ADVANCED PLACEMENT PROGRAM
CHANNEL VIEW SCHOOL FOR RESEARCH
The College Board’s Advanced Placement classes are a unique and special opportunity extended to high school students across the nation. In this accelerated program, high school students take courses throughout the year in defined curricular areas and complete an exam at the end of the year administered by the College Board. Students who complete the test satisfactorily can obtain college credit allowing them to skip certain courses when they matriculate to the school of their choice. Presently, Channel View School for Research offers ten AP courses: Biology, Geography, World History, US History, Language, Seminar, Research, Psychology, and Statistics. These classes give students a great challenge, are more heavily weighted in GPA calculations and demonstrate to college admissions officers a greater commitment to academics on the part of the student. Conceptually, these classes should be as challenging as an average college class. Students must take their course of study an extra step, go beyond the common answer and dig deep, think and write more analytically, and maintain a high level of academic achievement throughout the school year. As such, participation the Advanced Placement Program is designed for the most serious students. Students must understand that only those who are truly dedicated will succeed. Please review the following information about class content and requirements:
THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT STUDENT WILL:
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1. Maintain a passing average throughout the course, as well as on all interim and term reports.
2. Participate in mandatory study sessions throughout the year, at the discretion of the instructor, to prepare for the AP exam.
3. Complete lab reports and essays above and beyond the requirements of an honors student.
4. Complete practice AP exams.
5. Complete additional readings, such as primary source readings, to learn the analytical approach.
6. Be held to a higher level of achievement in written and class work.
7. Maintain the highest level of academic integrity throughout the program.
8. Determine, at the end of the course, his/her readiness for the exam.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM REQUIREMENTS:
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In order to participate fully in the course students MUST enroll in the class through the College Board. Students entering their first AP course will create a new College Board account. Students who have already registered for an AP class during a previous school year will use the same account. These are private student accounts that will follow students into their college careers and keep a record of each student’s AP
exam scores and PSAT/SAT Scores. Therefore, these accounts must be created using a private email account, not the NYC DOE account that students use to access Google Classroom. Students should create a professional email account for this purpose. Students must write down their email username and password as well as their College Board username and password and keep this information in a safe place. Channel View does not have the ability to reset these accounts if the username and/or password is lost.
Each AP teacher will provide students with a unique “Join Code” for the class. At the beginning of the school year, students will log into their College Board accounts and use these Join Codes to enroll in their AP classes and register for the AP exam. Class assignments will be posted to their College Board AP Classroom account. In addition, if a student does not join a class by the exam-ordering deadline, they will not be able to register for the AP exam. Parents and students should access the College Board account and ensure that the student is enrolled in all of their AP classes.
Advanced Placement Courses
English
AP English Language and Composition
The AP English Language and Composition course align to an introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods.
AP Capstone – AP Seminar & Research
AP Capstone™ is an innovative diploma program from College Board that equips students with the independent research, collaborative teamwork, and communication skills that are increasingly valued by colleges. AP Capstone is built on the foundation of two AP® courses—AP Seminar and AP Research—and is designed to complement and enhance the in-depth, discipline-specific study experienced in other AP courses. In AP Seminar, students investigate real-world issues from multiple perspectives, gathering and analyzing information from various sources in order to develop credible and valid evidence-based arguments. AP Seminar is a prerequisite for AP Research. Completing AP Seminar and all its required assessment components is necessary for students to develop the skills to be successful in AP Research. In AP Research, students cultivate the skills and discipline necessary to conduct independent research and inquiry in order to produce and defend their scholarly work. The AP Capstone program aims to empower students by: § engaging them with rigorous college-level curricula focused on the skills necessary for successful college completion; § extending their abilities to synthesize information from multiple perspectives and apply skills in new situations and cross-curricular contexts; § enabling them to collect and analyze information with accuracy and precision; § cultivating their abilities to craft, communicate, and defend evidence-based arguments; and § providing opportunities for them to practice disciplined and scholarly research skills while exploring relevant topics that appeal to their interests and curiosity
Foreign Language
AP Spanish Language and Culture
The AP Spanish Language and Culture course emphasize communication (understanding and being understood by others) by applying interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational skills in real-life situations. This includes vocabulary usage, language control, communication strategies, and cultural awareness. The AP Spanish Language and Culture course strive not to overemphasize grammatical accuracy at the expense of communication. To best facilitate the study of language and culture, the course is taught almost exclusively in Spanish. The AP Spanish Language and Culture course engage students in an exploration of culture in both contemporary and historical contexts. The course develops students’ awareness and appreciation of cultural products (e.g., tools, books, music, laws, conventions, institutions); practices (patterns of social interactions within a culture); and perspectives (values, attitudes, and assumptions).
Science
AP Biology
AP Biology is an introductory college-level biology course. Students cultivate their understanding of biology through inquiry-based investigations as they explore the following topics: evolution, cellular processes — energy and communication, genetics, information transfer, ecology, and interactions.
Social Studies
AP World History
AP World History is designed to be the equivalent of a two semester introductory college or university world history course. In AP World History students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in six historical periods from approximately 8000 B.C.E. to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical comparisons; and utilizing reasoning about contextualization, causation, and continuity and change over time. The course provides five themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: interaction between humans and the environment; development and interaction of cultures; state building, expansion, and conflict; creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems; and development and transformation of social structures.
AP US History
AP U.S. History is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester introductory college or university U.S. history course. In 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, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical comparisons; and utilizing reasoning about contextualization, causation, and continuity and change over time. The course also provides seven themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: American and national identity; migration and settlement; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; America in the world; geography and the environment; and culture and society.
Technology
AP Computer Science Principles
The AP Computer Science Principles course is designed to be equivalent to a first- semester introductory college computing course. In this course, students will develop computational thinking skills vital for success across all disciplines, such as using computational tools to analyze and study data and working with large data sets to analyze, visualize, and draw conclusions from trends. The course engages students in the creative aspects of the field by allowing them to develop computational artifacts based on their interests. Students will also develop effective communication and collaboration skills by working individually and collaboratively to solve problems, and will discuss and write about the impacts these solutions could have on their community, society, and the world.
Social Sciences
AP Psychology
The AP Psychology course introduces students to the systematic and scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. While considering the psychologists and studies that have shaped the field, students explore and apply psychological theories, key concepts, and phenomena associated with such topics as the biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, learning and cognition, motivation, developmental psychology, testing and individual differences, treatments of psychological disorders, and social psychology. Throughout the course, students employ psychological research methods, including ethical considerations, as they use the scientific method, evaluate claims and evidence, and effectively communicate ideas.
Mathematics
AP Statistics
The AP Statistics course introduces students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. There are four themes evident in the content, skills, and assessment in the AP Statistics course: exploring data, sampling and experimentation, probability and simulation, and statistical inference. Students use technology, investigations, problem solving, and writing as they build conceptual understanding.