Recommendation:  This course will be designed for students who excel in English--specifically those who love to read and write and those with strong language skills. Seventh-grade teachers will recommend students although there will be no prerequisite requirements.

Course Content:  The Compacted ELA 8-9 course is designed to offer a rigorous challenge to students who excel in English. This course will provide students with elements of the ELA 8 course as well as the Advanced English 9 course. Students will read and analyze texts from different genres, including short stories, novels, drama, poetry, and informational texts. The literature will serve as a catalyst for much of the writing students complete, including essays, narratives, various argumentative pieces, and informational research-based texts. Students will also study more advanced language skills related to grammar, conventions, and usage. In addition to the core English skills, students will have frequent public speaking opportunities and Socratic discussion experiences. 

Seventh-grade teachers will recommend students for this course which will provide a more deep, rigorous English experience; however, any seventh grade student may enroll in the course. It is recommended that parents seriously consider the teacher recommendation before enrolling their child in this course.  The ELA course sequence from grade 8 through 12 is contained in Appendix A.

Course Activities:  The course will provide a variety of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language activities and tasks.

Length:  2 semesters/every other day

This is an advanced course covering introductory physics and chemistry topics.  As a lab-centered course, it requires students to use calculator-based laboratory interfacing equipment to gather data and computer software for data analysis.  With greater emphasis on mathematics and theory, it is recommended that students be comfortable with algebra and scientific and/or graphing calculators.

Length:  2 semesters/every other day

This course will provide an analytical perspective on government and politics in the United States. Students will be involved in both the study of general concepts used to interpret U.S. political beliefs and the analysis of specific case studies. It will require familiarity with the various institutions, groups, parties, beliefs, and ideas that make up the U.S. political reality. Finally, it will challenge a student’s ability to think abstractly and analyze material critically. 

Length:  2 semesters/every other day