LA JOLLA HIGH SCHOOL 2019 – 2020 STUDENT ACADEMIC HANDBOOK 750 Nautilus Ave. La Jolla, CA 92037 858-454-3081 https://www.sandiegounified.org/schools/la-jolla TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 3 SCHEDULING PROCESS AND SCHEDULE CHANGES .............................................................. 3 ADVANCED COURSE PLACEMENT INFORMATION ............................................................................... 4 LJHS GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS ......................................................................................... 5 COLLEGE PLANNING INFORMATION ................................................................................................ 5 GATE AND SEMINAR HUMANITIES PROGRAM .................................................................................. 5 LJHS COURSES WHICH SATISFY UC/CSU COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS ....................... 6 ART .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 COMPUTER STUDIES ..................................................................................................................................... 8 DRAMA ............................................................................................................................................................. 9 ENGLISH ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 HISTORY/SOCIAL SCIENCE ......................................................................................................................... 13 MESA COLLEGE AND UCSD EXTENSION COURSES .............................................................................. 16 INDUSTRIAL ARTS/CAREER TECHNICAL PATHWAYS ......................................................................... 18 JOURNALISM .................................................................................................................................................. 19 MATHEMATICS .............................................................................................................................................. 19 MUSIC ............................................................................................................................................................... 23 PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND ATHLETICS ................................................................................................ 24 SCIENCE ........................................................................................................................................................... 25 VIDEO PRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 29 WORLD LANGUAGES .................................................................................................................................... 29 NONDEPEPARTMENTAL (AVID, ASB, Yearbook) ..................................................................................... 31 SPECIAL EDUCATION ................................................................................................................................... 32 Introduction The purpose of this catalog is to enable students and parents to make informed program choices. When selecting courses, students and parents should consider graduation requirements, college entrance requirements, and the stated prerequisites found in this catalog. It is critical that both parents and students understand the demands of the course, both independently and in combination with your other course selections. Please take careful consideration when choosing your classes. Due to the restrictions of the master schedule course changes may be extremely difficult to implement. Please read this catalog thoroughly before making course selections. The master schedule and teacher assignments are made on the basis of students’ choices in spring of the previous school year. It is your responsibility to carefully review this information when choosing your classes for the following year. You are making FINAL choices of your courses for the entire year! Prerequisites: The prerequisites are as follows: Teacher signature for advanced level classes, when needed. Parent signature for course approval. Final fall and spring grades for appropriate level placement. Prerequisites MUST be satisfied by final spring semester grades! Scheduling Process and Changes: Please see the section on the LJHS Counseling website for more information. Errors in scheduling and inappropriate level placement: Students and parents select classes in the spring, during articulation, with the clear expectation and understanding that the schedule created is final. Changes will be made if there is an error or an inappropriate level placement. Changing one’s mind about preferred classes does not constitute a scheduling error. Examples of errors in scheduling: The student is placed in Integrated Math 2 but the student got a D/F in Integrated Math 1 and therefore must repeat the Integrated Math 1 class. The student is not placed in a Period 3 class, therefore the student has an open period. Student-Initiated Changes: Completed with the student’s counselor during registration (given priority) or between the registration days and first week of the semester IF there is a scheduling error that was not corrected earlier. Students should go to the counseling office during the period that contains the error or if he/she is not on the roster, with a pass from their teacher. Teacher-Initiated Changes: Class changes due to inappropriate level placement, based on the teacher’s or counselor’s professional determination that the student is inappropriately placed. Teacher-initiated changes do not come from a student or parent request. Examples of inappropriate level placement: The student is placed in Advanced Biology but did not meet the prerequisites in the previous coursework. The student is placed in higher-level Spanish without sufficient background in the Spanish language to succeed in the class, as determined by the teacher. La Jolla High School’s policy concerning the changing of classes (due to inappropriate placement) requires consideration from all the stakeholders in the school community. Beginning the first week of school until the week after the first grading period, teacher-initiated changes may occur, as long as specific guidelines have been met. The change must be in the best interest of the student taking into account that the leaving and receiving teachers agree to the change, and the size of both classes doesn’t violate labor agreements or district policy. The sequential procedure to facilitate an inappropriate level schedule change is that: 1) The current teacher consults with the student’s counselor and parent(s) about the student’s placement. 2) Student turns in a Schedule Change Form with all stakeholders’ signatures. 3) If space is available in the receiving teacher’s class, the change is made by the counselor. Academic Program La Jolla High School encourages students to take the strongest possible academic program available while considering overall balance and wellness. Students may enroll in advanced, honors, college and Advanced Placement courses whenever applicable prerequisites have been met. These prerequisites must be satisfied to ensure a reasonable opportunity for success. Our goal is to ensure that students have a variety of postsecondary options and are well-prepared for further education and/or training in whatever direction his/her talents and interests lead. Raising Expectations The Advanced Placement (AP) Program consists of courses and tests developed by the College Board, which also administers the SAT and SAT Subject Tests. These courses are designed to offer high school students the opportunity to experience college-level work. We encourage all eligible, college-bound students to take an AP class as part of their preparation for college. Students signing up for AP courses must be prepared for a very rigorous course of study that is EQUIVALENT TO FIRST YEAR COLLEGE WORK. AP exams are given each year in May and must be taken to be eligible for college credit. By earning a passing score on the exams, students may earn college credit at the college they will eventually attend. Each college and university has its own advanced placement policy, which dictates how AP grades are used toward degree requirements and possible college credit. Note: AP exams are optional and are not a requirement of an AP course. Eligibility for Advanced Placement and College-Level Classes Eligibility for Advanced Placement, Honors, and college classes is based on satisfaction of course prerequisites. Students taking multiple Advanced Placement courses are strongly encouraged to carefully evaluate the total workload they are choosing. Students taking three or more AP classes at La Jolla High School should expect a workload equal to that of freshmen at most selective colleges. In order to ensure that students enroll in AP courses with an adequate understanding of the academic rigor, all students and parents must sign the AP/Honors/College Course Contract. It is suggested that students enrolling for an AP course read the course description in catalog, look through teacher’s website and syllabus