Rockdale County’s three public high schools named AP Honor Schools, setting record

ROCKDALE COUNTY, GA– All three high schools within Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) were named Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools by State School Superintendent Richard Woods, a distinction RCPS high schools have achieved for more than 13 consecutive years.

Heritage and Rockdale County high schools were named AP Access and Support Schools while Rockdale County High School also made the lists for AP STEM and AP STEM Achievement. Salem High School was named an AP Expansion School.

Superintendent Terry Oatts praised the school sytem’s students and teachers.

 “I am extremely proud to have all our high schools represented on the AP Honor Schools lists. We continue to increase the number of students taking AP courses and receiving college credit through the College Board AP exams,” said Oatts. “We also had a record number of students named AP Scholars in 2022, the highest number of AP Scholars ever in a single year for Rockdale County Public Schools. This is a testament to the great work of our students, teachers, administrators, and support staff for keeping advanced learning a priority and moving toward our vision of achieving greater equity in expanding these opportunities within our schools.”

Rockdale County Board of Education Chairwoman Pam Brown also commended the students and teachers.

 “Congratulations to all our students, teachers, and staff for these AP honors! All high schools being named AP Honor Schools illustrates our commitment to providing opportunities for all students to learn and achieve at a level that best prepares them for higher education and a bright future,” Brown said.

Advanced Placement classes and exams are administered by the College Board, which also administers the SAT. AP classes offer rigorous college-level learning opportunities to students in high school. Students who earn a 3, 4 or 5 on the AP exams may receive college credit. RCPS offers AP courses at every high school, including the Rockdale Career Academy and Rockdale Virtual Campus. Examples of courses include: U.S. History, World History, Economics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics, Computer Science, American Literature, 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 percent of AP exams taken by students who identified themselves as African-American and/or Hispanic and 30 percent of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher.

AP Challenge Schools – Schools with enrollments of 900 or fewer students and students testing in English, math, science, and social studies.

AP Schools of Distinction – Schools with at least 20 percent of the total student population taking AP exams and at least 50 percent of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher.

AP Expansion Schools – AP schools with 25 percent growth in AP participation from May 2021 to May 2022 and a minimum of 25 students testing in May 2020.

AP Humanities Schools – Schools with a minimum of five students testing in each of the following AP categories: one ELA course, two history/social science courses, one fine arts course and one world language course.

AP Humanities Achievement Schools – AP Humanities schools (see above definition) with at least 50 percent of all AP Humanities 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 (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, AP Computer Science Principles).

AP STEM Achievement Schools – AP STEM schools (see above definition) with at least 50 percent of all AP STEM exams earning scores of 3 or higher.