• The Scarsdale Advanced Topics Program is a college-level program of study that seeks to engage students with powerful ideas and challenging content. These rewarding and distinctive courses are designed for students who have demonstrated an aptitude for independent work, deep exploration, close reading, developed writing, and complex thinking.  The AT program's objective is to stretch students to their full capacities so that they can attain a higher degree of independence, enthusiasm, and resilience in the subject area.   

    Pedagogical approaches in these courses encourage student collaboration and exploration, while covering concepts, terminology, and habits of mind specific to each discipline.  Students are expected to construct meaning from authentic sources, explore interdisciplinary connections, and develop increasingly sophisticated approaches to the discipline.  These courses require students to recognize concepts, read detailed texts, and use quantitative skills to articulate their thoughts to their peers and teachers.  We are especially interested in developing the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate, to judge the significance of what's being learned, and to think originally. 

    The AT Program allows teachers to design courses that are tailored to student interest and that foster student agency.  Teachers draw upon deep wells of expertise and interest in crafting units of study.  Academic departments develop and review AT courses in consultation with visiting college and university professors in each subject. These relationships give Scarsdale teachers opportunities to assess their own efforts, integrate emerging research from the university level, and validate course quality on an ongoing basis. The school also has established structures to develop and review curriculum, assessment practices, and student work. The visiting professors, structures, and established departmental quality controls all help to ensure that student performance meets expectations that are typical of those at highly competitive colleges.  Scarsdale High School evaluates the results of AT courses through a continuing assessment of student learning in high school, of placement and performance in college, and through alumni feedback surveys; thus the courses are responsive to continually evolving college expectations.

    AT courses help prepare students for Advanced Placement examinations where they align with the content of AP courses.  While there are areas of convergence between AT courses and their AP analogs, AT courses may not exhaustively cover all the topics on an AP exam.  We believe our approach balances coverage of material with a commitment to student-centered discussion, in-depth study, analytical work, and independent research. The school provides added support for students who wish to take AP exams and advises students how to undertake sustained study on their own.