Last semester, Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology becoming a class at Woodside was nothing more than a rumor, one that has now been debunked. In the 2025-2026 school year, AP Psychology will become a class students can take as an elective.
The department chair for the social studies department, Ramie Macioce, advocated for AP Psychology becoming an elective next year. According to Macioce, there were many students who enjoyed the regular psychology class.
“It really came from the students,” Macioce said. “They were loving the semester-long psych class and were asking to take it. I think [AP Psychology] will be very valuable, because it can be very introspective and students can learn a lot about themselves.”
Even though student interest was the main reason the course was brought up, according to principle Karen van Putten, the teachers who taught it pushed for AP Psychology too.
“Students expressed great interest in the one semester psychology course we offered, taught by Kathleen Coughlin and Pilla Zargar in recent years, and they often expressed wanting to learn more,” van Putten said. “I credit both teachers for their commitment to providing students with an engaging curriculum that inspired many of them to ask about adding AP Psychology. Teachers supported the inclusion of the course, seeing how it complements subjects like biology and history.”
AP Psychology was already approved within the district. Macioce said all they needed was to get the administration team on board with the idea of it becoming a course here at Woodside.
“Our department really wanted to see [AP Psychology] come to Woodside,” Macioce said. “The main thing we had to do was get our administration team on board with it.”
Matthew Austin, who was previously interested in teaching psychology, is going to be the teacher for the AP Psychology class next year and has plans on what to cover.
“There are so many interesting things to cover: we learn about the process of learning, identity formation, personality disorders and treatment, the effects of substances on the brain, the history of psychology and how it developed as a field of study, landmark research studies, research methods, how to read published studies and data sets,” Austin said. “The limitations of the psychology, and many, many more things that are applicable to the human experience.”
According to Austin, the addition of AP psychology to Woodside will benefit the entire school and anyone who takes it. He also agrees it will be a valuable asset to Woodside’s community.
“I believe that anyone can benefit from learning about psychology, as we all observe our own thoughts and behaviors and sometimes struggle with them. Everyone has personal experience with much of the content,” Austin said. “A school in which students understand the learning process, causes behind emotions, and how to leverage this knowledge for personal growth is a good school to attend. An added benefit to students is that they get college credit while growing their academic skills and critical thinking.”
