As students look at classes for next year, one class that really stands out at McLean High School is the new AP Business Principles. From 2026-2027 it will include entrepreneurship, finance, marketing and business decision making.
In the past, AP classes have mostly been limited to core subjects such as AP Calculus, AP Biology, AP English Literature and AP U.S. History. While those classes are still huge hits at McLean, there is growing demand for career-oriented offering. Schools want to ready students for the different kinds of job markets out there.
“When I first saw AP Business Principles in the course catalog, it immediately caught my attention because it’s different from most AP classes, ” sophomore Inhee Do said, “I think it will help students learn skills they can actually use in the future”.
In the early 2000’s, as technology became more prevalent in education, McLean began integrating computer labs and digital tools into instruction. Students increasingly used the internet for research and started doing more assignments digitally rather than all on paper.
In the 2010’s McLean continued to expand its curriculum, especially in the STEM areas, Electives in computer science and other tech-centric fields gained popularity along with the dramatic rise in interest in engineering, coding, and data-driven fields, It provided students with more options outside of the traditional AP track.
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic greatly accelerated these changes. McLean moved to all-virtual learning, with classes on Zoom and assignments submitted online. What had been technology quickly turned into the foundation of instruction.
Many of those digital systems stuck around, even after students returned to in-person learning. Between 2021 and 2023, McLean incorporated a hybrid model that included the regular use of laptops, online platforms and digital resources in classroom instruction.
Against this backdrop, AP Business Principles signals a new direction for McLean’s academic offerings. Unlike traditional AP classes, which tend to focus on one subject area, this class emphasizes interdisciplinary, career oriented learning.
Students will learn about topics such entrepreneurship, money management, marketing, and decision making. Those behind the course say it speaks to a growing student interest in taking classes that tie academic learning to real-life applications and future careers.
I am excited for the opportunity to learn more about the field of business and, I think it will interest a lot of other students, because I know a lot of others interested in pursuing similar careers,” sophomore Brady Chua said.
McLean’s expansion of its course catalog is a sign of a broader shift in education priorities – from a focus on purely academic preparation to a balance of academic rigor and career readiness – and AP Business Principles is a part of that shift.
“I think it is important that schools like McLean High School continue to adopt courses which students are interested in, and I think that our school is going in the right direction”, said sophomore Kahveh Sabahi.
The addition of the course signals that McLean’s curriculum will be ever-evolving to address the needs of changing student interests and new career fields.
