Northview, Johns Creek, Hooch Named AP Honor Schools

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JOHNS CREEK, GA -- State School Superintendent Richard Woods on Thursday named 272 Advanced Placement Honor Schools.

These schools are part of an AP program in Georgia that is earning accolades: Georgia is 13th in the nation for the percentage of students earning the highest AP exam scores (3, 4, and 5) and tied for third in the nation in one-year percentage point growth in the percentage of public school graduates scoring a 3, 4, or 5 on at least one of the exams.

Chattahoochee, Johns Creek and Northview high schools were each named AP Merit, AP STEM, AP STEM Achievement and AP Humanities schools.

Roswell’s Centennial High School, which also serves Johns Creek, was also named an AP Merit, AP STEM Achievement and AP Humanities school.

“Advanced Placement classes give our students the opportunity to work at an accelerated, college-level pace while also stretching their knowledge outside of the traditional high school curriculum,” said Kenneth Zeff, interim superintendent for Fulton County Schools. “We’re excited to see the gains our schools have made. Last year alone, we increased the number of students taking AP exams by more than 5 percent, and looking back over the past five years, that’s grown by 44%. Our students also passed more than 12,220 AP exams last year, which is 3,200 more exams than five years ago.”

A total of 14 out of 17 Fulton County high schools were granted the honor, including the south Fulton schools of Banneker (AP STEM), Langston Hughes (AP STEM), Tri-Cities (AP STEM) and Westlake (AP STEM, AP Humanities).

The schools commended by the Georgia Department of Education fall into six categories (listed below) based on the results of 2015 AP courses and exams.

AP courses and exams are administered by the College Board, which also administers the SAT. AP courses are one of several ways Georgia students can access college-level learning opportunities while in high school. Students who receive a 3, 4, or 5 on AP exams are often eligible to receive college credit.

The Georgia Department of Education began recognizing AP Honor Schools in 2008. The recognition began with the first three categories listed below; the AP STEM and AP STEM Achievement categories were added in 2011 and the AP Humanities category was added in 2015.

The six categories for high schools are:

• AP Challenge Schools are schools with enrollments of 900 or fewer students and students testing in four of the core areas (English, math, science, and social studies).
• AP Access and Support Schools are schools with at least 30 percent of their 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 Merit Schools are schools with at least 20 percent of the student population taking AP exams and at least 50 percent of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher.
• AP STEM Schools are 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 are schools with students testing in at least two AP math courses and two AP science courses, and at least 40 percent of the exam scores on AP math and AP science exams earning scores of 3 or higher.
• AP Humanities Schools are schools with students testing in all of the following AP courses: at least one ELA course, two social sciences courses, one fine arts course and one world language course.

“Through the AP program, these schools are personalizing learning and expanding the opportunities available for their students,” Superintendent Woods said. “This honor is a credit to the hard work of many dedicated educators here in our state, and I offer my congratulations to the teachers and students at each of these schools – and my gratitude for their hard work and dedication.”

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