College Board to Expand AP Cybersecurity With Cisco Training
College Board to Expand AP Cybersecurity With Cisco Training
https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/college-board-to-expand-ap-cybersecurity-with-cisco-training
Publish Date: 2026-05-21 19:29:00
Source Domain: www.govtech.com
The College Board is adding locations and vendor-specific lessons in Cisco technology to its Advanced Placement (AP) Cybersecurity course for the 2026-27 school year.
As part of the College Board’s AP Career Kickstart initiative to tailor new courses to specific career and technical education programs, the cybersecurity course was piloted in the 2025-26 school year with 3,100 students in 183 schools across 30 states, according to a blog post today on Cisco’s website. Now, the College Board is hoping to offer it in 800 schools.
Jennifer Mulhern, vice president of AP Program Access, said much of the course content will remain consistent with the pilot year. Students will continue to receive a broad introduction to cybersecurity, including securing networks, devices and data, detecting attacks and responding to threats.
New to this year is a partnership with Cisco, which will provide instructional resources, labs and lesson plans that align with its own entry-level cybersecurity certification. This will give AP Cybersecurity students the option to earn either college credit by taking the AP test, or a workforce credential by taking the Cisco Certified Support Technician exam.
“In modern education today … you want to create a lot of accessibility, you want to create a multitude of entry points, but you also want a journey of quests of different areas where you can validate your skills,” said Ryan Rose, Cisco’s director of product management for skills and certifications. “You want things that open more doors for you, not close them.”
Mulhern said teacher preparation is central to the expansion, especially because cybersecurity courses remain uncommon in high schools. Around 4 percent of U.S. high schoolers had access to cybersecurity education in 2025, according to ed-tech analyst Phil Hill.
Meanwhile, the demand for cybersecurity talent is growing. According to workforce research from…
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