Overview

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    The Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC) is open to students who are strong academic achievers and who show an aptitude for one or more of the visual or performing arts. There is an application process held during the fall and winter of each year for entrance into these programs of study for the following school year.

    Academics Division

    The academic division is a challenging program of study in language arts, math, science, and social studies that accelerates students in order to prepare them for college coursework (Advanced Placement) in their final years of high school.

    APAC academic courses are offered for grades 9 through 12 at Forest Hill high schools. Transportation is provided to all students admitted to the program.

    Eligibility Criteria

    • Student must have a score of high Proficient and/or Advanced on state assessments
    • Student must have an 80 end-of-term grade average in at least four core content areas to be considered for the high school program.
    • Student must have a passing score on student response exam(s) to be administered in the winter or spring of each year (December – March). All students applying for program placement are required to complete an assessment to be scored by the district’s program assessment review committee.

    For entry into an AP® course, a student must:

    1. Provide a letter of commitment signed by the student and his/her parents;
    2. Have a high degree of commitment to academic work demonstrated in previous courses; and
    3. Have passed the prerequisite/recommended core course(s) as well as passed the state’s Subject Area Test(s). Exception: AP® U.S. History is not offered until grade 11.

    ÃÙȦ×ÊÔ´Õ¾ strongly recommends that in addition to the above-mentioned requirements, students should have:

    1. Demonstrated a history of achievement within the content area for which they plan to take an AP® course by passing the recommended core course(s) with grade(s) no lower than a 90 in regular courses, as well as passing the state’s Subject Area Test(s), scoring proficient or advanced for those core course(s).
    2. Performed well on the PSAT/NMSQT® exam, administered during grade 10.

    To remain in an AP® course, students must meet the following minimum requirements:

    1. Maintain at least a “C” for each nine weeks term.
      • Once a student, parent, and teacher recognize that the level of difficulty of the AP® course(s) is such that the student may not be successful, a course change should occur immediately. Please see the school counselor for the AP Schedule Change Guidelines.
    2. Continuously demonstrate a high degree of ongoing commitment to rigorous, academic coursework.

    Performing Arts Division

For Your Information

Summer Reading

  • ALL Advance Placement or Honors English scholars will be given literature list upon registration acceptance into course. If no additional literature list is provided. refer to District list below

    9 (AP)

    I am Malala

    Malala Yousafzai

    9 (AP)

    Long Way Down

    Jason Reynolds

    9 (AP)

    The Moon is Down

    John Steinbeck

    9 (IB)

    Speak

    Laurie Halse Anderson

    9 (IB)

    Long Way Down

    Jason Reynolds

    10 (AP)

    Gathering of Old Men

    Ernest Gaines

    10 (AP)

    The Poet X

    Elizabeth Acevedo

    10 (AP)

    Persepolis, Book 1

    Marjane Satrapi

    10 (IB)

    Kindred

    Octavia Butler

    11 (AP)

    1984

    George Orwell

    11 (AP) Nonfiction Choice

    11 (AP)

    The Jungle

    Upton Sinclair

    11 (AP)

    Fast Food Nation

    Eric Schlosser

    11 (AP)

    The New Jim Crow

    Michelle Alexander

    11 (AP)

    The Beauty Myth

    Naomi Wolf

    11 (AP)

    In Cold Blood

    Truman Capote

    11 (AP) Memoir Choice

    11 (AP)

    Becoming

    Michelle Obama

    11 (AP)

    Between the World and Me

    Ta-Nehisi Coates

    11 (AP)

    Born A Crime

    Trevor Noah

    11 (AP)

    Long Way Gone

    Charles Martin

    11 (AP)

    Memorial Drive

    Natasha Trethewey

    11 (IB)

    Required

     

    11 (IB)

    How To Read Literature Like a Professor

    Thomas C. Foster

    11 (IB)

    Siddhartha

    Herman Hesse

    12 (AP)

    The Poisonwood Bible

    Barbara Kingsolver

    12 (AP)

    World of Wonders

    Aimee Nezhukumatathil

    12 (AP) AP Classic Novel Choice

    12 (AP)

    Wuthering Heights

    Emily Bronte

    12 (AP)

    Go Tell It on the Mountain

    James Baldwin

    12 (AP)

    The Color Purple

    Alice Walker

    12 (AP)

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    Mark Twain

    12 (AP)

    Pride and Prejudice

    Jane Austen

    12 (AP)

    Invisible Man

    Ralph Ellison

    12 (IB) Required

    12 (IB)

    King Lear

    William Shakespeare

    12(IB)

    Woman at Point Zero

    Nawal El Saadawi

    Note: Program schools may recommend that additional books are read during the summer in preparation for coursework during the upcoming school year.  Those listed above are the minimum books required by the District for each grade level and program school.