• Jessica Thomas, Interim Department Chairperson – MVHS
• Karen Lawson, Department Chairperson – NVHS
• Diana Schill, Department Chairperson – WVHS

A student must be registered in a core English course each semester. The curriculum builds language skills sequentially from freshman through senior levels. Writing-based courses introduce, develop, and refine student skills in all aspects of the writing process including literary analyses, personal essays, and creative writings. In addition, reading development is approached through the various literature studied in each course. Literature at the high school level contains mature content.

The first THREE years of English course work consist of full-year core courses: English 1, 2, and 3. Senior year, the student must take a minimum of two semester courses from the list of senior choices.

The Communication Electives (special-interest courses) may be taken in addition to the core curriculum but do not count toward fulfillment of English requirements for graduation.

Because Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) course work is accelerated and more sophisticated, upper level work of high quality in a compacted time frame is demanded of students. The English Department has developed a recommendation process for student placement. These placement criteria are indicators of performance levels or standards for the Honors or AP courses and are available from the English Department.