Academics
A four-year program, built for university
Courup's curriculum is a complete grades 9–12 sequence aligned to the University of California A–G framework — broad in the early years, genuinely specialized by the end.
Structure
Breadth first, then depth
The early years build a broad foundation. From Grade 10, students concentrate their electives; by Grade 12 they are doing genuinely advanced work in one or two areas. As the curriculum develops, AP coursework is designed to be available from Grade 9 onward, subject to placement.
Foundation
Full core load, the academic writing sequence, weekly advisory, and an optional introductory Courup Project. Interests are explored rather than declared.
Direction
Core continues. Students choose an interest pathway and take their first electives within it.
Depth
Advanced and college-level coursework in the pathway. The major Courup Project begins. College counseling intensifies.
Culmination
Capstone work, remaining advanced courses, Courup Project showcase, and university applications.
The Program
Six components of a Courup education
General Education
Requirements across six areas — English, Mathematics, Laboratory Science, History & Social Science, World Languages, and Visual & Performing Arts — following the University of California A–G course pattern used by US universities.
Interest Pathways
From Grade 10, students select one or two concentrations and build electives around them, producing real depth rather than a scattered transcript.
Academic Writing
A four-year writing spine. Grade 9 focuses on structure, evidence, and revision; later years move toward research writing and argument at university level.
The Courup Project — honors track
An optional honors track of independent, mentored work — research, software builds, competitions, or community initiatives — scaffolded from a small Grade 9 project to a substantial Grade 11–12 undertaking.
Character & Habits
Weekly advisory teaching time management, study strategy, academic honesty, collaboration, and digital citizenship — explicitly, with feedback.
College Counseling
Begins in Grade 9 with course planning and interest mapping, developing into application strategy, essay work, and university selection by Grade 11.
Grade 9
A sample course of study: Grade 9
Full-time students take seven courses plus weekly advisory at every grade level. Placement in mathematics and world language is set by the admissions assessment, so students are challenged rather than repeated or overwhelmed.
| Subject area | Grade 9 course | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| English | English 9: Literature & Composition | Close reading across genres, paragraph and essay structure, evidence, revision |
| Mathematics | Algebra I or Geometry (by placement) | Algebraic reasoning, functions, proof, problem-solving fluency |
| Laboratory Science | Biology | Cells, genetics, evolution, ecology, with structured lab work and write-ups |
| History & Social Science | World History & Geography | Sources, causation, and argument from the early modern period forward |
| World Language | French I (or another language by placement) | Communicative proficiency and cultural literacy |
| Writing | Creative Writing | Weekly writing with line-level instructor feedback, returned within a week |
| Elective | Psychology (Social Science pathway) | Exploration ahead of pathway selection in Grade 10 |
| Advisory | Grade 9 Advisory | Study habits, workload planning, collaboration, digital citizenship |
Placement in mathematics and world language is set by the entrance examination rather than by age or prior grade. Equivalent core loads apply in grades 10–12, with electives replacing exploration as students enter an interest pathway.
From Grade 10
Interest pathways
Students concentrate their electives in one or two areas. Ninth graders explore all six through advisory and elective sampling before choosing.
STEM
Areas: life sciences, physics, engineering, computer science, applied mathematics.
For students drawn to building, modeling, and experimenting their way to an answer.
Social Science
Areas: psychology, sociology, political science, anthropology, linguistics.
For students who want to understand why people and societies behave as they do.
Humanities
Areas: literature, history, philosophy, art history, creative writing.
For students who think through reading, argument, and expression.
Economics & Business
Areas: economics, finance, entrepreneurship, management, data analysis.
For students interested in how markets, organizations, and incentives work.
Athletics & Performance
Areas: for students training seriously in sport or the performing arts.
Coursework, scheduling, and counseling built around a demanding training or rehearsal calendar.
Undeclared
Areas: open.
Students who are not ready to narrow can build a deliberately broad elective load without penalty.
Advanced Placement
Built to incorporate AP coursework
The College Board's Advanced Placement program comprises 42 subjects. Courup's curriculum is being designed to incorporate AP coursework as the school's course offering develops — including making it available from Grade 9 where a student's placement supports it, rather than making a capable ninth grader wait two years for work that would challenge them.
Placement, not grade level
The design principle is that entry to advanced coursework is decided by the entrance examination and by your advisor's reading of your preparation — not by which year you happen to be in.
Taught in the same seminars
AP coursework is planned to run as 50-minute live seminars capped at eight students, like every other Courup course. More demanding, not more crowded.
Exams optional
We intend to support registration for the May AP examinations and prepare students for them, but course credit on a Courup transcript will not depend on sitting the exam.
Across every discipline
The AP catalog spans the arts, English, history and social sciences, mathematics and computer science, the sciences, and world languages and cultures. Courup intends to build its AP offering around student demand each year, and will confirm which courses run before enrollment closes.
- Mathematics and computer science — for example AP Precalculus, Calculus AB and BC, Statistics, and Computer Science
- Sciences — Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and the Physics sequence
- History and social sciences — for example World History, US History, Psychology, and both Economics courses
- English, the arts, and world languages and cultures
The AP Capstone Diploma program
Two of the 42 subjects form the College Board's AP Capstone program, and they sit unusually close to how Courup already teaches.
- AP Seminar — students investigate real-world questions from multiple perspectives, then argue their position in writing and in presentations
- AP Research — students design and carry out a year-long independent investigation and defend it orally
The Courup Project is designed around these two courses. As AP Capstone is introduced, students on our honors track will follow the AP Seminar and AP Research sequence, placing them on the AP Capstone pathway. Students who earn scores of 3 or higher in both, and on four further AP exams, become eligible for the College Board's AP Capstone Diploma.
AP coursework is part of Courup's planned curriculum. Offering courses under the AP designation requires authorization from the College Board through the AP Course Audit, and AP Capstone requires separate authorization; Courup's applications are in progress. Course availability will vary by year and by enrollment, and the admissions team can tell you exactly which courses are confirmed for the coming year. AP, Advanced Placement, and AP Capstone are registered trademarks of the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse Courup School.
Upper Grades
Depth in the final years
By Grades 11 and 12, a student's timetable should contain work that is genuinely difficult in their area of strength — the kind of work that makes a university application legible.
- Advanced coursework across mathematics, sciences, humanities, and social sciences, with AP courses planned
- Advanced and college-level options within a 120+ course catalog
- External examination registration supported, though not required for course credit
- A capstone Courup Project supervised by a faculty mentor, for students on the honors track
All faculty hold a master's degree or higher. The full advanced course list is available from the admissions team on request.
How courses are taught
- 50-minute live seminars capped at eight students, 1:6 ratio overall
- English and Mathematics meet 3× a week; other courses meet 2×
- Sections in the Americas, Europe/Africa, and Asia-Pacific time bands
- All sessions recorded for review
- Weekly instructor office hours in multiple time slots, and an advisor check-in every two weeks
- Every assessment graded by the instructor — objective tests included — and returned within one week
- Proctored examinations for major assessments
- Specialist mentoring for Courup Project work
Honors Track
The Courup Project — our AP Capstone pathway
An optional honors track for students who want to graduate with more than a transcript. It is designed around the College Board's AP Capstone program: as AP Capstone is introduced, a student who enrolls in the Courup Project will follow the AP Seminar and AP Research sequence and be on the AP Capstone pathway by default — no separate sign-up, and no risk of discovering in Grade 12 that the door has closed.
Foundation year
A scaffolded introductory project: choose a question, do the reading, produce something, and present it to your peers. Not yet an AP course — this is where most students work out what they actually care about, and it builds the habits AP Seminar will ask for.
AP Seminar
The first AP Capstone course. Students investigate a topic from several perspectives, write research-based essays, and deliver both individual and team presentations. A full-year course carrying its own AP score.
AP Research
The second AP Capstone course, taken after AP Seminar. Students design, run, and defend a year-long independent investigation on a topic of their choosing, supervised by a faculty mentor.
What the Courup Project can look like
Within AP Research, the investigation is the student's to define. In practice our students take one of four broad shapes:
- Research — original investigation in a chosen field, mentored by faculty and, where appropriate, external academic advisors
- Competitions — work developed for academic olympiads, debate, and subject competitions
- Build & analyze — software, hardware, or data projects that solve a defined problem and are demonstrated publicly
- Community initiative — identify a real need, design a response, run it, and report honestly on what worked
Every project is presented at the end-of-year showcase, whatever shape it takes.
Two awards you become eligible for
Once AP Capstone is running, completing the track puts the College Board's two awards within reach. Both depend on examination scores, not on enrollment alone.
- AP Seminar and Research Certificate — scores of 3 or higher in AP Seminar and AP Research
- AP Capstone Diploma — scores of 3 or higher in AP Seminar and AP Research and on four further AP exams, which may be taken at any point in high school
Because the curriculum is designed to open AP coursework from Grade 9, students on this track should have those four additional exams well in hand by Grade 12 rather than scrambling for them at the end.
The Courup Project is optional; the Courup diploma does not depend on it, and students may join or leave the track at the end of any academic year. AP Seminar must be taken before AP Research, and each is a full-year course. The AP Capstone element depends on College Board authorization of the school, for which our application is in progress; until it is granted, the honors track runs as a mentored independent project. AP, Advanced Placement, and AP Capstone are registered trademarks of the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse Courup School.
The Learning Platform
Everything in one place
- Live interactive seminars
- Recorded session library
- Interactive e-textbooks
- Practice problem banks
- Written instructor feedback
- Progress tracking
- Peer discussion spaces
- Proctored assessment
- Advising and office-hour booking
- Family progress reports
Questions about the curriculum?
Our academic team is happy to walk through the course catalog and placement process with your family.