English
The English curriculum will consist of four courses: 9th Grade English, 10th Grade English, 11th Grade English, and College Writing. The teachers in the English department will work to ensure that students write creatively and clearly and have control of the spelling, grammar, and punctuation conventions of the English language.   We have adopted the Collins Writing Program © as a way to provide common language for describing writing and creating rubrics for students in every course.  
 
Students will learn to write expository and persuasive essays. In addition, English teachers will work to make sure that our students develop an appreciation for literature and poetry, an ability to present and discuss, and confidence in their ability to think and express their ideas.
 
Language
The Spanish Language curriculum is designed in a way that will give Golder students not only a basic linguistic knowledge of the language, but also develops in them an appreciation for the culture.

Math
The math courses required for each student depend on individual placement.  The grade level at which students normally take the courses is listed below in parentheses.  These courses expose students to the types of problems that they can expect to see as juniors on the American College Tests (ACT) and the Prairie State Achievement Examinations (PSAE).

•    Algebra 1 (9) is a traditional Algebra class that provides a review of concepts in the areas of arithmetic, geometry, probability, and pre-algebra and that focuses on solving and graphing linear equations/inequalities, simplifying and evaluating variable algebraic expressions, solving systems of linear equations, exploring functions, and operations with polynomials. Meanwhile, all students will be provided with real life problem solving investigations and inquiry-based lessons that are designed to improve critical thinking, writing, self-reflecting, and verbally communicating. 

•    Algebra 1 w/ Geometry (9, 10, 11) combines traditional Algebra topics – such as solving and graphing linear equations, simplifying variable expressions, and solving systems of linear equations – integrated with principles of geometry.

•    Geometry w/Algebra (10) combines traditional Algebra topics such as solving equations and simplifying/evaluating expressions with principles of geometry. Students investigate properties of plane figures by using discovery learning.

•    Algebra 2  w/ Trigonometry (11) builds on Algebra 1 by continuing to focus on graphing and solving linear equations, quadratic equations, systems of linear equations, polynomials, functions, inequalities, geometry, trigonometry, and the unit circle. 

•    Pre-Calculus (11, 12) covers functions including:  exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, compositions, piecewise, and inverse. This class also exposes students to the fundamental ideas of limits, differentiation, and integration. 

•    AP Calculus (12) prepares students to take the AP Calculus AB test. This class exposes students to real life problem solving with differentiation and integration methods.
  
MCJROTC
This military program emphasizes life skills training. Specific program goals include the formation of habits of self-discipline, recognition and proper response to authority, character enhancement, and overall development of cadets as well-informed and responsible adults. Visit the U.S. Marine Corps Web Site.

Science
The Science Department is designed to provide each student with an appropriate foundation for college in the laboratory sciences. The freshman year the students will take a general science survey class designed around the individual. The class is a balance of personal issues wrapped in health science and an introduction to laboratory work and procedures. Freshman year is designed to create the curiosity and confidence needed to for the study of general science. This foundation and skill building is followed by a sophomore biology class that is designed to transition from the individual's issues to the larger world by studying the individual's place in that world. As well as covering expected content, biology is designed to create the foundation needed for a laboratory science that will follow through in the junior and senior year. In junior year, chemistry is designed to further explain the world that the student lives in. With a solid mixture of content and experimentation, chemistry builds on the skills previously learned in the first two years to further explain the world and start providing answers developed by the students for the questions about their world. In their senior year, physics is the conduit to explain the larger world to the student. Experiments drive the students understanding of laws and theories that explain the world they live in. It also is the introduction to concepts and ideas beyond the known and into the unknown.

Social Science
A student who graduates after four years of study within the Social Science Department will be a person who understands the fortune and profound responsibility of being a member of a community, a citizen of the United States, and a member of the larger global neighborhood.
 
Starting with Civics freshman year, a student explores the underpinnings of American law from the settlement at Jamestown to the framework of the Constitution. An emphasis is placed not only on the structure of our federal system, but also on Illinois State government and Chicago city government.  
 
During sophomore year, the student employs the principles of the preamble of the Constitution to envision how these themes have manifested from the nascent development of the United States to its archetypal economic and political position in the modern world.  
 
During first semester of junior year, a student examines the seeds of culture that were cast and sown on the western hemisphere of our globe in days of yore that have effloresced, died, and then during many occasions re-germinated in various forms over the course of time. The civilizations and societies studied during this Foundation Period are the Chinese, Israelites, Hindus, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Muslims. During second semester, a student gains an understanding and appreciation of cultural movements and watershed revolutions such as the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French and Haitian Revolutions. The course concludes by tracing the causal developments of the world's struggle of modernity with the Age of Revolution, Imperialism, and the World Wars.
 
In the final year, a student synthesizes the information from the previous three years and applies it in the comprehensive and challenging Government and Law. This final Social Science class is replete with higher thinking skills and critical writing that the students will take with them when matriculating at a college or university.

Special Education
Golder places students with disabilities in their least restrictive environment beginning with having access to the general curriculum along side their non-disabled peers. We offer a variety of classes and activities (for credit or non-credit experiences) for all students, including students with disabilities. We have high expectations for all students and require that they participate in these experiences through Community

Service and Elective and Enrichment credit requirements.
We assess all of our students through district and state mandated assessments and use school developed standard performance assessments. We hope to provide staff with training to develop content-specific alternate assessment tools that can be used within the general classroom.

We are building a collaborative teacher model from the ground up. SPED staff are included in the development of curriculum. SPED teachers co-teach classes with other Golder teachers and help them develop units, lesson plans or classroom activities. We schedule time for co-teachers to meet on a regular basis to discuss lesson plans and student progress.