By Uy Pham
Next school year, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) will participate in the pilot program for the new AP Cybersecurity pathway developed within The College Board’s new AP Career Kickstart initiative. The two-year pathway will consist of two courses, AP Cyber: Networking and AP Cyber: Security, taught by computer science teacher Eddie Lavrov.
The College Board’s AP Career Kickstart aims to combine career technical education (CTE) with AP’s model of offering college-level courses at high schools. Similar to CTE, Career Kickstart is developing courses focusing on high-demand, high-wage careers and industries where earning a bachelor’s degree is not required.
Cybersecurity is a growing field and will be the first two-course pathway piloted in The College Board’s new initiative. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 33% job growth — classified as much faster than average — in information security in the next decade. AP Career Kickstart’s plans include creating pathways for business and personal finance, health sciences and information technology.
“Cybersecurity is an area of high need … Everything’s on the Internet now. If it’s not configured correctly, bad actors can take over those things and mess up your network,” Lavrov said. “In the last 10 or 15 years, companies have been thinking about cybersecurity just as an expense. But there’s a lot of hacks and breaches, with millions of dollars in losses, and now companies are like, ‘I don’t want that to happen to me.’”
In 2021-2022, Califonia spent $300 million expanding CTE education statewide, and this represents a growing trend to provide high school students with the opportunities to explore a wide range of postsecondary options. At FVHS, CTE pathways include fashion design and legal practices, but options across the Huntington Beach Union High School District range from sustainable agriculture to automobile technology and welding.
As a two-year pathway, AP Cybersecurity courses aim to build from conceptual understanding to practical application. Topics explored in the first course, AP Cyper: Networking, include IP address configuration and local area network configuration. AP Cyper: Security, the second course, focuses on applying the knowledge in the first course to configuring security controls, encrypting data, and detecting and responding to cyberattacks.
“AP Cyber: Networking is going to deal with communication between computers and what that entails, through physical cables but also software and protocols,” Lavrov said. “After you learn how computers communicate, you work towards AP Cyber: Security, where you talk about how to secure communication between computers and access to areas of the computer and network.”
Just like other courses offered by The College Board, there will be a cumulative AP exam administered in May, and depending on the institution, students may be awarded various levels of college credit for qualifying scores on the AP Cybersecurity exams.
Although the exam’s format will be released later in 2025, for the pilot year, students who earn a “qualifying score” will receive a free voucher for CompTIA. According to Lavrov, CompTIA is recognized as the industry certification for cybersecurity, and the voucher will allow students to take the certification test without paying hundreds of dollars in usual costs.
To join the pilot for the AP Cybersecurity pathway, FVHS applied to The College Board and demonstrated experience in the field. Lavrov looks forward to building on his past career experience to his teachings in the course, including relating class content to his work experiences and how he responded to network outages.
“Prior to teaching, I worked at a software company, and I got hired as their network administrator … They had about 100 computers in the office. My job was to make sure their Internet was working,” Lavrov said. “I started training customers in how to use our software, and that’s where I got the teaching bug … I think it’s a good opportunity for students to take courses here with me since I have actual real-life work experience in doing these things.”
As a pilot course, FVHS has a unique opportunity to provide direct feedback to The College Board in the initial stages of the pathway’s development. In the class, students can look forward to hands-on activities and exploring the connections of cybersecurity to their lives — from Amazon Alexas and Google Homes to garage doors, refrigerators and dog feeders.
Lavrov confirms there are no official academic or grade-level prerequisites for students interested in joining the pilot. Despite cybersecurity being a growing industry with increasing job opportunities, Lavrov advises that students’ maturity is essential.
“When you’re doing cybersecurity, you can potentially have access to information and abilities to do things that others can’t do. And that takes a responsibility,” Lavrov said. “We’re going to do stuff with computers that you normally wouldn’t get to do. You may even learn things you could bring to secure your house and your life … It’s a very exciting area to be in, and it’s something I like to do.”
