Academics
Students are provided with educational opportunities which include Regents, special education and TESL. Students take major sequences in several fields of study which are required for graduation. In addition, students elect many others according to their abilities, interests, and future plans. The music and choral programs are well-known and students with an interest can participate. Students are offered an independent study program to explore their own academic pursuits, guided by a teacher. Students are offered eight languages, including Mandarin Chinese and American Sign Language, and remedial education. The school operates on a 7:59 a.m. to 2:33 p.m. schedule. This includes nine periods of instruction.
| Period-> | 1 | 2+HR | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 7:59–8:39 | 8:43–9:26 | 9:30–10:10 | 10:14–10:54 | 10:58–11:38 | 11:42–12:22 | 12:26-1:06 | 1:10-1:50 | 1:54-2:33 |
Great Neck South curriculum offers 26 Advanced Placement (AP) classes for students, the most popular of which are AP Psychology, AP United States History, and AP English Language and Composition. There were 1,367 Advanced Placement tests in the 2009-2010 school year. As a result, Newsweek ranked Great Neck South High School 49th out of 500 in its 2011 list Best High Schools in America (the school has been cited in Newsweek's public school rankings on several other occasions). Students are offered honors (H) and accelerated courses as well. There are 19 Advanced Placement courses offered: art, art history, biology, chemistry, Chinese, computer science, economics, English, French, government, history, Italian, Latin, mathematics, music, physics, psychology, Spanish, and statistics. One of the Advanced Placement physics course tested the audience response technology which was successful and the Great Neck School District has expanded the technology to other schools.
The school has one or more teachers that have developed a Facing History unit or course, or are incorporating Facing History materials into their curriculum. It is taught as an entire course, or infused into existing courses; as an elective, or as part of the core curriculum. Facing History program associates work with teachers to help them use their materials in the most appropriate ways. Facing History and Ourselves lets classrooms and communities link the past to moral choices today.
The majority of South High students (more than 87%) achieve a B average or better. However, only a small percentage of South High students (12%) were recognized as finalists or received Letters of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. 98% of recent South High School graduates entered college.
Read more about this topic: William A. Shine Great Neck South High School
Famous quotes containing the word academics:
“Our first line of defense in raising children with values is modeling good behavior ourselves. This is critical. How will our kids learn tolerance for others if our hearts are filled with hate? Learn compassion if we are indifferent? Perceive academics as important if soccer practice is a higher priority than homework?”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with a vested interest in stressing only some of the implications and falsifying others. The idea that academics should remain “above the fray” only gives ideologues license to misuse our work.”
—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)