Business Education Curriculum
A 5-unit sequence in Career and Technical Education may be used as a substitute for the additional two units of Foreign Language needed for a Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation. Students opting for this choice must take Career and Financial Management (1/2 unit) and Business Management and Human Relations (1/2 unit) plus 4 additional units of business courses.
ACCOUNTING I (1 Year -1 Credit) 5 per. weekly Offered to: Grades 10-11-12 Recommended for: 10Tth or 11th grade students in preparation for College Accounting. Prerequisite: None. Accounting is one of the largest projected growth areas for careers today. This course teaches students the basics of accounting necessary for keeping records for business and/or personal use. Also included will be computer applications dealing with spreadsheets, inventory and other applicable areas.
BUSINESS COMPUTER APPLICATIONS (BCA) Fall (1/2 Year -1/2 Credit) 5 per. weekly Prerequisite: CCC or Personal Computing In just six months, students will become proficient using the Microsoft Office Suite by creating multifaceted projects to support all the needs of a new business. From the initial business plan, to visual presentations using PowerPoint the students will develop the skills to create all the documentation necessary to start up a successful new business.
BUSINESS LAW (1 Year -1 Credit) 5 per. weekly Offered to: Grades 10-11-12. Few subjects are as dramatic, challenging and relevant as law. Knowing more about the law can help you in your professional & personal life. Take business law if you want to know what your rights are as a minor, and as a student; what your parents’ rights are; what your rights are as a consumer, and as an employee or employer. How do you read a contract? How do you draw up a contract? Do you want to start a business of your own? Should it be a sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation? What kind of commercial paper should you use?
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RELATIONS (Sequence Mandate 1/2 Year -1/2 Credit) 5 per. weekly Fall or Spring Offered to: Grades 9-10-11-12 Required for: All Business sequences Prerequisite: None. This course will help you acquire the skills necessary to make informed decisions, as well as provide you with information vital to realistic career choices. We will make you aware of the economics of work and you will develop an understanding of the marketplace. In addition, we will analyze your likes, dislikes, unique characteristics, competencies, and weaknesses with the intention of adding to your self-awareness. Problem solving and decision-making skills will also be taught.
CAREER AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (Sequence Mandate 1/2 Year -1/2 Credit) 5 per. weekly Offered to: Grades 9-10-11-12 in the Fall. Prerequisite: None. Required for: CTE programs This course will provide students with the opportunity to learn about the features of our economy, explore a variety of careers, learn the skills and competencies needed for success in the workplace and become financially literate. Among the areas to be studied are: economic systems, effect of technology on the labor market, business systems and their organization, career planning and lifelong goals, changing trends and employment opportunities, resumes, job interviews, personal qualities for employment, interpersonal skills, working conditions and benefits, time management, workplace laws and unions, banking, personal budgets, credit, insurance, consumer protection.
COLLEGE ACCOUNTING (1 Year -1 Credit in Business or Math) 5 per. weekly Offered to: Seniors only Recommended for: College-bound business majors. Prerequisite: Accounting Seniors planning on majoring in accounting or business in college must have the advantage of this college-level, first-year accounting course. A college text is used, and such topics as partnerships, corporations, stocks and bonds, and financial statements are studied. Students use computers to prepare many of the worksheets and statements required by the course. As a result, they become familiar with Microsoft Excel and its applications to accounting. QuickBooks will also be used.
COMPUTER PRESENTATIONS AND BEYOND (1 year - 1 credit) 5 per. weekly Offered to grades 9, 10, 11, 12 Spring Prerequisite: BCA At the completion of this 1/2-year course you will be able to present all of your ideas in an attractive, eye-catching, technologically up-to-date medium. You will compose and design a multitude of desktop publishing projects as well as detailed PowerPoint presentations. Website design incorporating Flash animations will excite every viewer to enhance your original ideas. Software used: Microsoft Office Suite, Flash 8 and Dreamweaver 8 and Photoshop.
COMPUTING FOR COLLEGE AND CAREERS (CCC) - (pending approval) Offered to: Grades 9 Fall (1/2 Year -1/2 Credit) 5 per. weekly Students are taught to touch type; a lifelong skill, which will be used in their personal as well as their professional lives. The ability to create and edit text is vital for students who face years of preparing term papers, essays, letters of applications, résumés and business correspondence, all while utilizing Word and WordPerfect.
COOPERATIVE WORK EXPERIENCE Credit: 1 Credit for 300 hours 2 Credits for 600 hours worked Corequisite: Any Business Course Cooperative work experience is a wonderful opportunity for students to apply what they have learned in school to the world of work, while earning money at the same time. In order to be eligible, students must be registered for a business course, and work on the books for 300 hours to earn one credit and 600 hours to earn two credits.
LEADERSHIP (1 Year - 1 credit in Business, Social Studies or English) Alternating Days Offered to: Grades 10-11-12 The students will be trained in many different leadership skills as they take responsibility for leading projects related to improving communication and student voice in our school. Community service time will be tracked and accrued throughout the school year. Students will explore leadership styles, analyze values, self-explore and improve public speaking and facilitation skills as they work with their peers throughout the year. Leadership representatives will serve on the Student-Faculty Forum, which will meet with the principal monthly to review concerns and ideas for the building.
SENIOR PORTFOLIO (1/2 Year - 1/2 Credit) 5 per. weekly Offered to: Seniors Fall Do you dread the thought of writing your college essays and of gathering all the information (sports, extra-curricular, music, art awards, etc.) you need to send with your college applications? Wouldn’t it be great if the entire process could be part of a course that would include periodic visits from counselors to make sure your application is perfect?
In addition to easing the stress of the college application process, we will see to it that you know some of the life skills necessary for financial success in college and after. You will learn about checking and savings accounts, students and car loans, insurance and charge accounts. We will study investments (stocks, mutual funds, bank accounts). You will also have a foundation of business law that will take the mystery out of leases and other contracts that you may be signing when you are away from home.
SPORTS MARKETING (1/2 Year -1/2 Credit) 5 per. weekly Spring Offered to: Grades 10-11-12 Recommended for: College-bound business and marketing majors and anyone interested in the field of sports and its impact. This half-year course is designed to provide an insight into the executive level decision- making and analyzing in sports marketing. Case studies and news media will be used to position the student in the role of a sports marketer. Suggested topics that will be explored are: an orientation to marketing as it relates to the sports industry, market analysis, athletes making economic choices, professional sport trades, supply and demand in sports, financial analysis of teams, the sports labor market, discrimination in sports and sports promotion. Classroom instruction will be reinforced through outside use of guest speakers, field trip to a stadium, videos and the Internet.
STREET LAW I (1/2 Year -1/2 Credit in Business or Social Studies) Fall 5 per. weekly Offered to: Grades 10-11-12 Do you ever wonder why things happen regarding our justice system? Are you ever confused about your individual rights, responsibilities and duties as a person in our community? Then this course is for you. Street Law is designed for students who are interested in law but do not have time in their schedules for a full year course. This course will give you a general understanding of personal law issues in today’s world. Topics will include Individual Rights and Liberties, Employment Law, Discrimination Law, Housing Law, Family Law and Government Programs. Guest speakers, fieldtrips, videos and special ongoing projects help to enhance this exciting curriculum.
STREET LAW II (PERSONAL LAW) (1/2 Year - 1/2 credit in Business or Social Studies) Spring 5 per. weekly Offered to: Grades 10-11-12 Is your law knowledge enough to be out there on your own? Personal Law will cover the areas of Juvenile Justice, Torts (Civil Law), Consumer Law, Credit, Insurance, and Death and Dying. A Moot Court Competition is the ‘grande finale’ where students get a chance to prove themselves worthy in a Civil Law trial. Guest speakers, fieldtrips and videos are used to enhance this already challenging curriculum.
Middle School
The rapid and increasing growth in the development of technology has had a dramatic impact on all our lives. Therefore, it has become evident that one should develop an understanding of technology and technological systems. Approximately twenty-five percent of instructional time will be spent on classroom instruction while seventy-five percent will be spend on hands-on shop laboratory experiences.
Technology 7 (20 Weeks) This course is required of all seventh grade students. Students will study the role of technology in today’s society and the effect it has on their daily routines. This course is broken into two sections consisting of 10 weeks in the laboratory and 10 weeks of information systems in the computer lab. Students will explore the following topics: - History and Evolution of Technology - Tools, Resources, and Technological Processes - Information Systems - Computer Aided Design - Desktop Publishing - Keyboarding - Multimedia Tools - Internet
Technology 8 (20 Weeks) This course is required of all eighth grade students and is an extension of the Technology 7 program. The course will broaden the student’s understanding of technology. Students will apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs. The curriculum for this course includes the following topics: - Engineering - Technological Systems - Management of Technology - Impacts of Technology
Students have the opportunity to participate in mini-courses dependent on some of the other courses in which the student is enrolled. Our earth science and high school Studio Art students are not able to take eighth grade mini-courses. All other eighth graders will take four mini-courses including Computer Literacy and Public Speaking 8. See other sections for description of Art 8 and Health 8.
Human Relations (10 Weeks) This course is an introduction to human relations through the vehicle of historical examples. It will introduce students to basic humanitarian principles that include: equality of all groups, and tolerance among and between ethnic/racial groups.
Information Technology (10 Weeks) This course is designed to introduce students to the use of computers, as tools for design, modeling information processing, communication, and system control. Students will learn through a hands-on approach which is enhanced by daily work on the computer. The curriculum for this course includes the following topics: - Multimedia Authoring - Web Page Design - Video Editing - Keyboarding
Public Speaking (10 Weeks) This course is designed to make students more aware of communication through speech and help them to become more effective verbal communicators. Students will be involved in a variety of speech experiences. The course will include the basic functions of speech in social, school, and business settings through communication of ideas and speeches to inform or persuade, impromptu talks, and panel debates. The reading and analysis of great speeches will also take place.