This session AP Cybersecurity is offered IN PERSON in Week 2: June 22-25, 2026 at Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia.

Meet your APSI Consultant for AP Cybersecurity – Consultant Information coming soon!!
APSI Course Description:
Over four days, participants will:
  • Explore course structure through guided unit unpacking, digging into what each unit covers while examining the goals, key concepts, and teaching strategies within each one.
  • Engage in model lessons and instructional activities that teachers can adapt and implement in their own classrooms.
  • Collaborate with peers and facilitators to reflect on instructional approaches and consider ways to apply new strategies in their local contexts.
  • Plan next steps for applying insights from the institute to their own teaching practice.
Note: APSI participation does not include access to a full curriculum or daily lesson plans. Instead, participants will explore available instructional resources, frameworks, and sample materials that support their own course design.
Who Should Attend
These APSIs are ideal for:
  • Educators preparing to teach AP Cybersecurity for the first time.
  • Returning AP Cybersecurity teachers seeking updated content, strategies, and peer collaboration.
  • Teachers interested in emphasizing practical, career-connected learning within AP instruction.

APSI PREWORK FOR AP CYBERSECURITY

Access College Board Platforms
Please make sure you can access each of the College Board platforms listed below. These platforms will be accessed and referenced during your institute. If you have trouble accessing any of these platforms, please send an email to the appropriate email address listed in each description. 
Complete Course Audit
If you haven’t completed the Course Audit yet, please go to collegeboard.org, sign in with your EPL email address and password, and access the Course Audit section from your dashboard. For more information about the process, visit the Course Audit overview page. If you cannot find your school or course during the Course Audit process, please email careerkickstartpilots@collegeboard.org as soon as possible. You must complete Course Audit to access AP Classroom.
 Access AP Classroom
After completing Course Audit, log in to AP Classroom to access your core course materials. After 7/1/26, you’ll find:
  • Updated Career Kickstart™ (CK)-provided lesson plans.
  • Sample assessment questions.
  • Professional skills resources.
Participants attending an APSI prior to 7/1/26 will receive their materials in a separate folder during the APSI.
 If you cannot access AP Classroom, please ensure you have completed Course Audit. If you still have trouble, please email careerkickstartpilots@collegeboard.org. 
 Access Important Tools
We will be reviewing a number of digital materials during the institute that require access to specific software and websites. Please ensure your laptop is able to access the listed tools before the institute begins so you can fully participate in each session.
  1. Download and install Cisco Packet Tracer. To learn more, view Getting Started with Packet Tracer course from Cisco’s Skills for All platform. Please be sure you can open the program once it is installed on the machine.
  2. Ask your school/district to whitelist the following domains:
APSI SESSION AGENDA
The institute is a four-day, all-day professional learning experience designed to support teachers in preparing to teach the course with confidence.
  • In-person daily hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  • Each day includes two scheduled 15-minute breaks and a 1-hour lunch break.
  • Participants should also plan for an hour of asynchronous work after the in-person day ends.
CEUs
Participation in the full four-day institute results in 3 CEUs. CEUs are calculated using a national standard: 1 CEU equals 10 contact hours of instructional time. Participants will receive a certificate of completion via email on the final day of the institute.
Please note that facilitators are unable to provide make-up instruction for participants who miss content due to other obligations. To receive a certificate of completion, participants must complete the full 30 hours of instructional time. Attendance is recorded each morning and afternoon throughout the institute.
Agenda Overview
weekly agenda screenshot
ABOUT AP CYBERSECURITY
Cybersecurity is a high-demand, high-growth field with well-paid, entry-level positions and more than 500,000 open jobs across the U.S. Yet fewer than 4% of high school students have access to cybersecurity training in their school.1 2 AP Cybersecurity will help meet this vital need by introducing students to foundational concepts and skills they can apply to cybersecurity roles and a range of related career paths.
AP Cybersecurity is a yearlong high school course that offers a broad introduction to the field and aligns closely with a college-level, introductory cybersecurity course. Students learn about common threats and vulnerabilities and how they combine to create risk. Students study how individuals and organizations manage risk and how risk can be mitigated through a defense-in-depth strategy. Students explore specific vulnerabilities, attacks, mitigations, and detection measures across a variety of domains including physical spaces, computer networks, devices, and data and applications. Throughout the course, students consider the impact of cybersecurity on individuals, organizations, societies, and governments. Content and skills taught in the course align with the professional skills outlined in the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Workforce Framework. 
AP Cybersecurity is part of the AP Career Kickstart™ group of courses, which are designed to accelerate high school students on their paths to in-demand careers.
AP Cybersecurity Course Framework 
The course framework is organized into five units that reflect key domains of cybersecurity knowledge and practice: 
  • Unit 1: Introduction to Security
  • Unit 2: Securing Spaces
  • Unit 3: Securing Networks
  • Unit 4: Securing Devices
  • Unit 5: Securing Applications and Data
Unit scenarios throughout the course offer authentic cybersecurity situations that help students apply their developing knowledge and skills to relevant, real-world applications. 
Course Skills
The AP Cybersecurity course framework outlines course skills that are critical to the deep understanding and application of cybersecurity knowledge and practice. Students should develop and use these skills throughout the course.  
 
Skill Category 1
Skill Category 2
Skill Category 3
Skill Category 4
 
Analyze Risk   Evaluate risk to organizational assets.   
Mitigate Risk  Implement protective and deterrent security controls.   
Detect Attacks  Implement detection methods, monitor systems, and analyze evidence.   
Collaborate  Work with others and AI to accomplish a task.   
Communicating concepts  Explain key cybersecurity concepts   
1.A Identify, with and without the support of AI, vulnerabilities, threats, and attack methods, and explain how they generate risk.   
2.A Identify security controls, and explain how they mitigate risks.  
3.A Identify methods for monitoring systems, and explain how they detect attacks.   
4.A Develop clear, shared team objectives related to a cybersecurity task.   
Investigating problemsExplore the parameters of a problem to plan for solutions   
1.B Determine ways adversaries exploit vulnerabilities to compromise an asset.     
2.B Determine layered security controls that address vulnerabilities.     
3.B Determine strategies and methods to detect attacks.  
4.B Determine clear roles and responsibilities for members of a team working to accomplish a cybersecurity task.  
Assessing impacts Evaluate impact on systems   
1.C Evaluate, with and without the support of AI, the likelihood and impact of risks.     
2.C Evaluate, with and without the support of AI, the impact of protective risk-management strategies.       
3.C Evaluate the impact of threat detection methods.  
4.C Implement AI as a collaboration tool individually and as a group.  
Enacting solutions  Apply and communicate solutions   
1.D Document, with and without the support of AI, the likelihood and impact of risks.   
2.D Implement and log mitigations with and without the support of AI.  
3.D Detect and classify cyberattacks by analyzing digital evidence with and without the support of AI.  
4.D Complete assigned work to accomplish a collaborative cybersecurity task.   
2026 WaltonAPSI / AP Cybersecurity