Released Print Edition: 

Unless otherwise stated, all of the information from this article was obtained from Ms. Binneboese, an AP Coordinator and Counselor at Park High School.

In recent years, Washington Park High School has adopted a goal of removing barriers that affect Advanced Placement (AP) class enrollment. Weighted grades are being implemented next year,  AP classes continue to be added to the curriculum, and staff district-wide are pushing for students to begin taking AP classes earlier in their education. The AP curriculum as a whole is designed to prepare students for college courses and help them gain college credits. Over the past 3-4 years, Park administration have explored the idea of adding an AP Pathway as a way to help achieve the aforementioned goal; next year, their idea is finally coming to fruition. 

The AP Pathway at Park will be available to students starting with this year’s freshman (class of 2029). The pathway will reside within the Business and Technical Services academy and the levels will consist of AP Business and Personal Finance at level one, AP Seminar at level two, and AP Research at level three (senior year). This pathway is designed to help prepare students for college, make participants eligible for the AP Capstone Diploma, and give students additional educational options to pursue their future plans.

One of the problems that has indicated the necessity of this pathway is students’ inability to take AP classes due to scheduling issues with their required pathway courses. The new AP Pathway is designed for students who want to go to college to have more flexibility with their education, a goal that it accomplishes by providing students a route that doesn’t make them choose between pathway classes that are required for graduation and AP classes that they want to take. 

This pathway is also designed to help prepare students for college by making them eligible for the AP Capstone Certificate (passed the AP Research and AP Seminar exams), and encouraging them to become eligible for the AP Capstone diploma (AP Capstone Certificate, plus four other AP exams passed).  According to the official College Board website, the AP Capstone program is designed to teach students invaluable collegiate skills including “critical thinking, research, collaboration, time management, and presentation skills.” By participating in this pathway and earning these accreditations, students will not only potentially earn college credit and save money, they will also build skills that will make the transition to college easier. 

However, there are some drawbacks to the implementation of the AP Pathway. Before choosing this pathway, students should ensure that they are making an educated decision, as there is a very heavy workload associated with AP Seminar and AP Research. The installation of this pathway will also make it more difficult for students to be granted a Pathway Waiver. These waivers were intended for students with special circumstances such as transferring schools, but they have been given to students in the past to allow them to take more AP classes without having to navigate around required pathway courses. 

Students aren’t the only ones who will benefit from the addition of an AP Pathway at Park. We are the only school in the district offering this pathway, which could help boost enrollment numbers through the School Choice program. Also, having an official AP Pathway will help support AP staff members. Lastly, the AP Pathway setup is invaluable to removing barriers to an AP education, which will hopefully result in AP classes becoming more reflective of Park’s population.

DiGital Exclusive: Ap Pathway Approval 

The AP Pathway is the first pathway to be added to Park since the academies began. Despite the fact that the district has a very straightforward process for instating a new pathway, the Park administrators still faced some obstacles when proposing the AP Pathway to the district. 

One of the biggest hurdles in this process was pulling data on AP students. There were lots of different data points that needed to be considered when making a proposal to the district, including how many Park students take AP Classes and AP exams, and how many students are passing the exams. Even once the data was collected, however, the district was still hesitant. The data showed that in the past, there had been low numbers of juniors and seniors enrolled in AP Classes, especially AP Research, and the numbers didn’t display Park’s need for an AP Pathway.  

One of the biggest reasons the pathway was finally able to get approved is the record-breaking performance of Park’s AP students in the 2024-25 school year. Racine County Eye reported in April of 2025 that the past school year Park had a 100% AP Capstone pass rate, 128 AP tests passed, and achieved their best pass rate for AP tests in over 10 years. 

However, it wasn’t just the data that proved an AP Pathway would be a necessity at Park in the 2026-27 school year. The proposal reasoned that because Park is adopting a weighted grades system next year, it was vital that the school removed pathway barriers to taking AP classes. Also, the proposal predicts that enrollment in AP classes and tests will continue to rise, especially with the implementation of weighted grades, which means that the data from the last few years may no longer be representative of the actual interest in AP classes.

Altogether, it was an uphill battle to get the AP Pathway at Park approved; but the administration is hopeful that this program will benefit the Park community tremendously.