Hart County HS Receives Advanced Placement Honors

Hart County High School is one of the 272 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools named by Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods.

Hart County High School has earned the following honors: AP STEM School, AP STEM Achievement School, and AP Humanities School, three out of the six categories.

The lists are based on the results of 2015 AP courses and exams.

Georgia was recently recognized for being 13th in the nation for the percentage of students earning the highest AP exam scores, and tied for third in the nation for percentage point growth in the percentage of public school graduates scoring a 3, 4, or 5 on at least one of the exams.

AP courses and exams are administered by the College Board, which also administers the SAT.

AP courses are one of the ways students in Georiga can access college-level learning opportunities while still enrolled in high school.

Students who receive 3, 4, or 5 on AP exams are often eligible to receive college credit.

For schools to be eligible for the AP STEM honor, students must test 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 a score of 3 or higher.

Schools making the list of AP Humanities Schools have students testing in at least one ELA
course, two social science courses, one fine arts course, and one world language course.

Principal Kevin Gaines noted that while Hart County High has been on the AP STEM and AP Humanities lists the last couple of years, this is the first time the high school has been recognized as an AP STEM Achievement School.

Gaines said the students and teachers have worked hard and it’s great to see the recognition.

The Georgia Department of Education first recognized AP Honor Schools in 2008 with only three categories, AP Challenge Schools, AP Access and Support Schools, and AP Merit Schools.

The AP STEM category was added in 2011, and in 2015, the AP STEM Humanities category was added. A full list of categories and their definitions can be found on the Georgia Department
of Education’s website.