Adding up the accolades for all three Bartow County high schools, as they have been named Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools by the Georgia Department of Education!
“What a tremendous honor,” said Bartow County School System Superintendent Dr. Phillip Page. “Within the last four years, there has been a sharp focus on rigor in the classroom and providing our students with additional opportunities to develop college-level academic skills. We’re proud of our entire system’s hard work and results, as each high school went from earning one award in 2018 to gaining up to four awards in 2022.”
There are 239 AP Honor Schools this year in 88 districts. They are named in eight categories based on the results of 2021 AP courses and exams.Adairsville High School received the AP STEM School Award, AP Humanities School Award, and AP Expansion School Award.
Cass High School earned the AP STEM School Award, AP Humanities School Award, AP Expansion School Award, and AP Access and Support School Award.
Woodland High School gained the AP STEM School Award, AP Humanities School Award, and AP Expansion School Award.
The following describes the categories in detail:
AP Access and Support Schools
Schools with at least 30% of 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 Challenge Schools
Schools with enrollments of 900 or fewer students and students testing in English, math, science, and social studies.
AP Expansion Schools
AP schools with 25% growth in AP student participation from May 2020 to May 2021 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% 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. (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% of all AP STEM exams earning scores of 3 or higher.
“We are very excited to increase our AP Honors School awards from two recognitions to three this year: AP Expansion, AP STEM, and now also AP Humanities,” said AHS AP Coordinator Beth Payton. “This is confirmation of the focused work put in by both our teachers and students in participating in the most rigorous academic opportunities available to them. Not only do our AP course offerings continue to grow, as we now offer 19 different advanced placement courses, but our AP student population has reached an all-time high as well, making up nearly 30% of the total student population. This growth continues to be reflected in our AP Expansion award, which we have earned over the last three years. We look forward to seeing continued growth in our AP program and the impact this will have on the lives of our students.”
We are proud to see the hard work of our students and staff recognized with the distinction of an AP Honor School,” said CHS Principal Steve Revard. “Cass High has quadrupled our number of Honor School awards, going from one award in 2020 to four awards in 2022. Our achievements are due to AP students taking full advantage of additional course offerings. Last year, we noted a need for AP opportunities within Fine Arts. We added AP Music Theory and earned the AP Humanities award this year. That growth will continue with an additional AP Fine Arts course (3D Art) for next year, as well as three additional new AP courses. These additions come after expanding our AP opportunities by four new courses in 2021. There is also an increasing level of support for our students through study resources, peer tutoring opportunities, and one-on-one time with teachers. We are committed to an AP program that will continue to grow, not only in opportunities for our students, but also in testing results and data.”
“We are excited to grow our AP program,” added WHS Principal Dave Stephenson. “We have worked to build an understanding that a child can access AP learning at any point in high school, and that has created a sense that AP is more open and accessible to all learners. For example, although a school is named an AP Expansion School by growing its program participation by 25% in a year, Woodland’s AP participation grew by 71.5%!”
Each high school will be honored for its achievements at the Bartow County Board of Education meeting on May 16, 2022.