Category: Education

Lexington High School has restructured its Advanced Placement (AP) science offerings for school years starting in 2026 and beyond. Major changes include standardizing the number of times AP and honors courses meet per six-day cycle; separating AP Physics C into two classes: Mechanics, and Electricity and Magnetism; and establishing introductory course prerequisites for AP Biology and AP Chemistry.

Currently, students can take AP Biology sophomore year and AP Chemistry junior year without having taken introductory versions of those classes. College Board, the educational nonprofit that administers AP exams, specifies that AP science courses are second-year courses. 

The new structure was designed in partnership with members of the LHS Science Department, representatives from the Lexington Education Association (LEA), school administrators, and district administrators. The main purpose of the change is to ensure that the workloads of AP science teachers are in compliance with Article 12, Section RR of a collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the LEA. This section dictates that “by September 1, 2027, all teachers who work in grades 6-12 will have a caseload of up to 100-105 [students].” 

Currently, the agreement establishes a limit of 125 students per teacher. However, the 105-student cap set to become effective in 2027 would put AP science teachers out of compliance with the contract. These teachers typically instruct three class sections (~25 students each) that meet six times per six-day cycle, while honors and college preparatory (CP) science teachers have traditionally taught three to four class sections that each met five times per cycle — until this year, when the number was reduced to four classes per cycle. The “value” of a student in a teacher’s workload depends on the number of times their class meets: a student in a class that meets four times per cycle is counted as one person, while a student in a class that meets five times per cycle is counted as 1.25 people.

“Even if we only have four sections, and technically we have 100 kids, a class section that meets five times a cycle instead of four times a cycle, you basically count those kids as extra. So we would actually be out of contractual compliance if we maintained the 20 block schedule past this school year,” Daniel Abramovich, a physics teacher and LHS Building Representative, explained.

In order to address this discrepancy, a joint labor management committee was formed to discuss proposals for restructuring the AP science curriculum. Given that all science classes must now meet only four times per cycle, there were concerns about whether a first-year AP science course could adequately teach students the required content in time for AP exams in May. College Board, the educational nonprofit that administers AP exams, recommends ~125 instructional hours per AP science course. Under a four-block schedule at LHS, AP courses would only meet for about 100 hours.

“If we just try to adapt the content as a first-year class from six days into four days, that’s impossible to do. We will have to make you study 30% of the stuff on your own, without teachers’ input,” Andriy Barchuk, an AP Chemistry teacher at LHS, said.

As a solution, the joint labor management committee designed the new plan—which mandates that students complete one year of CP or Honors Biology and Chemistry before taking the respective AP classes. Additionally, AP Physics C, a course for seniors that has traditionally covered both Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism—separate exams administered by College Board—will be split into two four-block courses. AP Physics C: Mechanics will be offered to juniors who meet the calculus co-requisite.

The changes will allow students in AP science classes to spend more time understanding difficult material, rather than using the beginning of the year to establish foundational knowledge that they were already expected to have.

“I hope that we can reduce the amount of time we spend for the intro units, and spend more time on the harder later units,” Barchuk said. “Right now, [you learn] something and go. If you got it you got it; if you don’t, too bad. Now, we’ll probably have more time to work extra. Instead of doing everything in one day, maybe we’ll have two days [to cover a topic]: one day for lectures, one day for practice.”

The new curriculum structure also makes AP courses more accessible.

“It will open possibilities for more students to take [AP science courses], Barchuk said. “There are a lot of people who probably cannot take it as a [first-year] class, but maybe it will be good as a second pass.”

The new system gives students more choice in the science courses they sign up for: they are no longer required to take Biology, Chemistry, and Physics (in that order) throughout their high school career. This could be beneficial for students who are less interested in science, or who hope to specialize in a particular field of science. Elective courses like Anatomy and Physiology, Marine Biology, and Astronomy also count for science credits in the school.

Students have mixed opinions on the new curriculum. Some feel that setting prerequisites for AP courses and reducing the number of times they meet is necessary to mitigate the academic intensity of LHS and preserve students’ wellbeing.

“It’s part of the duty of the school to prevent us, or at least try to discourage us, from making decisions that we aren’t necessarily prepared for. I think that the step up to AP Biology is one of those where sometimes we aren’t able to fully understand how difficult of a course it is,” Darius Jin, a senior at LHS, said. 

Others emphasized that a student wishing to take all science APs (Biology, Chemistry, and both Physics C courses) would now have to fill their schedule with prerequisite classes, leaving less space for other coursework. Some felt that this diminished opportunities at LHS and lessened its rigor.

“I think what makes Lexington such a special school, and why I’m glad to be here is the choice I can have working with all of these different APs. I can take all of them, and it’s really easy, and that’s really nice. I don’t want to see Lexington turn away from what we are now,” Atticus Oliver, a junior at LHS, said. 

Oliver noted the possibility of students simply going to other schools such as Boston Latin to take AP science exams. 

Students seem to understand the necessity of restructuring the science curriculum to ensure that teacher workloads are equitable. However, some wish that the school could have communicated better before changing a curriculum that they were satisfied with.

“I think that either it’s poor communication, or there’s a disconnect between the administration and the students that really needs to be addressed if [we want there] to be a good relationship between the two populations going forward,” Jai Bhalla, a senior at LHS, said.