High School, History (Advanced Placement)

Students may take Advanced Placement European History in the 10th grade in lieu of Global Studies II. The advanced placement program is designed to allow students the opportunity to pursue college level courses in high school. This course focuses on the areas of European history from the Renaissance through the Cold War. Students will read text material as well as original sources. Students will also refine their skills in the process of creating a full historical research paper.

Students may take Advanced Placement United States History in the 11th grade. The Advanced Placement Program is designed to allow high school students the opportunity to pursue college-level studies while attending high school. While the course covers the same periods of history as the regular U.S. history course, emphasis will be placed on reading original sources and analyzing differing interpretations of historical events.

12th grade students will be given the opportunity to take Advanced Placement U.S. Government. The advanced placement program is designed to allow students the opportunity to pursue college level courses in high school. This one-year course is the study of the role of the national government and its relationship to the concept of liberty in a pluralistic society. The course will cover the influence of American political culture, political parties, public opinion, the media, and special interest groups on our Congress, the presidency, and our court system. Students will gain sophisticated understanding of majority-rule democracy, constitutionalism, and civil liberties. The course also includes a study of economics and its interrelation with the U.S. government.

The focus of this course is to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and the mental processes of both human beings and animals. Students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. They also learn about the methods psychologists use in their science and practice. Among the topics studied are: neurology, emotions, sensations, memory, thinking, human development, and psychological health and disorders. The students will have an opportunity to participate in experiments, research, and oral presentations.

AP World History is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester introductory college world history course. In AP World History, students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in six historical periods from approximately 8000 B.C.E. to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical comparisons; and utilizing reasoning about contextualization, causation, and continuity and change over time. The course provides five themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places:

1. Interaction between humans and the environment
2. Development and interaction of cultures
3. State building, expansion, and conflict
4. Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems
5. Development and transformation of social structures.

This course utilizes a college level world history text, it is supplemented with primary source readings. Students develop writing skills commensurate with an introductory college course in world history.

AP Macroeconomics is a course designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of the principles of economics by examining aggregate economic behavior. Students taking the course can expect to learn how the measures of economic performance, such as GDP, inflation and unemployment are constructed and how to apply them to evaluate the macroeconomic conditions of an economy. Students also learn the basic analytical tools of macroeconomics, primarily the aggregate demand and aggregate supply model and its application in the analysis and determination of national income, as well as in evaluating the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy in promoting economic growth and stability. Recognizing the global nature of economics, students also have ample opportunities to examine the impact of international trade and international finance on national economies. Various economic schools of thought are introduced as solutions to economic problems are considered.

AP Microeconomics is a college-level course that introduces students to the principles of economics that apply to the functions of individual economic decision-makers. The course also develops students’ familiarity with the operation of product and factor markets, distributions of income, market failure, and the role of government in promoting greater efficiency and equity in the economy. Students learn to use graphs, charts, and data to analyze, describe, and explain economic concepts. This course culminates in an AP exam given in May.