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"John is amazing. So well prepared, professional, calm and knowledgeable. He stayed focused on his job of helping us learn and built a nice community in the room."
"John is a fantastic presenter. He has a deep working knowledge of AP administration and the thinking behind the test. John shared a lot of practical insight and tips for student engagement. He is extremely kind, positive and helped me feel prepared and excited to take this new course on!" - 2026 APSI Participants |
John Cook
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John Cook, Ed.D. is a high school business, accounting, and economics teacher in Savannah, Georgia, where he teaches at a Title I public high school. He has 17 years of classroom experience teaching courses including AP Macroeconomics, accounting, and financial literacy.
John holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a Doctor of Education from Georgia Southern University. Before entering education, he worked in banking, an experience that continues to shape his approach to teaching markets, risk, and decision-making. He currently serves as department chair and FBLA advisor, with a focus on building strong, hands-on programs that connect coursework to real-world applications.
He is deeply involved with the College Board, having served as an AP Macroeconomics Reader for 14 years. John has also contributed to the development of AP Business with Personal Finance in multiple roles, including work on the course framework, Project-Based Learning and Assessment Development committees, and as a Course Ambassador.
John is well known for coaching student teams in competitive stock market simulations, emphasizing disciplined risk-taking and strategic thinking. His teams have earned multiple state and national titles, including a first-place national finish in the Capitol Hill Challenge. In 2013, he was named Georgia Economics Teacher of the Year.
John lives with his wife Kirstin and daughter Taylor (7) in Savannah, and enjoys biking, live music and chess in his spare time.
John holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a Doctor of Education from Georgia Southern University. Before entering education, he worked in banking, an experience that continues to shape his approach to teaching markets, risk, and decision-making. He currently serves as department chair and FBLA advisor, with a focus on building strong, hands-on programs that connect coursework to real-world applications.
He is deeply involved with the College Board, having served as an AP Macroeconomics Reader for 14 years. John has also contributed to the development of AP Business with Personal Finance in multiple roles, including work on the course framework, Project-Based Learning and Assessment Development committees, and as a Course Ambassador.
John is well known for coaching student teams in competitive stock market simulations, emphasizing disciplined risk-taking and strategic thinking. His teams have earned multiple state and national titles, including a first-place national finish in the Capitol Hill Challenge. In 2013, he was named Georgia Economics Teacher of the Year.
John lives with his wife Kirstin and daughter Taylor (7) in Savannah, and enjoys biking, live music and chess in his spare time.
WHY PROJECT BASED LEARNING
Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.
The AP Business with Personal Finance is a new, year-long Advanced Placement course launching in the 2026-27 school year that blends core business principles with essential personal financial literacy. It is part of the College Board's AP Career Kickstart program and was developed in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The AP Business with Personal Finance is a new, year-long Advanced Placement course launching in the 2026-27 school year that blends core business principles with essential personal financial literacy. It is part of the College Board's AP Career Kickstart program and was developed in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
How the PBL Series Works
- 4 days of online or in-person professional learning during an AP Summer Institute
- Up to 5 online support sessions throughout the school year
- Access to project implementation guides aligned to the course framework
Course Highlights
Day 1 Morning
Topics: 1.1 Value Creation & Capture, 1.2 Markets & Competitive Advantage, 1.3 PESTEL, 1.4 How Business Ideas Originate
Opens with introductions, APSI expectations, and a CED scavenger hunt to orient participants to the course framework and available resources. Content instruction covers value creation and capture, market structures and barriers to entry, PESTEL analysis, and entrepreneurial design thinking. Activities include a consumer surplus pie chart exercise, market share estimation with spreadsheets, and an MVP comic strip for goods vs. services.
Day 1 Afternoon
Topics: 1.5 Vision & Mission, 1.6 Business Ethics & Stakeholders, 1.7 Organization & Supply Chain, 1.8 Supply Chain Resources
Covers vision and mission statements, business ethics and stakeholder analysis, organizational structure, and supply chain planning. Includes a Volkswagen ethics case study, a business types drag-and-drop, and the Louisville Slugger supply chain activity. Remaining time used for AP exam MCQ and FRQ practice. Evening homework: Unit 1 CED review and MCQ practice set (~60 min).
Day 2 Morning
Topics: 2.1 Resources & Target Customer Profile, Business Canvas Project Orientation, 2.2 Consumer Buying Decisions, 2.3 Market Research & Data Visualization (Part 1)
Opens with a Unit 1 homework debrief, then introduces target customer profiling and the Business Canvas Project. Participants work through the EcoSlurp Canvas validation FRQ scoring exercise and apply Cialdini's Principles of Influence to a real marketing challenge. Hypothesis testing is introduced as a through-course skill, and market research and data visualization begin before the break.
Day 2 Afternoon
Topics: 2.3 (cont.), 2.4 Product Life Cycle, 2.5 Pricing Strategy, 2.6–2.7 Distribution & Promotional Mix, 3.1 Saving, 3.2 Consumer Borrowing
Completes market research with a CableFusion FRQ scoring exercise, then moves through the product life cycle, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and the promotional mix. Closes with Unit 3 Part 1 personal finance content on saving vehicles and consumer borrowing, followed by personal finance FRQ scoring practice. Evening homework: Unit 2 MCQ set and one FRQ attempt (~60 min).
Day 3 Morning
Topics: 3.4 Startup Expenses, 3.5 Sources of Financial Capital, 3.6 Income Statements
Opens with group scoring of the Day 2 FRQ homework. Covers startup expense classification, sources of financial capital (debt vs. equity), and income statement construction. Activities include the Guess That Startup Cost! game, a Shark Tank funding pitch discussion, and two rounds of income statement practice including profit margin ratio calculations.
Day 3 Afternoon
Topics: 3.7 Balance Sheets & Accounting Equation, 3.8 Cash Flow, 3.9 Financial Ethics, CTSO Alignment
Begins with a brief CTSO alignment overview, then spends the bulk of the session on the accounting equation, balance sheets, and business transaction analysis using the DK Coffee Lab case study (startup and Q1 transactions, full financial statement build). Closes with the cash flow statement, a brief treatment of financial ethics, and the Day 3 homework assignment. Evening homework: profit margins problem set and one Unit 3 FRQ attempt (~60 min).
Day 4 Morning
Topics: 4.1 Human Resources, 4.2 KPIs, 4.3 Business Decision Making / PACED (Part 1)
Opens with scoring of the Day 3 homework. Covers human resources functions and job posting analysis, then moves into a substantial KPI block including a dashboard matching activity, industry KPI analysis, and a PBL Implementation Guide walkthrough. The PACED decision-making framework is introduced before the break with an opening scenario.
Day 4 Afternoon
Topics: 4.3 PACED (cont.), 4.4 Porter's Five Forces & SWOT, Unit 5 Overview, Course Audit & Next Steps
Completes PACED with ROI calculations and AP exam practice, then covers Porter's Five Forces, SWOT analysis, and a Business Decision FRQ scoring walkthrough. Unit 5 personal finance topics (taxes, the Financial Advisor Project, and insurance) are surveyed as non-exam content supporting state graduation requirements. Closes with an AP Course Audit walkthrough, next steps for course adoption, and the APSI participant survey. Post-institute homework: Course Audit syllabus draft and first-unit pacing (~60 min).
- AP Business with Personal Finance is a project-driven course that immerses students in the world of business through entrepreneurship, marketing, financial management, and strategic decision-making. Students develop their own business ideas using a design-thinking process, building out every dimension — from identifying customer problems and crafting value propositions to designing supply chains, setting pricing strategies, and creating marketing campaigns. Along the way, they learn how businesses operate within competitive markets shaped by political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) forces, and they apply frameworks like Porter's Five Forces and SWOT analysis to evaluate real business challenges.
The course also equips students with essential personal finance knowledge, covering saving, borrowing, investing, insurance, taxes, and budgeting. Students learn to read and interpret financial statements — income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements — for both business and personal decision-making. Throughout the course, students practice five core skill categories: concept application, entrepreneurship, decision-making, communication, and collaboration, preparing them to think critically about both the businesses they build and the financial choices they'll face in their own lives. - During our AP Summer Institute we will have three main areas of focus:
1) The course framework. We will analyze and engage with the document outlining what students of this class are expected to know after they take it. By the end of the week a major goal is for participants to have familiarity with the content of this course.
2) The project-based learning curriculum. The College Board has had a committee (of which I am a member) working for over two years to develop course activities/lessons/projects for this course. We will explore many of these activities, demonstrate them, do them as though we were students, and come away with both a large quantity of suggested activities for all five units, AND sufficient exposure to those activities to set participants up for successfully using them in class.
3) The AP exam. We will use the AP Classroom test bank for this course to gain an understanding of what the multiple choice and free response sections of the AP exam will look like. Participants will get practice both answering and scoring these questions. We will discuss how free response questions are scored by the College Board, and will use their rubrics to score responses. By the conclusion of the AP Summer Institute, participants will have a good working knowledge of what is included on this exam and how to best prepare students for it.
Day 1 Morning
Topics: 1.1 Value Creation & Capture, 1.2 Markets & Competitive Advantage, 1.3 PESTEL, 1.4 How Business Ideas Originate
Opens with introductions, APSI expectations, and a CED scavenger hunt to orient participants to the course framework and available resources. Content instruction covers value creation and capture, market structures and barriers to entry, PESTEL analysis, and entrepreneurial design thinking. Activities include a consumer surplus pie chart exercise, market share estimation with spreadsheets, and an MVP comic strip for goods vs. services.
Day 1 Afternoon
Topics: 1.5 Vision & Mission, 1.6 Business Ethics & Stakeholders, 1.7 Organization & Supply Chain, 1.8 Supply Chain Resources
Covers vision and mission statements, business ethics and stakeholder analysis, organizational structure, and supply chain planning. Includes a Volkswagen ethics case study, a business types drag-and-drop, and the Louisville Slugger supply chain activity. Remaining time used for AP exam MCQ and FRQ practice. Evening homework: Unit 1 CED review and MCQ practice set (~60 min).
Day 2 Morning
Topics: 2.1 Resources & Target Customer Profile, Business Canvas Project Orientation, 2.2 Consumer Buying Decisions, 2.3 Market Research & Data Visualization (Part 1)
Opens with a Unit 1 homework debrief, then introduces target customer profiling and the Business Canvas Project. Participants work through the EcoSlurp Canvas validation FRQ scoring exercise and apply Cialdini's Principles of Influence to a real marketing challenge. Hypothesis testing is introduced as a through-course skill, and market research and data visualization begin before the break.
Day 2 Afternoon
Topics: 2.3 (cont.), 2.4 Product Life Cycle, 2.5 Pricing Strategy, 2.6–2.7 Distribution & Promotional Mix, 3.1 Saving, 3.2 Consumer Borrowing
Completes market research with a CableFusion FRQ scoring exercise, then moves through the product life cycle, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and the promotional mix. Closes with Unit 3 Part 1 personal finance content on saving vehicles and consumer borrowing, followed by personal finance FRQ scoring practice. Evening homework: Unit 2 MCQ set and one FRQ attempt (~60 min).
Day 3 Morning
Topics: 3.4 Startup Expenses, 3.5 Sources of Financial Capital, 3.6 Income Statements
Opens with group scoring of the Day 2 FRQ homework. Covers startup expense classification, sources of financial capital (debt vs. equity), and income statement construction. Activities include the Guess That Startup Cost! game, a Shark Tank funding pitch discussion, and two rounds of income statement practice including profit margin ratio calculations.
Day 3 Afternoon
Topics: 3.7 Balance Sheets & Accounting Equation, 3.8 Cash Flow, 3.9 Financial Ethics, CTSO Alignment
Begins with a brief CTSO alignment overview, then spends the bulk of the session on the accounting equation, balance sheets, and business transaction analysis using the DK Coffee Lab case study (startup and Q1 transactions, full financial statement build). Closes with the cash flow statement, a brief treatment of financial ethics, and the Day 3 homework assignment. Evening homework: profit margins problem set and one Unit 3 FRQ attempt (~60 min).
Day 4 Morning
Topics: 4.1 Human Resources, 4.2 KPIs, 4.3 Business Decision Making / PACED (Part 1)
Opens with scoring of the Day 3 homework. Covers human resources functions and job posting analysis, then moves into a substantial KPI block including a dashboard matching activity, industry KPI analysis, and a PBL Implementation Guide walkthrough. The PACED decision-making framework is introduced before the break with an opening scenario.
Day 4 Afternoon
Topics: 4.3 PACED (cont.), 4.4 Porter's Five Forces & SWOT, Unit 5 Overview, Course Audit & Next Steps
Completes PACED with ROI calculations and AP exam practice, then covers Porter's Five Forces, SWOT analysis, and a Business Decision FRQ scoring walkthrough. Unit 5 personal finance topics (taxes, the Financial Advisor Project, and insurance) are surveyed as non-exam content supporting state graduation requirements. Closes with an AP Course Audit walkthrough, next steps for course adoption, and the APSI participant survey. Post-institute homework: Course Audit syllabus draft and first-unit pacing (~60 min).