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ABOUT

Welcome to Pioneer Academy

Since 1999, Pioneer Academy has established a tradition of quality in rigorous and ethics-driven college-preparatory education of students from Pre-K to Grade 12.

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ADMISSIONS

A Bright Future Starts Here

At Pioneer Academy, our foremost focus is on rigorously nurturing students’ innate curiosity, to support their self-confidence and development as learners and principled problem-solvers, as creators, collaborators, and ethics-driven leaders.

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ACADEMICS

Best Private PreK-12 School

Pioneer students, guided by exceptional faculty, develop the foundational skills, knowledge, and critical thinking faculties to become self-directed learners, leaders, and agents of positive change in their surrounding communities and the world.

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ATHLETICS

Home of the Eagles

Pioneer Athletics is focused on supporting and encouraging the student body by promoting health, fitness, wellness, and physical education through our wide array of individual, club, and team-based athletics offerings.

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artS

Fine Arts

We are thrilled to showcase the creativity and talent of our students. From stunning paintings to captivating music performances, Pioneer students have been honing their artistic skills and producing works that are truly exceptional.

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STUDENT LIFE

Beyond the Classroom

Pioneer Academy’s vibrant learning community welcomes students of all backgrounds, races, religions and orientations. Student life is richly diverse, with myriad opportunities both inside and beyond the classroom.

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GIVING

Supporting Pioneer Academy

Pioneer Academy donors play a critical part in ensuring success of our school’s front and back ends, from significant financial aid and competitive faculty compensation to our innovative academic programs, world-class global service-immersion, and extra-curricular offerings.

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CoNTACT

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ABOUT

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ACADEMICS

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ADMISSIONS

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ATHLETICS

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ART

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STUDENT LIFE

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ALUMNI

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VISIT

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We aim to nurture students as social scientists and historians able to apply knowledge meaningfully to reconstruct society, as culturally-competent global citizens.

Goals for our students:

To develop skills for perceptive reading, critical thinking, summarizing, and intelligent articulation
To develop the ability to use and conduct research in primary materials.
To develop an awareness and appreciation for other cultures.
To expose students to a wide variety of historical approaches.
To help students deal with the present and future by studying the past patterns and trends of human activity.
To analyze the ever-changing, global issues of our world.
To become aware of their roles as citizens in society and prepare to participate actively, competently, and productively.

High school students representing Pioneer Academy at annual Model UN event in United Nations

Model United Nations

The Model UN club at Pioneer Academy is a highly engaging and challenging forum that promotes the skills of negotiations, group dynamics, writing, and presenting views towards educating for a peaceful world.

Students, explore and master basic information about the functioning of the United Nations and understand how decisions are made in the world body of nation-states education for world peace and global conflict resolutions.

Courses

United States History

Full Year - 5 Credits

This course examines the major turning points in United States history beginning with the;

Events leading up to the American Revolution
The origins of our constitution
Reform movements
Manifest Destiny
The Civil War and Reconstruction
The impact of the frontier
The changing nature of business and government
World War I
The Great Depression
World War II
Growth of the United States as a world power
The Cold War
The struggle to achieve class, ethnic, racial, and gender equality

The course extends to the modern-day. Contemporary world issues such as globalization, economic interdependence, and terrorism. World cultures will also factor into our analysis of international conflict and cooperation.

Sociology of the Future

Semester - 2.5 Credits

Sociology of the Future is a 20-week, one-semester course grounded in the field of Sociology in which students will develop an understanding of the future of work, play, and leisure by looking at trends of today and using scientific analyses and social forecasting, construct a picture of the future.

Students will be introduced to concepts such as Futurism as Ideology, Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Alternate Realities, Big Data, Machine-Learning, Emergence of Androids, Big History, Megatrends, Existentialism and Self Grounded in the Future. Students will learn to apply Skills such as brainstorming and mind-mapping, futuring via Futures Wheels, scenario-building, using big data for Predicting and Anticipatory Thinking, and Analysis of Science Fiction to inform the Future.

This course will augment two others currently taught at Pioneer Academy, "Human Geography/Diaspora/Cultural Studies". World History, and Psychology.

For the first ten weeks, students will be introduced to the field of Sociology, of studying society and its deep subdivisions as they are impacted by history, politics, economics, and education. The focus will be on what sociologists do and how they analyze society. Class, race, gender, and social advancement will be the select topics in this introductory part of the semester.

For the next ten weeks, students will apply the key concepts of sociology to the study of possible futures.

AP Human Geography

Full Year - 5 Credits

AP Human Geography is a year-long course that contains seven units of study as outlined in the 2019 Course and Exam Description (CED) published by the College Board.

The units in the CED focus on topics including thinking geographically, population and migration, culture, political geography, agriculture, urban geography, and development and industrialization.

Students will have multiple opportunities to apply the information addressed in each unit in activities including notetaking, current events, projects, and formative and summative assessments.

“The goal for the course is for students to become more geo-literate, more engaged in contemporary global issues, and more informed about multicultural viewpoints.”
(College Board, 2019)

As students progress through the course, they develop skills to help them think geographically and make connections between content in the seven units of study.

There are 5 skill categories addressed in the course: , , Data Analysis, Source Analysis, and Scale Analysis. (College Board, 2019.) The big ideas for the course are Patterns and Spatial Organization (PSO), Impacts and Interactions (IMP), and Spatial Process and Societal Change (SPS). (College Board, 2019)

Concepts and Processes
Spatial Relationships
Data Analysis
Source Analysis
Scale Analysis

The big ideas for the course are Patterns and Spatial Organization (PSO), Impacts and Interactions (IMP), and Spatial Process and Societal Change (SPS).

AP Psychology

Full Year - 5 Credits

This is a year-long college-level course which will introduce us to the main topics in Psychology.

Through extensive readings, guided by the NJ core curriculum content standards, the curriculum framework for Advanced Placement Psychology primarily, we will acquire the skills of thinking and feeling like a psychologist: mastering the art and science of understanding the human mind, the brain and consciousness, human development “from the cradle to the grave”, personality studies, human traits and the direction of behavior, discerning patterns of human action – all these so that we may understand how we can build a better world and plan for a peaceful and sustainable one, by understanding ourselves from a Western perspective of the evolution of the self and the individual.

This is a college-level course that will have a varied approach to the sections. A sequence of topics and be assessed based on a variety of expectations met.

In this course, students will explore the ideas, theories, and methods of the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The following concepts will be explored:

Science of the Human Mind
Brain Hemispheric Laterality
Human Learning
Human Cognitive
Emotional
Social, and Spiritual Development
Neural Networks
Intelligences
Society and Pschology
The world within as we interact with the world outside of us

By the end of the academic year, students in all sections will be able to connect psychological concepts and theories to real-life scenarios, understanding and interpreting data, and analyze research studies in Psychology.

Modern World History

Full Year - 5 Credits

This is a 5-credit graduation required course which will introduce us to the main topic in Modern World History (beginning 1200 to the present post-Covid-19 era.)

Through extensive readings, guided by the NJ core curriculum content standards, the curriculum framework for World History, students will acquire the skills of thinking and feeling like a historian: mastering the art and science of historicizing, discerning patterns of change, understanding “the butterfly effect” and “causal relationships in historical changes, and learning lessons from past events, so that we may understand how we can build a better world and plan for a peaceful and sustainable one.

A sequence of topics and be assessed based on a variety of expectations met. Concepts explored will be the following:

Historicizing
Connections
Transformations
Transcultural Migrations
Causal Relationships
Complex Systems and Human Evolution
Chaos Theory and Human History
Big Data, Big History
Auto-Bio History and the Nurturing of Personal Memory
Futurism and Alternate History

By the end of the academic year, students in all sections will be able to do the following with expected degrees of competency: Evaluate primary and secondary sources, Analyze the claims, evidence, and reasoning you find in sources, and put historical developments in context and making connections between them, come up with a claim or thesis and explaining and supporting it in writing.

Ancient World History

Full Year - 5 Credits

In this course we will be studying World History from Early Man through the Renaissance. Through the study of World History it is intended to give the student a broader view of the world around us and of meaning to our place in this global village. Some key topics covered in this course include:

The Four Early Civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India)
The Mesoamerican Civilizations
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
Early Africa
The Middle East
The Middle Ages
The Renaissance

Modern World History

Full Year - 5 Credits

This course will focus on World History starting from the 17th Century. The focus of the course will be regional and linear. We will have units that focus on Europe for a brief period of time, then switch to Asia for roughly the same period of time, then to Africa and the Americas.

The course will also focus heavily on cross-cultural themes and interaction between groups of people and how world history is becoming increasingly closer as we enter the age of globalization.

AP US History

Full Year - 5 Credits
Pre-Requisites: “A” average in Social Studies and strong English writing skills. Teacher recommendation

This course is offered to selected students of proven academic ability in the field of Social Studies. This is a college level course in United States History culminating with the Advanced Placement exam.

This course will fulfill the United States History High School requirement.

Students achieving a successful grade on this exam may apply for college credit.

AP World History

Full Year - 5 Credits
Pre-Requisites: “A” average in Social Studies and strong English writing skills. Teacher recommendation
Offered every other year

This course is taught at the college-level and culminates with the AP Exam. The AP World History course is to develop a greater understanding of the development of global processes and contacts, in interaction with different types of human societies. This understanding is advanced through a combination of factual knowledge and analytical skills.

The course highlights the nature of changes in international frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies.

This course will satisfy the High School World History requirement.

Students achieving a successful grade on this exam may apply for college credit.

AP European History

Full Year - 5 Credits
Pre-Requisites: “A” average in Social Studies and strong English writing skills. Teacher recommendation

AP European History is a rigorous academic course that furnishes a basic narrative of events and movements in European History from 1450 to the present. It prepares students for the demands of a college education by providing experience in college level reading, writing and responsibility for learning.

This course is taught at the college-level and culminates with the AP Exam.

Students achieving a successful grade on this exam may apply for college credit.

AP Comparative Government and Politics

Full Year - 5 Credits
Pre-Requisites: “A” average in Social Studies and strong English writing skills. Teacher recommendation

This college-level Advanced Placement examines the political institutions and processes of six different countries—China, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, and the United Kingdom—and compare the ways they address problems. Students will analyze data and readings to draw conclusions about political systems.

AP US Government and Politics

Full Year - 5 Credits
Pre-Requisites: “A” average in Social Studies and strong English writing skills. Teacher recommendation

This college-level Advanced Placement provides high achieving students with a learning experience equivalent to a college course in United States Government and Politics and a college course in Comparative Government and Politics.

The course studies government and politics in the United States as well as examining the world’s diverse political structures and practices.

This course culminates in the student taking the AP Exam in United States Government and Politics and/or the AP Exam in Comparative Government and Politics.

A separate grade is reported for each test.

Introduction to World Religions

1 Semester - 2.5 Credits

This course provides the opportunity for the students to gain an in-depth insight into the diversity of religions throughout the world. This one-semester course examines both polytheistic and monotheistic religions such as the Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Taoism, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam regardless of pre-judgement and biases.

The students will learn to recognize and find meanings in a variety of religious expressions while discovering that misinterpretations of these religious expressions can lead to inaccuracies, stereotypes and distortions.

Attitudes of respect and appreciation for religious diversity are encouraged throughout the course.

Introduction to Social and Political Psychology

1 Semester - 2.5 Credits

This course has two parts.

The first part of the course, Social Psychology aims to help students to see an overview of the way people think about, feel, and behave in social circumstances and constructions. It provides an understanding of how people influence and are influenced by the others around them.

During the Political Psychology part, the students learn what psychology can tell us about political processes rather than examining what happened in politics. Students will be provided an overview of political processes primarily focusing on the psychology of individuals, social groups and citizens during decision making processes within both national and global perspectives.

National and International Current Events

1 Semester - 2.5 Credits

This class is designed to provide students with the opportunity to discuss, understand, and explore local national, international, political, economic and social issues in a respectful, meaningful, and active way.

Throughout the term, students will stay up to date on current issues and trends. Because the subject of this class is “contemporary,” topics will vary considerably depending on the current news cycle.

Students will be challenged to defend their opinions on many different issues.

Public Speaking

1 Semester - 2.5 Credits

This course aims to make students better communicators and public speakers using the basic concepts of communication and major ethical, rhetorical forms such as logos, ethos and pathos.

Types of speeches students will be exposed include informational, persuasive, demonstration, oral interpretation, symposium, and valedictory.

Since public speaking is the number one fear of most Americans, the class provides a supportive and low-key atmosphere to help students overcome their anxiety.

During the course, the students will also be provided the most influential examples of historical orators that have used their influence and public appeal along with some of their greatest speeches to inspire and unite people during times of struggle.

Dr. Azly Rahman

Social Studies Department Head

(973) 405-5169 x 109

E-mail

NATIONAL
SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS

A middle school student with her Art Teacher during Pioneer Academy Cultural Day event

MULTICULTURAL DAY

This is a week-long school-wide Social Studies, Language Arts, and Humanities enrichment project where students transform their classrooms into different countries from around the world. Every year, since its inception, each grade is assigned to a country.

What I love about the school is the family quality that is here at Pioneer Academy and this is really a second home for my daughter.

Patricia C.
Middle School Student

Social Studies

Social Studies teaching is guided by the paradigm and practice of Social Science Inquiry and exploration of the transcultural and organic nature of knowledge.

Social Studies

Social Studies teaching is guided by the paradigm and practice of Social Science Inquiry and exploration of the transcultural and organic nature of knowledge.

Model United Nations

Courses

Dr. Azly Rahman

MULTICULTURAL DAY