The California Department of Education (CDE) has put forth the following requirements for secondary school children. As per § 51220, the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, shall include instruction, beginning in grade 7 and continuing through grade 12, in the following areas of study:

English

Including knowledge of and appreciation for literature, language, and composition, and the skills of reading, listening, and speaking.

Social Sciences

Drawing upon the disciplines of anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, designed to fit the maturity of the pupils. Instruction shall provide a foundation for understanding the history, resources, development, and government of California and the United States of America; instruction in our American legal system, the operation of the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, and the rights and duties of citizens under the criminal and civil law and the State and Federal Constitutions; the development of the American economic system, including the role of the entrepreneur and labor; the relations of persons to their human and natural environment; eastern and western cultures and civilizations; human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust, and contemporary issues.

Foreign Language or Languages

Beginning not later than grade 7, designed to develop a facility for understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the particular language.

Science

Including the physical and biological aspects, with emphasis on basic concepts, theories, and processes of scientific investigation and on the place of humans in ecological systems, and with appropriate applications of the interrelation and interdependence of the sciences.

Mathematics

Including instruction designed to develop mathematical understandings, operational skills, and insight into problem-solving procedures.

Visual and Performing Arts

Including dance, music, theater, and visual arts, with emphasis upon development of aesthetic appreciation and the skills of creative expression.

Physical Education

With emphasis given to physical activities that are conducive to health and to vigor of body and mind.

Applied Arts

Including instruction in the areas of consumer and homemaking education, industrial arts, general business education, or general agriculture.

Career Technical Education

Designed and conducted for the purpose of preparing youth for gainful employment in the occupations and in the numbers that are appropriate to the personnel needs of the state and the community served and relevant to the career desires and needs of the pupils.

Automobile Driver Education

Designed to develop a knowledge of the provisions of the Vehicle Code and other laws of this state relating to the operation of motor vehicles, a proper acceptance of personal responsibility in traffic, a true appreciation of the causes, seriousness and consequences of traffic accidents, and to develop the knowledge and attitudes necessary for the safe operation of motor vehicles. A course in automobile driver education shall include education in the safe operation of motorcycles.

Parenting Information & Skills

The adopted course of study for grade 7 or 8 shall include the equivalent content of a one-semester course in parenting skills and education, prior to becoming a parent. That knowledge should include, at a bare minimum, all of the following:
(1) Child development and growth.
(2) Effective parenting.
(3) Prevention of child abuse.
(4) Nutrition.
(5) Household finances and budgeting.
(6) Personal and family interaction and relations.
(7) Methods to promote self-esteem.
(8) Effective decisionmaking skills.
(9) Family and individual health.

AIDS Prevention Education (CEC § 51934)

All pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive HIV/AIDS prevention education from instructors trained in the appropriate courses. Each pupil shall receive this instruction at least once in junior high or middle school and at least once in high school.

• Information on the nature of HIV/AIDS and its effects on the human body.
•Information on the manner in which HIV is and is not transmitted, including information on activities that present the highest risk of HIV infection.
• Discussion of methods to reduce the risk of HIV infection. This instruction shall emphasize that sexual abstinence, monogamy, the avoidance of multiple sexual partners, and abstinence from intravenous drug use are the most effective means for HIV/AIDS prevention, but shall also include statistics based upon the latest
medical information citing the success and failure rates of condomsand other contraceptives in preventing sexually transmitted HIVinfection, as well as information on other methods that may reducethe risk of HIV transmission from intravenous drug use.
• Discussion of the public health issues associated with HIV/AIDS.
• Information on local resources for HIV testing and medical care.
• Development of refusal skills to assist pupils in overcoming peer pressure and using effective decisionmaking skills to avoid high-risk activities.
• Discussion about societal views on HIV/AIDS, including stereotypes and myths regarding persons with HIV/AIDS. This instruction shall emphasize compassion for persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Aging (CEC § 51280 – 51284)

In order to instill in California’s youth a sense of importance about lifelong financial planning and preparation, including, among other things, the costs of health care in a much-extended later life.  Including education as to all of the following:

• The changes we can expect in the later years of our lives.
• The changes we can expect of a society that is growing older.
• How we can be better prepared to sustain ourselves and our
• society in the coming years.
• The financial realities of living for a century.
• The importance of saving and financial planning.
• The financial benefits of healthful living and disease prevention.
• A new vision of aging, thereby dispelling ageist myths.
• An understanding of chronic disease and illness, with an
• emphasis on disease prevention and health in later life.

Drug Education

Instruction shall be given in the elementary and secondary schools on drug education and the effects of the use of tobacco, alcohol, narcotics, dangerous drugs, and other dangerous substances. (§ 51260)

The complete California Education Code (CEC) is available online here.