Rockdale's high schools were among the 462 schools named today by State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge as Advanced Placement Honor Schools.
Rockdale County High, Heritage High, Salem High and Rockdale Carer Academy were all named AP STEM Schools for the fourth consecutive year.
RCHS was also named to the AP STEM Achievement School, AP Merit School, and AP Access and Support school categories.
“I congratulate our students, teachers and administrators for this outstanding recognition,” said Rockdale Superintendent Richard Autry. “Each year we have increased our AP offerings throughout the district which our students have clearly embraced as part of their academic pathway to graduation and higher education. We have also focused on providing additional support to ensure students are successful in these high rigor courses and can take advantage of the college credit that may be obtained with high AP test scores. This recognition further supports our vision for providing enhanced options to our students to ensure they have a competitive advantage upon their entrance into the workforce and/or higher education.”
"There are so many Georgia schools that have great success with Advanced Placement," Superintendent Barge said. "I am so pleased to see this success grow to more and more of our schools this year. These achievements can be attributed to the outstanding students and teachers at each of our AP Honor Schools."
The 2014 AP Honor Schools are named in five categories, based on the results of 2013 AP classes and exams:
- AP CHALLENGE SCHOOLS: Schools of 900 or fewer students with students testing in four of the core areas (English, math, science, and social studies)
- AP ACCESS & SUPPORT SCHOOLS: Schools with at least 30% of their AP exams taken by students who identified themselves as African- American and/or Hispanic and 30% of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher
- AP MERIT SCHOOLS: Schools with at least 20% of the student population taking AP exams and at least 50% of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher
- AP STEM SCHOOLS: Schools with students testing in at least two AP math courses and two AP science courses (AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics B, AP Physics C, AP Computer Science)
- AP STEM ACHIEVEMENT SCHOOLS: Schools with students testing in at least two AP math courses and two AP science courses and at least 40% of the exam scores on AP math and AP science exams earning scores of 3 or higher
Advanced Placement classes and exams are administered by the College Board, which also administers the SAT. AP classes offer rigorous college-level learning options to students in high school. Students who receive a 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams may receive college credit.