The Academic Committee announced that, effective the fall of 2028 (2028-2029 school year), Hackley would no longer offer AP courses and would instead shift to department-designed "advanced" courses and a semester-based course system.
For years, the administration has debated the role of College Board Advanced Placement courses in the Upper School curriculum, and eventually started the process of looking into reshaping the role they play in our course schedules and the Upper School offerings.
In the context of neighboring private schools, Hackley is an outlier, among the other Ivy Prep League schools (such as Riverdale or Horace Mann, and many other selective private and boarding schools in the northeast, for example), that do not offer AP courses.
Hackley, despite making the change in 2028 to advanced courses, is no stranger to the concept of an “advanced course.” Recently, the administration has been transparent in the labeling of courses in the description book, with many staple Upper School courses receiving an “advanced” course tag. These courses include a history course, Government and Politics, all senior year English course offerings, and high-level math offerings, such as Multivariable Calculus.
Hackley has also not offered an AP course in humanities (history and English) since the 2004 school year, exemplifying the notion that the school has designed advanced courses and coursework in place of the College Board curricula.
In his email to families, Head of School Charles Franklin wrote, “These changes allow us to more fully author the educational principles that define a Hackley education.”
The decision regarding AP courses was spearheaded by a subgroup of the Academic Committee, titled the AP Working Group. The group is co-led by Classics Department Chair Chris Sheppard and College Counseling Director Kassy Fritz. Other committee members included the department chairs of our remaining major principles (English, History, Science, Computer Science, and Mathematics
The change for Hackley follows a growing trend among schools, particularly private schools, to phase out College Board courses from their offerings. Nearby, the Masters School announced that it would no longer offer AP Courses to students starting in the fall of 2027. Other prestigious schools nationwide, such as Phillips Exeter or Groton, haven’t offered APs in years.
One of the major factors is that when a school teaches a College Board course, they are bound to the curriculum set forth by the College Board, as this will prepare students for the corresponding exam. By designing our own “advanced” coursework, Hackley believes that it will allow for “the aligning [of] our curriculum and pedagogy with the needs of our students as they prepare to head off to college and life beyond,” as written in the email.
The other major change coming to the Upper School is the elimination of the trimester system. In the same email to families, Mr. Franklin officially announced that the school would adopt a semester-based course system, starting the same year as the AP change, in the fall of 2028.
The change is more targeted towards student electives, particularly minor courses, which may now be offered in semester-based form. While fundamental Upper School courses, such as World History I, English 11, and Geometry, will still be year-round courses, the move to semesters means that students may find the opportunity to take more minor courses and electives if they are offered on a semester basis.
Some students have been excited for the change, with the change bringing them the opportunity to explore more topics throughout the year.
“I am excited for the semester change, since it could allow me to take more minors my senior year and take more classes I am interested in before graduation,” said freshman Daniel Rotenberg.
For students, most in the Upper School body currently will not see any change to their US career, since the change will be made for the 2028-2029 school year. This doesn’t apply to current freshman students, however, who come senior year will be able to take advantage of the new course offerings and potentially have less stress come May with fewer AP Exams. Until then, the administration stated that students will still be able to take AP Courses that Hackley currently offers, and are still required to sit for those corresponding exams.
A concern for students is the perspective the change will see in their applications. “I’m concerned that if an AP exam is offered one year but not the next, how it looks for my application that I am not taking an AP course and/or exam the following year,” Daniel said.
As Mr. Franklin writes, these changes allow for Hackley to “continue [the] tradition of promoting intellectual growth, dedicated scholarship and outstanding college preparation.”
