Curriculum Overview

Northside’s overall academic approach is firmly rooted in the school’s vision: To create a responsive environment that challenges all to embrace the joy of discovery, nurtures learners as they strive to fulfill their individual and collective potential, and empowers students to pursue their roles in the local and global communities. With the vision firmly in mind, teachers strive to create learning experiences that situate the subject matter in a more holistic context stretching beyond the classroom and school walls. They ultimately aim to enable students to synthesize information across courses with the students’ own unique individual experiences thus illuminating the importance of their roles as lifelong learners and contributors in a global context. To this end, teachers regularly collaborate with one another and reflect on their practices and curriculum to ensure the curriculum continues to be relevant beyond the classroom setting. 

Alongside the responsibility teachers embrace to develop lifelong learners and responsible global citizens, teachers are also aware of their roles within the institution of education and the importance of preparing their students for success in their post-secondary pursuits. Northside’s teachers are committed to developing curriculum pathways that ensure all students advance in mastery of the given standards in their specific subject as well as develop the necessary habits of mind and critical thinking skills to be meaningful contributors to their discipline in the future. 

Northside College Preparatory High School seeks to offer its students challenging and innovative courses in all subject areas. A fundamental belief of NCP is that all students deserve an excellent program of instruction that challenges each student at the high level required for productive citizenship and employment. The following statements of educational philosophy shape the program of study at Northside College Preparatory High School:

Content of Courses

• Learning is enhanced when content is placed in a meaningful context and is connected to other subject areas and when students are given multiple opportunities to apply what they are studying in meaningful ways.

• A complete and coherent curriculum must focus on the development of concepts, skills, and processes that enable all students to formulate, analyze, and solve problems proficiently.

• The entire curriculum must focus on the development of communication skills.

• The widespread impact of technology on nearly every aspect of our lives requires changes in the content and nature of educational programs.

Teaching and Learning

• Subjects must be taught by teachers who not only have a sound knowledge of their content area but who also possess a strong understanding of how students learn.

• Learning is maximized when teachers focus on thinking and reasoning.

• Teachers guide the learning process in their classrooms and manage the classroom environment through a variety of instructional approaches directly tied to the content and to the students' needs.

• Learning is enriched through collaborative effort.

• Instructional approaches should be based on research about how students learn best. Students use diverse strategies and different approaches to construct meaning. Teachers recognize and take advantage of these alternative approaches to help students develop better understanding.

• The assessment of understanding in a subject area must be aligned with the content taught and must incorporate multiple forms of assessment, including standardized tests, quizzes, research, performance tasks, investigations, and projects.

Nearly all courses offered at Northside are at the Honors or Advanced Placement (AP) level. The only exceptions to this are some courses in our PE department and our Cluster and Instructional level courses in the Special Education Program. 

Northside is proud to offer 26 AP courses. When deciding whether to request an AP course or an Honors course during course requests, students should consider the following: 

• Students enrolled in AP courses at Northside are expected to take the corresponding AP exam in May.  AP exams may incur a fee. For more information, please see here. 

• Each AP course follows a set curriculum determined by CollegeBoard that has been reviewed by college professors to ensure each student is being asked to complete college-level work regardless of where they take the course

• AP courses are more rigorous and move at a faster pace than an Honors level courses

• AP courses either cover a semester's worth of college-level work or a full year of college-level work. Please read the course descriptions of each course carefully as the courses that cover a full year move at a much faster pace and are more demanding.

• The pace of Honors courses is slower than that of AP courses, but all classes at NCP push students to master skills and learn content through a rigorous curriculum and challenging coursework. 

Northside does not award credit towards graduation for courses taken outside of Northside. Courses taken outside of Northside may be considered to demonstrate competency towards our Mathematics curriculum only if students follow the policy outlined, beginning with receiving administrator and departmental approval prior to taking the course. No other NCP departments recognize courses outside of Northside for competency at this time.