Schools Honored for Advanced Placement Success

State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox has designated more than 80 Georgia high schools as Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools.

Superintendent Cox announced the AP Honor Schools during her speech to the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders earlier this week.

"Georgia is a national leader in the growth of students who are taking and succeeding in AP courses," Superintendent Cox said. "These schools have made a commitment to high standards and they deserve to be recognized for their efforts."

Advanced Placement classes and exams are administered by the College Board and offer rigorous college-level learning options to students in high school. Students who receive a 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams can receive college credit.

Georgia is recognizing AP Honor Schools in three categories:

- AP Challenge Schools: Schools with 900 or fewer students that offer at least one AP course in each of the four traditional core areas -- English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.
- AP Access and Support Schools: Schools with at least 30% of their AP test takers identified as African-American or Hispanic and 30% of all AP exams earning scores of three (3) or higher.
- AP Merit Schools: Schools that have at least 20 percent of its students taking AP exams and at least half of its AP exams receiving a score of three (3) or higher.

AP Growth in Georgia

In five years, the number of Georgia public school students taking AP classes has nearly doubled from 21,704 in 2002 to over 43,000 in 2007. In that time, however, the percentage of AP exam takers receiving a 3, 4 or 5 has remained steady. Georgia is also a national leader in minority participation in AP programs.

"AP is an important part of offering a rigorous education to our public school students," Superintendent Cox said. "Our Honor Schools are leading the way in helping us expand the number of AP classes we offer and helping us grow the success our students are having on AP exams."

See the list of AP Honor Schools at: http://www.gadoe.org/pea_communications.aspx?ViewMode=1&obj=1540