WORLD STUDIES HONORS

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 9

Prerequisite(s): Teacher Recommendation + Structured Summer Reading Assignment; Based on honors-level criteria achieved on the placement rubric

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. Recognizing students’ roles as global citizens, this course promotes historical thinking, problem-solving, and research skills as ways of demonstrating knowledge of world history and its relationship to the present, the effects of economics on global-scale decision-making, and human behavior in relation to the physical and cultural environment. Instruction and assessment link with both literacy and technology; in fact, an interdisciplinary unit focused on genocide as it has occurred over time and place is featured. Throughout the year, students at this level are expected to engage in more independent and in-depth analysis of historical events and their representations in art, philosophy, music, science, and literature.

WORLD STUDIES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12

Prerequisite(s): Identification as an ESL student                                                    

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. World Studies for English Language Learners is a full-year program covering the NJ Department of Education requirements for world history. This program is solely open to identified and placed PHS English Language Learners. The course will focus on comprehension and application in speech and writing of modern world history in the 1300s and ending in the present day.

UNITED STATES HISTORY I COLLEGE PREP

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 10

Prerequisite(s):  Successful completion of World Studies + Teacher Recommendation

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. Focused on American history from its foundations through the end of the nineteenth century, students in United States History I CP use historical thinking, problem-solving, and research to explore varying perspectives on the meaning of historical events even as they connect the past with current events. Topics that are covered include the Constitution and the structure of American government, the role of responsibility in citizenship, the rise of the United States as a player on the world stage, and economic principles as they relate to historical events.

UNITED STATES HISTORY I HONORS

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 10

Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of World Studies + Teacher Recommendation based on honors criteria + Structured Summer Reading Assignment

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. Focused on American history from its foundations through the end of the nineteenth century, students in United States History I Honors use historical thinking, problem-solving, and in-depth research to explore varying perspectives on the meaning of historical events even as they connect the past with current events. Topics that are covered include the Constitution and the structure of American government, the role of responsibility in citizenship, the rise of the United States as a player on the world stage, and economic principles as they relate to historical events.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT UNITED STATES HISTORY I                                         

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 10

Prerequisite(s): Teacher Recommendation + Structured summer reading assignment; Current Honors Social Studies: Grade of B or higher; Current College Prep Social Studies: Grade of A or higher

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. Advanced Placement United States History I is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and enduring understandings necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in United States history. The program prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses. Students will learn to assess historical materials - their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance - and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. Students will develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions on the basis of an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in an essay format.

Students enrolled in this course are expected to be able to independently read and prepare in advance for intensive written assessments. Students should expect extensive at-home work, including independent reading and writing. Students will also be required to incorporate critical thinking and analytical skills in their interpretations of primary source documents, which will enable them to successfully write DBQ (Document Based Question) essays. 

AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS I

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12

Prerequisite(s): Identification as an ESL student and placement in the PHS ESL Program

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. American History and Culture for English Language Learners is a two-year program covering the NJ Department of Education requirements for U.S. History I and II. This program is solely open to identified and placed PHS English Language Learners. Year 1 of American History and Culture for ELLs will focus on comprehension and application in speech and writing of the founding documents of the United States as they relate to the first half of American history and culture. Year 2 of American History and Culture for ELLs will build on the skills and content learned and applied in the previous year. Specifically, students will further develop research, writing and verbal presentation skills through their learning of the main themes, topics, events, and issues related to the 20th and 21st centuries in American history and culture.

UNITED STATES HISTORY II COLLEGE PREP

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 11

Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of U.S. History I + Teacher Recommendation

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. The purpose of this course is to study the rise of the United States to global power in the 20th century and its continuing role in world politics. Students in United States History II CP use historical thinking, problem-solving, and research to explore varying perspectives on the meaning of historical events and to connect the past with current events. Topics that are covered include immigration as a force in the creation of American cultural heritage, civil and human rights, and economic principles as they relate to historical events.

UNITED STATES HISTORY II HONORS

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 11

Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of U.S. History I + Teacher Recommendation based on honors criteria + Structured Summer Reading Assignment

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. The purpose of this course is to study the rise of the United States to global power in the 20th century and its continuing role in world politics. Students in United States History II Honors use historical thinking, problem-solving, and in-depth research to explore varying perspectives on the meaning of historical events even as they connect the past with current events. Topics that are covered include immigration as a force in the creation of American cultural heritage, civil and human rights, and economic principles as they relate to historical events.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT UNITED STATES HISTORY II

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 11

Prerequisite(s): Teacher Recommendation + Structured summer reading assignment; Current AP Social Studies: Grade of B or higher; Current Honors Social Studies: Grade of A or higher; Requirement(s): Students are required to take the AP exam

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. Advanced Placement United States History II focuses on the themes, events, and figures that helped shape American history from the late 1800s to the 21st century. Both a thematic and chronological approach will be utilized, with emphasis placed on the political, economic, cultural, social, and foreign relations developments of the United States. Students will use a variety of primary and interpretative sources, and write responses to document-based questions similar to those that appear on Advanced Placement examinations. Students will be expected to complete college-level primary source and textbook readings. Assessments include multiple quizzes per chapter, tests, debates, projects, extensive in-class and out-of-class essays, and DBQs (Document Based Questions). Students are required to take the AP exam. Many colleges will grant credit and/or appropriate advanced placement to students who score well on the AP exam.

AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS II                                           

Full Year | 5 credits | Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12

Prerequisite(s): Identification as an ESL student and placement in the PHS ESL Program

This course counts toward the social studies requirement for graduation. American History and Culture for English Language Learners is a two-year program covering the NJ Department of Education requirements for U.S. History I and II. This program is solely open to identified and placed PHS English Language Learners. Year 1 of American History and Culture for ELLs will focus on comprehension and application in speech and writing of the founding documents of the United States as they relate to the first half of American history and culture. Year 2 of American History and Culture for ELLs will build on the skills and content learned and applied in the previous year. Specifically, students will further develop research, writing and verbal presentation skills through their learning of the main themes, topics, events, and issues related to the 20th and 21st centuries in American history and culture.