Thomas County Central High School continues to raise the bar with its Advanced Placement program.
TCCHS has earned designations in three categories of 2018 Advanced Placement Honor Schools: AP Humanities School, AP Stem Achievement School, and AP STEM School. The list comes from the office of Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods. Results are based on 2017 AP courses and exams.
“Once again, I'm extremely impressed with our students' efforts and the fantastic job our Advanced Placement teachers do to prepare our students to take the AP exams,” assistant principal James Rehberg said. “Our AP program sets the bar and our students measure up, year after year. They are earning college credits and they are preparing themselves for the rigors of college courses. Many of them are preparing for studies in advanced fields of computing and engineering, and it's wonderful they can begin right here at TCCHS.”
The College Board administers AP exams. Students who earn a 3, 4, or 5 score on an exam may receive college credit.
The official press release from Woods’ office explains each designation. An AP STEM School is one where students test in at least two AP math courses and two AP science courses. An AP STEM Achievement School also has students who test in at least two AP math and two AP science courses. However, to earn this designation, a minimum of 40 percent of exam scores in these fields must be a three or higher.
AP STEM courses TCCHS currently offers are AP Calculus AB, AP Computer Science A, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science and AP Physics 1: Algebra Based.
Darrin Minns teaches AP Statistics.
“Statistics is one of the most important and useful courses in our mathematics curriculum because a wide range of careers require at least a basic knowledge of the subject,” he said.
Minns believes STEM courses are an important part of high school curriculum.
“At this time the U.S. clearly lags behind many other nations in the STEM fields,” he said. “A renewed focus in the country on science, technology, engineering and math education hopefully guarantees that this trend will not continue and that we will once again become world leaders in these fields. This honor clearly shows that TCCHS is committed to math and science education at the highest levels.”
An AP Humanities School title means students test in at least one English Language Arts course, two social sciences courses, one fine arts course and one world language course. In AP Humanities courses, TCCHS presently offers AP English Literature and Composition, AP Psychology, AP U.S. Government and Politics, AP World History, AP U.S. History, AP Studio Art (drawing, 2D design, 3D design), AP Art History, AP Music Theory, and AP Latin Language and Culture. Rehberg says the school will add AP Human Geography to next year’s course selection.
Brian Burton teaches AP Latin now and hopes to teach AP German as well. He is very proud that TCCHS has been designated an AP Humanities School and says it should be considered a high honor.
“We have a student body very capable of achieving at the high academic level that AP courses offer and a faculty dedicated to helping the students reach their goals,” Burton said.
He believes humanities courses are tangent to all areas of learning.
“To teach the young about the world and what it has to offer along with all its faults, it is imperative to relate their academic pursuits to all of the curriculum,” Burton explains. “The entire curriculum should be considered a form of humanity. To limit oneself to only a single area of knowledge would ultimately fail to provide a purpose for learning beyond simple tasks.”
The Georgia Department of Education has recognized AP Honor Schools since 2008. AP STEM and AP STEM Achievement categories were added in 2011 with the AP Humanities category in 2015.
Since then, TCCHS has consistently been ranked among Georgia’s best schools with recognitions in the three major categories.