By Stephanie Nguyen
Being an AP Kickstart course, AP Business with Personal Finance is a new class designed to introduce students to entrepreneurship, accounting, marketing, and other skills considered to be in high demand for a career in business, finance and marketing. Like all other AP Kickstart courses, such as AP Networking, it’s designed to build both technical knowledge and hands-on skills.
It’s also equivalent to a college-level and semester-long Introduction to Business course, and there will be an AP exam in May. If a student earns a passing score on the exam and the end-of-year Business Canvas Project, they can receive an AP Business with Personal Finance credential. According to the Collegeboard, the credential is meant to show employers that the recipient has learned skills such as creating effective marketing campaigns and developing profitable goods and services, which are considered fundamental to the industry.
Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, it will be offered as an elective at Fountain Valley High School for all grade levels with no prerequisites. However, it’s not part of the Entrepreneurship CTE Pathway, which offers Entrepreneurship I and Honors Entrepreneurship as the available courses. Instead, it will be available as the first class in the newly added Financial Services CTE pathway. Casey Harelson, the Guidance Assistant Principal, has confirmed that Economics teacher Joshua Alvaro will be teaching the class.
“We have a lot of student demand/requests, which is ultimately the reason we’ll run the class next year,” Harelson wrote in an email to Baron Banner. He added that electives typically won’t run if demand is insufficient.
Alvaro has also said in a separate email that there was a desire to bring the rigor and recognition typically associated with AP classes to the business department.
“I believe this is the first time a class specifically identified as business has got the AP treatment,” Alvaro said. “With the AP treatment comes the AP recognition.”
