Departments

Science

The AFAAHS Science Department offers a four-year college preparatory track for all students. The curriculum includes two types of classes: Pre-AP and Advanced Placement (AP). Pre-AP classes serve as the foundation of the Science curriculum at AFAAHS. Pre-AP courses are offered in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. AP courses are college-level courses, including a college-level laboratory curriculum. AP courses are also offered in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. In addition to these courses, we offer a science elective called Great Diseases – a course about the diseases that have most significantly impacted humanity over time. The Science Department is unique in its rigorous academic demands – making it possible for all students to take at least one AP Science class before graduating from high school.

The AFAAHS Math Department offers a four-year college preparatory track for all students. The curriculum includes two types of classes: Pre-AP and Advanced Placement (AP). Pre-AP classes serve as the foundation of the Math curriculum at AFAHS. Pre-AP classes include Algebra I, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, and Geometry. AP courses are college-level mathematics courses designed to expose students to the rigors of collegiate math. AP courses include AP Calculus (AB), AP Calculus (BC), and AP Statistics. In 9th grade, some students will take Foundations of Algebra concurrently with Algebra I. This course is designed to bolster student proficiency in the foundational principles of mathematics. In 12th grade, some students will take College Algebra with Pre-Calculus. This course is designed to ensure college readiness in mathematics for every student before they graduate from high school. The Math Department is unique in its rigorous academic demands – making it possible for all students to take at least one AP Math class before graduating from high school.

Amistad’s History Department provides four years of rigorous, engaging, and meaningful courses to scholars.  All history instruction is centered on the development of critical thinking, reading, and argumentative writing; a skill set essential for our college-bound students.  In history classes, scholars discuss rich historical questions and grapple with conflicting perspectives to develop their own interpretations and arguments.  We challenge scholars to not only be independent thinkers who are passionate and well informed about history and current issues, but to also become agents of change within our community.

The AFAHS Literature Department offers a four-year college preparatory track for all students. The curriculum targets close-reading and critical reading skills required to be successful in college. The Literature course selection includes Literature I, World Literature, American Literature, and AP Language and Composition is the capstone course. The Literature Department is rigorous its academic demands – expecting all students to take AP English Language and Composition before they graduate. 

The AFAHS Composition Department offers a four-year college preparatory track for all students. The curriculum is designed to support students in their growth as critical readers and writers. Students grapple with complex texts, draft their ideas and thinking, and ultimately articulate their thinking in the form of a full-length Process-Based Assessment. Student writing and thinking focuses on a wide array of types in an effort to prepare students for success in the writing they will complete in college.

The AFAHS college team offers a four year sequence of classes for all students: Foundations of Leadership.  Foundations of Leadership will prepare scholars to be successful, independent young adults, equipped with the tools to succeed academically, socially and emotionally in high school, college and life.  Our mission at Achievement First is to provide all of our students with the academic and character skills they need to graduate from top colleges, to succeed in a competitive world and to serve as the next generation of leaders in our communities. Beyond content knowledge and cognitive strategies, being college ready includes other abilities frequently untaught in schools that help students succeed despite the unknowable yet inevitable challenges of college and life. The courses focuses on helping all scholars to do the following:

• Cultivate a College Going Identity

• Take Ownership of Learning for High School, College and Life Success

• Develop College to Career Connection and Long-Term Vision

• Become Critical Consumers of Post-Secondary Options

• Navigate the Complex Application and Matriculation Process

• Learn Personal Finance Skills and the Ability to Navigate Financial Aid

The AFAHS college team is made up of ten professionals that work together to ensure that scholars make it TO and THROUGH college.  The team is responsible for college trips, summer programs, college applications, SAT testing, and alumni programming.

The goal of the Spanish department is to teach scholars to communicate with others in Spanish through four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. These language skills are acquired through an authentic cultural context in language learning (memorization and intentional study of vocabulary and grammar rules) and language acquisition ("picking up" language through real-world application, practice, and mistake-making.) The study of culture is also an integral part of this practice. Through culture learning, scholars can better understand their own culture as well as increase their global awareness. To ensure scholars are using their communication skills in the target language, they will present and complete unit-based projects as well as an end-of-the year cumulative project..

The AFAHS Health Sciences Department offers a two-year Health Sciences program for all students. The curriculum includes two types of classes: Health and Physical Education. Physical Education classes serve as the foundation of the Health Sciences curriculum at AFAHS. Each student will take a Physical Education class focused on team sports and personal fitness. Health classes are offered currently in the 9th grade. These classes intend to cover topics including personal health, community health, and sex education. The Health Sciences Department aims to instill lifelong fitness habits for students.

The Arts program at Amistad High School serves as a foundation for scholars to succeed in college level studio art, art history, music appreciation and music history classes.

Representation drawing is the cornerstone of Amistad’s art program. Scholars learn to accurately depict the visual world through observation, studies in linear perspective and by looking to the work of contemporary and historical artists for technical and creative inspiration.

General Music gives a comprehensive look at music from a historical and theoretical vantage point. Students learn the fundamentals of music through observational and experiential analysis in an effort to provide a deeper understanding of the human experience. 

Grading and GPA Scale

Category Weights for Courses

Each course will consist of 5 categories with the following weight distribution.