All three Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) high schools – Heritage, Rockdale County, and Salem – were named 2023 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools by State School Superintendent Richard Woods, a distinction RCPS high schools have achieved for more than seven consecutive years.

“Advanced Placement coursework provides the highest level of rigor in addition to the opportunity to earn college credit while in high school,” says RCPS Superintendent Richard Autry. “I am proud of our teachers, students and administrators for consistently achieving this recognition over many years, demonstrating their commitment to academic excellence in all of our high schools. In addition to Advanced Placement, many students choose Move On When Ready to obtain college credits while in high school. We want all of our students to graduate with an advantage, whether choosing higher education, the military or the workforce after graduation.”

All three high schools – Heritage, Rockdale County, Salem – were recognized in the AP STEM Schools category.

Rockdale County High School was also recognized in the AP STEM Achievement category.

Rockdale County High School and Salem High School were recognized in the AP Humanities category.

Heritage High School and Rockdale County High School were recognized in the AP Access and Support category.

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, American Literature, World Literature and Art.                                     

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

AP Challenge Schools – 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 – 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 Merit Schools – 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 STEM Schools – 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 1, AP Physics 2, AP Physics C, AP Computer Science A).

AP STEM Achievement Schools – Schools with students testing in at least two AP math courses and two AP science courses and at least 40 percent of scores on AP math and science exams earning scores of 3 or higher.

AP Humanities Schools – Schools with students testing in the following AP courses: at least one ELA course, two social science courses, one fine arts course and one world language course.