AP English Language and Composition
AP English Language and Composition is an introductory college-level composition course. Students cultivate their understanding of writing and rhetorical arguments through reading, analyzing, and writing texts as they explore topics like rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization, and style.
AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
The Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Course is offered to high school students who have an interest in exploring and analyzing challenging classical and contemporary literature spanning the 16th to the 21st century, and who have a desire to analyze and interpret dominant literary genres and themes. The practice in this course necessitates that students communicate with each other in both open and premeditated discussions using various protocols. Through the close reading of selected texts (novels, plays, short stories, and poetry), students can deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language. Careful reading, discussing and writing of texts studied offer profound analysis of ideas and methodologies that extend beyond a student’s initial experiential response. They learn to apply methods of literary analysis, and write with a variety of purposes to increase precision in expression, and convey the complexity and beauty of writing. The course culminates with the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition Examination that tests reading comprehension and critical thinking skills through multiple choice responses and open-ended essay writing prompts.
AP Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. This course examines the history of psychology and psychological theories, contemporary perspectives on psychology, and how psychological research is conducted. As scientists, psychologists collect data and make observations about the ways in which humans and animals behave and think in order to understand behavior and mental processes.
Psychologists use a variety of research methods and designs to conduct their research. These tools help them develop psychological theories about behavior and mental processes. To ensure that their results are valid and reliable, research must adhere to strict ethical and procedural guidelines. Historical research is the foundation of the field of psychology and has become the basis for the many subfields within psychology that exist today.
AP Spanish
AP Spanish Language and Culture course prepares students for the College Board’s AP Spanish Language and Culture exam. As its foundation, it uses the three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive and presentational) as defined in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. The course is designed as an immersion experience and is conducted exclusively in Spanish. The course teaches language structures in context and focuses on the development of fluency to convey meaning. Students explore culture in both contemporary and historical contexts to develop an awareness and appreciation of cultural practices and perspectives.
AP U.S History
AP U.S. History, students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in nine historical periods from approximately 1491 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical connections; and utilizing reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change. The course also provides eight themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: American and national identity; work, exchange, and technology; geography and the environment; migration and settlement; politics and power; America in the world; American and regional culture; and social structures.
