All three Rockdale County Public High Schools named AP Honor Schools—again

ROCKDALE COUNTY, GA– All three high schools within Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) district have been named 2026 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools by Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods. The distinction is one that RCPS has achieved for more than 16 consecutive years, district officials announced. 

Salem High was named an AP Expansion School. Heritage High and Rockdale County High were named AP Access and Support Schools, AP Humanities Schools and AP STEM Schools. Rockdale County High also was named an AP Humanities Achievement School.

RCSD Superintendent Shirley Chesser praised the collective efforts of students, education leaders and support staff for pushing to excel as one of the state’s top AP schools.  

“We are extremely proud of all our high schools for earning this prestigious state recognition,” Chesser said.  

“Achieving the AP Honor Schools distinction illustrates the hard work and collective effort of our students, educators, school leaders, and support staff at the school and district levels to expand access to rigorous coursework and foster high academic expectations for all. By expanding our AP course offerings, we’ve opened the door for more students to take on rigorous, college‑level work and earn potential college credit while still in high school.”

Rockdale County Board of Education Chairwoman Sandra Jackson-Lett applauded the dedication of school leaders and students for continuing to raise the bar academically across the district.

“On behalf of the Board of Education, I congratulate and commend all of our high schools on this achievement,” Jackson-Lett said. “We are proud of their dedication to challenging students with advanced academics and ensuring every student has access to these opportunities.”

The AP Honor School designations reflect student participation and performance in rigorous college-level coursework offered through the College Board’s Advancement Advanced Placement program. AP classes give high school students the opportunity to take college level courses and potentially earn college credit by scoring a 3, 4 or 5 on the AP exams.  

RCPS offers AP classes at every high school including Career Academy, Rockdale Virtual Campus and Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology. Course offerings include U.S. History, World History, Economics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics, Computer Science, American Literature, and World Literature and Art. 

Definitions of each category provided by the Georgia Department of Education are:

• AP Access and Support Schools– Schools with at least 30% of AP exams taken by students who identified as African American and/or Hispanic (minimum of 16 students) and 30% of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher. At least 25 exams must be administered.
• AP Challenge Schools– Schools with enrollments of 900 or fewer students and exams administered in English, math,science, and social studies, with a minimum of 25 total exams administered.
• AP Expansion Schools– Schools with 25% growth in AP student participation from May 2024 to May 2025 and a minimum of 25 students testing in May 2024.
• AP Humanities Schools– Schools with at least five exams administered in each of the following AP categories: one ELA course, two social studies courses, one fine arts course, and one world language course, and a minimum of 25 total exams administered.
• AP Humanities Achievement Schools– AP Humanities schools with at least 50% of all AP Humanities exams earning scores of 3 or higher.
• AP Schools of Distinction– Schools with at least 20% of the total student population taking AP exams and at least 50% of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher.
• AP STEM Schools– Schools with a minimum of five students testing in at least four AP STEM courses (including AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, AP Physics C, AP Computer Science A, and AP Computer Science Principles), and a minimum of 25 exams administered.
• AP STEM Achievement Schools– AP STEM schools with at least 50% of all AP STEM exams earning scores of 3 or higher.