Social Studies Courses

1.0 credit, Grade 9, Weight 1.0
The Global Studies course provides students with a comprehensive and intensive study of major world events and themes throughout the history of the world. Students will analyze and evaluate change, continuity, and globalization of the modern era. By focusing on interactions between past and present, students will develop an understanding of the world today through an examination of the reactions, adaptations, and decisions people made in response to the conditions around them. The goal of global studies is to explore the geography, culture, history, and current events of the world in order to make important connections between past and present and to enhance our understanding of the world in which we live.

1.0 credit, Grade 9, Weight 1.1
The Global Studies course provides students with a comprehensive and intensive study of major world events and themes throughout the history of the world. Students will analyze and evaluate change, continuity, and globalization of the modern era. By focusing on interactions between past and present, students will develop an understanding of the world today through an examination of the reactions, adaptations, and decisions people made in response to the conditions around them. The goal of global studies is to explore the geography, culture, history, and current events of the world in order to make important connections between past and present and to enhance our understanding of the world in which we live. This honors level course will include a more intense and in–depth study of global studies. Students will be expected to complete more independent and collaborative projects/work both in and out of class, to complete in and out of class readings (both fiction and non–fiction), to participate in discussion forums, and to perform at the honors level at all times. Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

1.0 credit, Grade 10, Weight 1.0
United States (U.S.) History is a study of our nation’s past starting in the mid–19th and continuing through the early 21st century. Major themes include Industrialization, Progressivism, World War, Poverty, Civil Rights victories, Politics, and Current Events. The study of U.S. History is an evolving process in which we connect the past to our present circumstances. Various teaching strategies combined with 21st century thinking and technological skills help students analyze our past to make predictions about our future.

1.0 credit, Grade 10, Weight 1.1
United States (U.S.) History is a study of our nation’s past starting in the mid–19th and continuing through the early 21st century. Major themes include Industrialization, Progressivism, World War, Poverty, Civil Rights victories, Politics, and Current Events. The study of U.S. History is an evolving process in which we connect the past to our present circumstances. Various teaching strategies combined with 21st century thinking and technological skills help students analyze our past to make predictions about our future. This honors level course will include a more intense and in–depth study of our history. Students will be expected to complete more independent and collaborative projects/work both in and out of class, to complete in an out of class readings (both fiction and non–fiction), to participate in discussion forums, and to perform at the honors level at all times. Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

1.0 credit, Grade 11, Weight 1.0
Civics is, in part, the study of how people participate in governing society. Because government is a means for addressing common or public problems, the political system established by the U.S. Constitution is an important subject of study within civics. Civics requires other knowledge too; students should also learn about state and local governments; markets; courts and legal systems; civil society; other nations’ systems and practices; international institutions; and the techniques available to citizens for preserving and changing a society. Civics is not limited to the study of politics and society; it also encompasses participation in classrooms and schools, neighborhoods, groups, and organizations. Not all participation is beneficial. What defines civic virtue, which democratic principles apply in given situations, and when discussions are deliberative are not easy questions, but they are topics for inquiry and reflection. In civics, students learn to contribute appropriately to public processes and discussions of real issues. Their contributions to public discussions may take many forms, ranging from personal testimony to abstract arguments. They will also learn civic practices such as voting, volunteering, jury service, and joining with others to improve society. Civics enables students not only to study how others participate, but also to practice participating and taking informed action themselves.

1.0 credit, Grade 11-12, Weight 1.2
AP Civics and Government presents the principles of the American representative form of government. The intent of instruction is to instill the acts and policies of the framers of the Declaration of Independence and of the Constitution that it is a citizen’s duty and responsibility to exercise their voting privilege and to understand the American form of government as in comparison to other forms of government. This course is a college level course. College credit may be obtained for a student’s freshman level Civics and/or Government course upon completion and passage of the AP Civics and Government Exam. This course is extremely independent in nature. It follows a college level text and the student must be prepared to work independently on content not covered in class, content covered in class and content created and studied outside of class. Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation.

1.0 credit, Grade 10, Weight 1.2, Offered 2026-27
The AP U.S. History course is designed to provide students with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. history. The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by full–year introductory college courses. Students should learn to assess historical materials—their relevance to a given interpretive problem, reliability, and importance—and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. This course will develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions based on an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format. Prerequisite: Teacher Recommendation from Honors Global Studies