requirements, new course titles and several academic additions at the senior high.
Highlights of the approved package: the business department will replace Foundations of Innovation 2 with a Personal Finance course to comply with Act 35 of 2023 (state financial‑literacy requirements). Family and Consumer Science course titles were revised for clarity (for example, Apparel 1 becomes Fashion and Textiles). The high school will offer a year-long Financial Algebra elective for students who have completed Algebra II, which the presenters said provides a college‑level quantitative option short of calculus. The Social Studies department added Advanced Placement African American Studies (a College Board AP course introduced nationally in 2022) as an option to complement existing African American history offerings. Advanced Placement World History will be relabeled Advanced Placement World History: Modern to match College Board nomenclature. The Science department will split AP Physics C into AP Physics C: Mechanics and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism to align course minutes with College Board recommendations and improve students’ chances on distinct AP exams.
Board discussion emphasized curricular clarity for families, alignment with state and College Board expectations and expansion of student options. A board member asked whether the AP African American Studies course would present a broad view of history that includes resistance and contributions; district staff confirmed the planned scope begins with African origins and moves through enslavement, resistance and contemporary debates.
Approval and implementation: the board approved the program changes and authorized publication of the Abington Middle School Program of Studies (grades 6–8) and Abington Senior High School Program of Studies (grades 9–12) for 2025–26. Staff noted that course scheduling remains subject to sufficient enrollment and budget provisions, and that any required instructional materials would be presented to the board for adoption as needed.
