BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION
NuLink Charter School Course Guideline
The NuLink high school curriculum is organized around the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Program. It is a uniquely challenging curriculum that meets the State of Pennsylvania Standards and Requirements, and it is specifically designed to equip students for success in college. Most of NuLinks’s core subject courses are either AP or Honors courses. The Honors level courses, developed by NuLink teachers, offer higher-than-average academic content, and concentrate on developing higher cognitive skills necessary for success in AP courses. In that sense they are actually “AP Prep” courses.
The NuLink high school curriculum is extremely rigorous, yet accelerated enough to allow students to complete their minimum required college preparatory course work and go on to college following their third year. However, the vast majority of students choose to stay for a fourth year. For student who decide to stay a fourth year, the NuLink curriculum offers a unique opportunity for students to fully utilize the fruits of their hard work and to put important finishing touches on their high school transcript. Students complete rigorous “capstone” courses in traditional academic fields. During their second semester, students complete an independent research project consisting of either study aboard or an internship in Central Pennsylvania, another U.S. location, or abroad. Students must plan and propose their projects, which must be closely tied to their future career or educational plans. While students are closely monitored and evaluated during the Graduation Project, the level of independence, self motivation, and creativity required during this time finalizes the students’ preparation for their academic future, serving as a bridge between the high school and college experience.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT CURRICULUM
(Note: The Advanced Placement Curriculum described below is not a comprehensive listing of the available courses. Non-AP and non-honors courses are taught. This description is provided solely to illustrate the rigor that is available for students who need enrichment and acceleration in particular content areas.)
WHY AP COURSES?
Research findings indicate that students who take AP courses—regardless of whether they receive high scores on the AP exam—do better while in college and are much more likely to graduate from college than students who do not take AP courses. AP courses also allow students to gain enough knowledge about various disciplines to help them decide on a major to pursue in college. Students who receive sufficiently high scores on AP examinations can earn college credit.
AP courses provide students with the opportunity to pursue college-level studies while they are still in high school. NuLink high school students can literally begin their college education in small classes at a pace tailored to their intellectual level of development, rather than in crowded, frenetically paced survey courses that typify the college freshman experience.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT NuLINK AP COURSES?
Many local area high schools offer AP courses to selected students, and these are generally taken in the third and fourth years. At NuLink, all students are required to take a minimum of eight AP courses, beginning with two AP courses in the second year. Additionally, NuLink high school students are required to take the AP exam in six courses, and the exam results are factored into their grades for those courses. This approach is unique to NuLink and helps differentiate NuLink students in the college admissions process. NuLink Charter School practices what the College Board preaches—we, too, believe that “AP is not a program for the elite but a program for the prepared.” The NuLink curriculum is designed to prepare students for the AP challenge, which, in turn, prepares students for college and university life.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND SEQUENCE
SCIENCE
The NuLink administrative team and board of directors is committed to our environment and concerned by the challenges inherent in climate change. Achieving a sustainable, ‘green’ school environment is a critical component of our success. Topics related to accomplishing this goal are woven throughout the science curriculum. NuLink students begin with one Honors science course in biology, chemistry, or physics. Students continue with the chosen science as an AP course and select an additional Honors science course. Students continue with the second selected science as an AP course and take the third and last required Honors science course. All students are required to obtain 5 science credits: 3 in Honors courses and 2 in AP science courses. (Note: Students have the option of choosing AP Economics in place of a second AP science.) The science curriculum is completed with a Science Lab. Students taking Calculus III are not required to take this course.
MATH
The NuLink high school math sequence includes Pre-Calculus and Calculus, and either AP Calculus or Advanced Mathematics. Students who choose AP Calculus can enroll in Calculus III. All students complete their math course work with Applied Math. Applied Math includes Statistics and selected advanced math topics. NuLink no longer enrolls incoming high school students in Algebra courses. The lowest level of math taught to incoming high school students is Pre-Calculus. NuLink offers Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry courses during the summer, to help students transferring from other schools achieve success in the NuLink math curriculum.
ENGLISH
NuLink students are required to take 4 credits of English, beginning with AP English Language and a Composition and Writing Lab. They continue with Honors Literature, AP English Literature, and a Capstone Humanities Seminar.
SOCIAL STUDIES
NuLink students are required to take 3 AP history courses, beginning with AP World History. They continue with AP European History and AP U.S. History. Students also are offered AP Economics and AP U.S. Government courses, in which they may enroll in place of a second AP science or AP Calculus.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Students may choose to take Spanish, German, French, or Mandarin Chinese, and they are required to take their chosen language at each high school grade. Students who wish to pursue their foreign language study may take AP Spanish or AP French. Students who take an AP foreign language will continue their foreign language studies in an independent study or TA (Teaching Assistant) activities for lower grades.
OTHER REQUIRED COURSES
Students must take a minimum of two fine art course (they may choose from Music, Art, or Drama) and one sports/athletic activity credit. The latter credit may be fulfilled by taking a sport elective at NuLink, or by participating on a team or other competitive team outside the school system.
GRADUATION PROJECT
In their final year, students spend the second semester either in an intern position at a public or private sector institution or enrolled in an external study program. The internship or the external study program may be located either in the U.S. or abroad and should be related to the course of study that the student intends to pursue after graduating from NuLink. While local internships are possible, we encourage parents to considerhaving their child intern outside of the local area and, if possible, outside of the U.S. The Graduation Project is the capstone to a rigorous three-and-a-half-year academic program, and it is intended to give students the perspective and real-world skills they will need to succeed in college.
(Referenced from BASIS Schools in Tucson Arizona)