Board approves AP Seminar at Mountain View after extended debate over scores and alignment

The Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District board voted April 20 to approve AP Seminar as a continuing sophomore-level course at Mountain View High, after trustees and staff debated test-score patterns, equity goals and whether the course should be expanded districtwide.

Trustee Katherine moved the approval and Trustee Alex seconded; the motion passed with four "yes" votes and one abstention from Trustee Esme. The vote followed nearly three hours of discussion during the business action item for the 2026–27 course catalog.

Trustee Vim pressed staff for disaggregated AP exam data, saying the figures raise questions about whether AP Seminar is delivering the same level of “excellence” as other sophomore AP options. "Only 31% have gotten a five in AP exam," Vim said during discussion, noting variation among demographic groups and urging careful analysis of results by race and grade distribution.

Esther Woo, Mountain View English department coordinator, and Lindsay Cohen, AP Seminar course team leader, defended the course as an equity-focused option and part of a two‑year pathway into AP Language. Woo said moving AP Language to 11th grade left a gap in 10th-grade UC/CSU A–G opportunity that AP Seminar fills. "AP Seminar is UC/CSU approved as an English-course equivalent; it provides a GPA boost and develops skills that feed into AP Language," Woo said.

Cohen described AP Seminar’s portfolio and presentation components and argued the course prepares students for college-level non-fiction and argumentation work. She encouraged trustees to observe classes before making judgments about effectiveness.

Trustees who voted to approve cited both current pass rates (staff noted roughly 86% of AP Seminar students score a 3 or higher) and the logistical challenge of removing the course now, given roughly 300 students had signed up for next year. Several trustees asked staff to return with a clear plan for alignment across Mountain View and Los Altos, and with explicit success metrics for any future curricular changes.

Next steps: the board directed staff to place AP Seminar and AP outcomes on a future study-session agenda that will review AP exam results, related benchmark measures (CASP, GPA, D/F rates) and a proposed timeline for any cross-site alignment. The district will not alter next year’s schedule immediately; the course will be offered while the board evaluates multi-year data and alignment options.