academic Departments

Please be sure to read the guidelines below before finding the department and course you are interested in.

Welcome to Palisades Charter High School's academic departments and programs catalog. All PCHS courses and programs are built with our students' interests and needs as well as the school's mission as guides. This site is a listing of all the courses offered at Palisades Charter High School. Not every course listed is offered every semester. Specific subject offerings required for graduation are offered every semester. Elective courses counting toward the elective requirement for graduation requirements are offered based on student requests. This course listing is organized by departments. Those courses which meet University of California (UC) and/or California State University (CSU) subject requirements are so designated. Such courses will be accepted by these university systems to determine a student’s admission status. Below the title of each course, Grade indicates what grade levels may enroll in the course; also provided is the length of the course (semester, quarter, or year). Prerequisite indicates a preceding class or other condition, which should be completed prior to enrollment in the course. Those courses which meet Visual/Performing or Career Technical Arts graduation requirements are indicated as CTE. The high school master schedule is built to reflect student needs; therefore, all students must make careful and thoughtful choices of the courses they wish to take each year. Only those courses which meet minimum enrollment requirements, and for which qualified staff and appropriate textbooks and materials are available, will be offered in any given semester.

Palisades Charter High School Advanced Placement Courses

Taking an AP course is a commitment to doing college-level work in addition to the other demands of high school. AP courses are yearlong courses and a student is expected to remain enrolled for the entire year.

The AP program was developed by the College Board to provide students the opportunity to receive college credit for a course taken in high school. The course is taught at a college level so that a student is prepared to take the AP exam for that specific subject in May. If a student earns a 3, 4, or 5 on the exam, some colleges will give the student college credit. Colleges expect that students who complete an AP course also take the corresponding AP exam in May. Although there is a fee for each exam, fee waivers are available for eligible students. AP course grades receive extra weight in the GPA calculation, although the program was not designed for this purpose, but rather to expose students to the challenge of college level coursework.

AP courses are for the serious and dedicated student who is willing to devote the significant extra time and effort needed to complete the college-level content and to prepare for the AP exam. Very rigorous standards are maintained in AP courses, and students find them to be significantly more demanding than regular or Honors classes. AP courses tend to have prerequisite courses that need to be taken in order for a student to be properly prepared for the course and may have other entrance criteria such as teacher recommendation.

Students that drop an AP class after the first semester are not guaranteed placement in an Honors level section of the equivalent course. Seniors who drop AP courses at the semester should notify each college to which they have applied as failure to do so may result in the withdrawal of an offer of college admission. Requesting an AP course indicates that you are aware of this information and are willing to take on this additional workload. Students are encouraged to examine their time commitment to curricular and extra-curricular activities to ensure enrollment in one or more AP courses is reasonable.