Thomas County Central High School has been recognized by Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods as both an Advanced Placement Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Honor School and an Advanced Placement STEM Achievement Honor School.
To be named an AP STEM Honor School, a school must offer and test students in at least two (2) AP math courses and two (2) AP science courses. To be named an AP STEM Achievement Honor School, the school must offer STEM AP courses and also have an excellent passing rate among students taking the College Board’s AP exams.
Thomas County Central High School currently offers 14 AP courses including six in the STEM fields. STEM AP courses offered at TCCHS include AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, and AP Physics. TCCHS will add AP Computer Science to its Advanced Placement offerings for the 2016-2017, bringing to 15 the total number of AP courses offered.
“We are very pleased to receive this recognition for both our comprehensive AP course offerings and our students’ excellent performance on the rigorous AP exams,” said Thomas County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dusty Kornegay. “The hard work of our students and teachers earned this prestigious recognition for our school.”
“When combined with our computer programming and robotics programs, the AP STEM achievement recognition validates the strength of our pre-medicine and pre-engineering programs,” Kornegay said. “Students who complete our rigorous AP STEM program are prepared for high level achievement at our nation’s most selective universities.”
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.
Georgia is thirteenth 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.
“Through the AP program, AP awards schools are personalizing learning and expanding the opportunities available for their students,” State 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 and my gratitude for their hard work and dedication.”
The Georgia Department of Education began recognizing AP Honor Schools in 2008.