Honors PreCalculus

Purpose of the Document: This document provides an overview of this course. The information provided below is designed to support students, parents, and the school community to understand the major content of the course and the standards used to design it. To support the needs of students, teachers may make adjustments as needed. Please contact your child’s teacher and/or review the course Schoology page with your child for additional information.

Program Vision: The vision of the Secondary Math Ohana is to provide students with a supportive learning environment that encourages all learners to realize their potential as productive members of our community. Our department ensures that:

Our curriculum is aligned to state standards, and where applicable, national standards.
Our curriculum is created with input from all stakeholders.
Our curriculum is aligned vertically and offers opportunities for all students for acceleration, honors-level courses, and AP.
Our teachers address the needs and learning styles of our students while providing multiple entry points for differentiated learning.
We, through a collaboration with Cecil College and our School of Technology, prepare all students for post-secondary education and careers.

Program Mission: The mission of the Secondary Mathematics Department is to ensure the success of all learners by providing multiple opportunities for students to strive for mastery of concepts. We strive to create an environment that empowers students to become confident and competent problem solvers.

Course Description: Honors PreCalculus is a rigorous, college preparatory course for accelerated mathematics students in grades 10, 11, or 12. The course involves the production and investigation of mathematical models not merely to find solutions, but to enhance understanding of the concepts underlying the solutions. During this course, students improve their problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, and reasoning abilities. Students recognize, use, and interpret equivalent representations of the same concept, and communicate mathematical knowledge effectively. In addition, students connect mathematical concepts with other topics, to other disciplines, and to real life as they prepare for success in STEM, Calculus, and beyond.

Several aspects of this honors course make it different from our PreCalculus course. Here are a few of these aspects:

Honors have a final exam near the conclusion of the course that counts as 20% of the student’s grade.
Honors also have a midterm at the approximate midpoint of the course, which counts as a formative grade.
Five projects are required within the course that intertwines mathematical concepts, data analysis, and literacy.
Many of the concepts and skills go deeper, which is reflected in the county-designed summative assessments.
The honors course also contains a few additional standards.

This course meets the University System of Maryland admissions requirements as a final-year course. A letter signed by the Director of Articulation and Enrollment Services for the University of Maryland is available upon request.

Although CCPS operates on an A/B block schedule, a few schools elect to run Honors PreCalculus in semester two so that students can take Honors Trig, Functions, and Statistics in semester one. For the semester course, the first two marking periods are taught in marking period three and the second two marking periods are taught in marking period four.

MARKING PERIOD ONE (September - November)

Marking Period Topics at-a-Glance

● Quadratic functions

● Complex numbers

● Polynomial functions

● Rational functions

● Two projects

Standards Taught

PreCalculus is a course designed around Maryland’s College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) and focused on six major themes. One major theme is addressed in marking period 1.

● Polynomial and Rational Functions

This link takes you to the MCCRS standards for PreCalculus. The Instructional Coordinator was part of the team that created these standards for Maryland.

How students are graded:

3 summative assessments — county created (60% of the grade)
6-9 formative assessments — a mix of teacher-created and county-created (40% of the grade). Formative assessments may include homework and classwork as an assessment for learning.
Check your teacher’s grading policy for retest, latework, and other guidelines for grading.

Resources:

Precalculus with Limits, A Graphing Approach (7th edition) is the primary resource for the course. The same text is used in the Trig, Functions, and Statistics course.

Home and School Connection

Please encourage your students to use these two websites for additional support:

Please check the teacher’s Schoology page for additional resources and support.

MARKING PERIOD TWO (November - January)

Marking Period Topics at-a-Glance

● Systems of linear equations (3x3 and beyond)

● Partial Fractions

● Systems containing a linear and a nonlinear

● Matrix operations and applications

● Systems of linear inequalities and linear programming

● One project

● Midterm Exam (which may occur early in marking period 3)

Standards Taught

PreCalculus is a course designed around Maryland’s College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) and focused on six major themes. One major theme is addressed in marking period 2.

● Linear systems and matrices

This link takes you to the MCCRS standards for PreCalculus. The Instructional Coordinator was part of the team that created these standards for Maryland.

How students are graded:

3-4 summative assessments — county created (60% of the grade)
6-9 formative assessments — a mix of teacher-created and county-created (40% of the grade). Formative assessments may include homework and classwork as an assessment for learning
Check your teacher’s grading policy for retest, latework, and other guidelines for grading.

Resources:

Precalculus with Limits, A Graphing Approach (7th edition) is the primary resource for the course. The same text is used in the Trig, Functions, and Statistics course.

Home and School Connection

Please encourage your students to use these two websites for additional support:

Please check the teacher’s Schoology page for additional resources and support.

MARKING PERIOD THREE (January - April)

Marking Period Topics at-a-Glance

● Conic Sections, including circles, parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas

● Rotation of Axes

● Polar Coordinates

● Parametric functions

● Introduction to limits

● One project

Standards Taught

PreCalculus is a course designed around Maryland’s College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) and focused on six major themes. Three major themes are addressed in marking period 3.

● Analytic Geometry, including Conic Sections

● Polar Coordinates

● Parametric functions

● Limits and an introduction to calculus

This link takes you to the MCCRS standards for PreCalculus. The Instructional Coordinator was part of the team that created these standards for Maryland.

How students are graded:

3-4 summative assessments — county created (60% of the grade)
6-9 formative assessments — a mix of teacher-created and county-created (40% of the grade). Formative assessments may include homework and classwork as an assessment for learning.
Check your teacher’s grading policy for retest, latework, and other guidelines for grading.

Resources:

Precalculus with Limits, A Graphing Approach (7th edition) is the primary resource for the course. The same text is used in the Trig, Functions, and Statistics course.

Home and School Connection

Please encourage your students to use these two websites for additional support:

Please check the teacher’s Schoology page for additional resources and support.

MARKING PERIOD FOUR (April - June)

Marking Period Topics at-a-Glance

● Techniques of finding limits

● Tangent lines and derivatives

● Area using summation and an introduction to integration

● Functions and trigonometry review to prepare for calculus

● One project

● Final Exam

Standards Taught

PreCalculus is a course designed around Maryland’s College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS) and focused on six major themes. One major theme is addressed in marking period 4.

● Limits and an introduction to calculus

This link takes you to the MCCRS standards for PreCalculus. The Instructional Coordinator was part of the team that created these standards for Maryland.

How students are graded:

2-3 summative assessments — county created (60% of the grade). Seniors may only need a minimum of 2 summative grades in marking period 4.
6-9 formative assessments — a mix of teacher-created and county-created (40% of the grade). Formative assessments may include homework and classwork as an assessment for learning.
Check your teacher’s grading policy for retest, latework, and other guidelines for grading.

Resources:

Precalculus with Limits, A Graphing Approach (7th edition) is the primary resource for the course. The same text is used in the Trig, Functions, and Statistics course.

Home and School Connectionface

Please encourage your students to use these two websites for additional support:

Please check the teacher’s Schoology page for additional resources and support.

Cecil County Public Schools July 11, 2023