Qualifying and Forecasting for Honors and Advanced Placement History Classes 2014-2015 Honors and Advanced Placement level classes are offered to provide students who have an interest and desire an opportunity to undertake a challenging Social Science curriculum. The successful honors history student must be willing to commit to a greater demand on her time. Courses require students to work independently, read and comprehend at advanced levels, analyze and think critically, work with primary sources, and write clear and effective essays and papers. Criteria for Acceptance into Honors World History 10 Must earn and maintain at least an A- in both freshman English and Religion Must have an English teacher’s recommendation Must successfully complete a Social Science Honors/AP Application Form Must score in the “qualified” to “extremely qualified” range of categories in the overall history acceptance rubric Criteria for Acceptance into Advanced Placement U.S. History 11, AP United States Government & Politics, and Honors Modern European History/PSU Challenge Hst 12 Must earn and maintain minimum B average in current history class Must have recommendation of current history teacher Must successfully complete a Social Science Honors/AP Application Form Must score in the “qualified” to “extremely qualified” range of categories in the overall history acceptance rubric When do I write the required essay and how are they used to decide acceptance? Application forms and essay response will be offered in January and must be handed in by the posted deadline (Wednesday Feb 5). The Social Studies Department will evaluate application forms as a team. Based on the criteria students will be confidentially ranked for acceptance into the appropriate honors or AP classes. Honors/AP History Forecasting Dates: January 30,31 & Feb 3 –Lunch meetings in 205 to obtain application information and forms February 5-7 --Completed application forms due to Mr. Vannelli in Room 206 by 3:15 PM What other important information do I need to know to be considered for an Honors or AP class? Completed Application Forms must be turned in to Mr. Vannelli in Room 214 (Frosh hall across from 208). Students do not need to ask their teachers for recommendations, those requests will be handled confidentially by the Social Science Department once the essays have been completed. The scoring rubric on the backside of this sheet shows you the specific skills an honors or AP student needs to have in order to be successful. Scoring Criteria for Application Form extended response: Content: Student response offers accurate, comprehensive and complete analysis of the information and issues. It provides a variety of facts to explore major and minor issues and extensively uses previous historical knowledge to provide in-depth understanding of the problem and to relate it to past the possible future situations. Focus: Student response establishes a central idea clearly and effectively in the opening paragraph and maintains this focus throughout the essay. Each paragraph is logically linked to the main idea and all sentences within the paragraph serve to further develop and maintain this focus. Conventions: Student Response is written in grammatically correct English; it has no major spelling or grammatical errors; it shows a sound understanding of the structure of a good sentence and paragraph. Organization: Ideas presented follow and relate to each other in a logical and effective way. Information is organized within the sentence and paragraph as well as the paper itself for maximum effectiveness. Ideas and topics are balanced. Basic components of good writing are present – topic sentences, supporting paragraphs, and sound reasoning. Development: Student response uses specific, accurate, relevant and concrete examples from the prompt (in the form of quotes) as well as outside historical information to illustrate, support and develop the ideas presented in the response. Insight: The degree to which the response demonstrates insight into the theme/topic will be noted. Student response explores the subject in all its complexity and reveals and examines the nature of that complexity. Such insights are not implied but revealed and developed through proper use of examples either from the prompt or outside knowledge. Benchmark: The quality of this work in relation to that expected of an Honors or AP student Knowledge and Use of History: Exceptional Offers accurate and relevant analysis of information and issue Provides a variety of facts to explore major and minor issues and concepts involved Extensively uses previous historical knowledge to provide an in-depth understanding of the problem and relate it to past and possible future situations Superior Offers accurate and relevant analysis of document (text, quote, etc.) Provides facts to relate to the major issues involved Uses previous general historical knowledge to examine issues involved Commendable Relates only major facts to the basic issues with a fair degree of accuracy and relevance Analyzes information to explain at least one major issue or concept with substantive support Uses general ideas from previous historical knowledge with a fair degree of accuracy Rudimentary Provides only basic facts with only some degree of accuracy and relevance Refers to information to explain at least one issue or concept in general terms Limited use of previous historical knowledge without complete accuracy Major reliance on information provided Minimal Reiterates one or two facts without complete accuracy or relevance Deals only briefly and vaguely with concepts or the issues Barely indicates any previous historical knowledge Relies heavily on the information provided.