Social Studies
Required Courses
World History
2 Semesters, Grade 10
This two-semester course provides a comprehensive, chronological survey of the significant conditions, challenges and accomplishments that have influenced the progress of humankind. Beginning with prehistory, students examine topics associated with the growth of early civilization, classical contributions of Greece and Rome, regional civilizations and the rise of medieval Europe. Other topics of study include emergence of the modern world, age of revolution, growth of industry and nationalism, world wars in the 20th century and development of the contemporary world.
US History
2 Semesters, EOC/Milestone Course, Grade 11
This two-semester course provides a comprehensive, chronological survey of the history of the United States. Students examine topics beginning with the period of exploration and colonization, and then continue through independence and revolutions, constitutional debate between the Federalists and Republicans, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, sectionalism and civil war, reconstruction and industrialization, immigration and urbanization, imperialism and the progressive era, World War I and the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War. The course concludes with a study of the emergence of modern America.
Political Systems
1 Semester, Grade 12
Political Systems is a required one-semester course designed to provide students with a fundamental understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens by examining the American political structure and process. Topics of study include the origin and growth of representative democracy, the development of the U. S. Constitution founded on the concept of federalism, landmark legal decision and their impact on constitutional government, the adaptive nature of the political process as influenced by political parties, special interest groups and media coverage as well as a comparison of our political system with other forms of government throughout the world.
Economics
1 Semester, EOC/Milestone Course, Grade 12
Economics offers students the opportunity to study the issues of scarcity and choices related to the utilization of limited resources. Students learn how to apply the tools of economic analysis to personal, community, national and international issues. Economic preparedness enables students to make choices relying on past historical and geographical knowledge to actively and successfully engage in our complex society.
Social Studies Electives
World Geography
2 Semesters, Grade 9
This two-semester course provides the content knowledge and skills neccessary to understand the roles, responsibilities and relationships of people and places throughout the world, both past and present. The course will prepare students for the three year required social studies sequence. Topics will include the themes of Historical Geography and Economic Geography.
Extensive opportunities to develop and refine writing competencies will prepare students for the High School Gateway Assessment. Integrated throughout the course, students are instructed on efficient and effective methods and strategies to read, write, think, organize, take notes and demonstrate what they have learned. This course will focus on geography objectives assessed on the Georgia High School Graduation Test.
Law
1 Semester, Grades 11-12
This elective course develops an understanding of the basic components of the legal and criminal justice system in the United States. Students are offered an overview of civil and criminal law in this country as well as an examination of various legal institutions and processess (e.g., the police, the courts, rehabilitation systesm, etc).
Contemporary Issues
1 Semester, Grades 11-12
This elective course provides students with opportunities to identify and evaluate political, social, and economic issues on the local, state, national and international level. The central emphasis is on contemporary issues and problems and their effects on the student as a constructive citizen in an interdependent world. A variety of current news media will be used for instructional purposes.
Sociology
1 Semester, Grades 11-12
This elective course helps students understand and appreciate people as independent agents in cooperative activities with others. Topics to be covered are: the organized way people fulifll basic needs (institutions), the setting of social rules and their enforcement (social control), and the possessions people have, the way they think, and their actions as members of society (culture). Students will use the social scientific method as a mode of research.
Psychology
1 Semester, Grades 11-12
This elective course introduces students to basic psychological concepts and principles as well as the rules, laws and theories of psychology. Topics include: determiners of personality (heredity and environment), theories of the development of intelligence and testing characteristics of basic needs. A study of self-concept (theories of development) is also included. With this knowledge of themselves and others, students should be able to make informed decisions which are impacted by changing environments and situations.
AP Courses
- AP Human Geography
- AP World History
- AP European History
- AP United States History
- AP Government
- AP Macroeconomics
- AP Psychology
AP Human Geography
2 Semesters, Grades 9-12, usually a Freshman course
The Advanced Placement program in Human Geography is designed to introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use and alteration of the Earth's surface. Students employ spatial concepts and landscape analaysis to interpret human social organization and its environmental consequences. Students also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and practice.
AP World History
2 Semesters, Grade 10, Counts for World History requirement
Focusing primarily on the past thousand years of the global experience, this course builds on an understanding of cultural, institutional and technological foundations that, along with geography, set the human stage prior to the the year 1000. Specific time periods are examined for the purpose of dealing with change and continuity from that point to the present. Historical themes provide further organization to the course, along with the consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study.
AP European History
2 Semesters, Grades 10-12, AP World History is pre-requisite
The goals of the Advanced Placement Program in European History are to develop (a) an understanding of some of the principle themes in modern European history and (b) an ability to analyze historical evidence. Students are expected to demonstrate a knowledge of a basic chronology and of major events and trends from the Renaissance to the present. Students should also have some familiarity with those aspects of the late medieval period. The major themes to be covered are: political and diplomatic history, intellectual and cultural history, and social and economic history.
AP United States History
2 Semesters, Grade 11, Counts for US History requirement
The Advanced Placement program in United States History provides students with factual knowledge and analytical skills in the interpretation of the history of the United States from the 1600s through the 1990s. Political, economic and social issues are stressed through the following topics: The Colonial Period; the American Revolution; the Jacksonian Period; Civil War and Reconstruction; Populism, Progressivism and the New Deal; and International Affairs and Domestic Changes in the post-1945 Period.
AP Government
1 Semester, Grades 11-12, Counts for Political Systems requirement
The purpose of this Advanced Placement program is to provide an overview of government, politics and political behavior at local, state and national levels. Topics to be included: an examination of the structure, functions, and inter-relationships of various levels of government; political socialization; elections and the party system; and the role of the individual in American government. Students will be exposed to specific information about government and how government affects their daily lives.
AP Macroeconomics
1 Semester, Grade 12, Counts for Economics Requirement
Advanced Placement Macroeconomics gives students a thorough understanding of the principles of economics that apply to an economic system as a whole. The course places particular emphasis on the study of national income and price determination, and also develops students' familiarity with economic performance measures, economic growth, and international economics.
AP Psychology
2 Semesters, Grades 10-12
Advanced Placement Psychology provides students with the opportunity to examine the scientific nature of psychology and to determine the relevance of behavioral sciences in our lives today. Students will examine the issues leading to the development of psychology as a science as well as the issues currently being addressed in the field of human behavior.