Westridge has given Ethics class Advanced course designation this year, recognizing it among the most rigorous courses at Westridge. The class is largely the same as past Ethics courses—the amount of reading is the same but the class is going deeper in the texts and students are given more control and agency in assignments.

Gone are the days of prioritizing quantity over a high-quality creative process in art class. Since Westridge replaced AP Art in 2013 with Advanced Art Studio Practicum and Intensive—a pair of conceptually-driven courses that have evolved to become part of the Westridge Advanced Courses program—student artists have expanded their focus to developing their unique voices and exploring how their art fits into the cultural and historical context of the art world, all while undertaking a college-level art practice.

Students in Upper School Mandarin Teacher Lily Shang's Advanced Chinese Language & Culture Study delved deep into legend, history, and culture to present on the evolution of Chinese characters—a culmination of their weeks-long study into the origin and meaning of the written language.

During their first quarter this fall, Upper School students in Full Stack Web Development class put their coding skills to the test by creating websites that solve a problem or address a need in their lives. Working on their front-end web development skills using the CSS programming language, students used what they learned to visually present information in an aesthetically pleasing form, according to Upper School Math Teacher Dan Calmeyer. The websites focused on everything from a journalism portfolio, crochet compilation, and a group of potential chess opening moves to a list of recipes, an outfit selector (inspired by the 1995 film "Clueless"), and an event website.

Conversations around deeper learning are energizing the curriculum and academics alike at Westridge this year. It’s a topic at the heart of the school’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, and work is happening in every nook and cranny of campus. Jal Mehta, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a leading researcher in the field, says, “Deeper learning is the understanding of not just the surface features of a subject or discipline, but the underlying structures or ideas.” 

The curriculum for Latin IV Vergil: From Olympus to the Underworld is student-centered, focused on topics and themes selected to capture student interest while maintaining the rigor of an advanced course. 

Crisis & Courage builds on the foundation of The Modern World System to provide a deep dive into the structures of the modern and contemporary world during periods of colonialism, revolution, industrialization.

The entire 10th grade class gathered on Herrick Quad last week to discuss foreign policy and employ diplomacy as they navigated peace and war amongst the nations they were representing for a World War I simulation, building on their learning in Crisis and Courage in Global History.

The new Advanced Cultural Studies in Spanish course replaced AP Spanish Language & Culture this fall with an emphasis on an exploration of the interplay of history, culture, and contemporary issues across the Spanish-speaking world.

Full Stack Web Development is a new Westridge Advanced Course that expands the school’s computer science curriculum beyond offerings available in Advanced Placement (AP) program to a level uncommon in high schools today outside of STEM magnet programs.