2021 AP Honor Schools Named In Cobb County

COBB COUNTY, GA — Georgia Superintendent Richard Woods on Wednesday named the state's 2021 Advanced Placement Honor Schools, including more than a dozen in Cobb County.

"I extend my heartfelt congratulations to this year's AP Honor Schools," Woods said. "I commend them for their hard work to build strong Advanced Placement programs and, as a result, provide high-quality opportunities for Georgia students."

Cobb County schools that earned honors are:

AP Schools of Distinction: 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.

Kennesaw

• Harrison High School
• Kennesaw Mountain High School
• North Cobb High School

Marietta

• Lassiter High School
• Pope High School
• Sprayberry High School
• Walton High School
• Wheeler High School

Powder Springs

• Hillgrove High School

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.

Kennesaw

• Harrison High School
• Kennesaw Mountain High School
• North Cobb High School

Mableton

• Pebblebrook High School
  

Marietta

• Lassiter High School
• Pope High School
• Sprayberry High School
• Walton High School
• Wheeler High School

Powder Springs

• Hillgrove High School
  
• McEachern High School
  

Smyrna

• Campbell High School
  

AP Humanities Achievement Schools: AP Humanities schools (see above definition) with at least 50 percent of all AP Humanities exams earning scores of three or higher.

Kennesaw

• Harrison High School
• Kennesaw Mountain High School
• North Cobb High School

Marietta

• Lassiter High School
• Pope High School
• Sprayberry High School
• Walton High School
• Wheeler High School

Powder Springs

• Hillgrove High School
  

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).

Acworth

• Allatoona High School

Austell

• South Cobb High School
  

Kennesaw

• Harrison High School
  
• Kennesaw Mountain High School
  
• North Cobb High School
  

Marietta

• Kell High School
  
• Lassiter High School
  
• Pope High School
  
• Sprayberry High School
  
• Walton High School
  
• Wheeler High School
  

Powder Springs

• Hillgrove High School
  
• McEachern High School
  

Smyrna

• Campbell High School
  

AP STEM Achievement Schools: AP STEM schools (see above definition) with at least 50 percent of all AP STEM exams earning scores of 3 or higher.

Kennesaw

• Harrison High School
• Kennesaw Mountain High School
• North Cobb High School

Marietta

• Lassiter High School
  
• Pope High School
  
• Walton High School
  
• Wheeler High School
  

Powder Springs

• Hillgrove High School
  

Smyrna

• Campbell High School
  

Georgia's public-school class of 2020 has the 17th-highest Advanced Placement pass rate in the nation, according to data released by the College Board on Wednesday.

Georgia's AP pass rate, and its rank among other states, stayed the same from the class of 2019 to the class of 2020 — an encouraging indicator given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the latter group of students.

The percentage of students earning a 3 or higher on an AP exam was 23.2 percent for Georgia's class of 2020, as it was for the class of 2019. Georgia students recorded stronger AP performance than most Southern states, scoring higher than their peers in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.

The percentage of low-income AP test-takers who scored 3 or higher increased in Georgia for the second year in a row, rising from 43.7 percent for the class of 2019 to 49.4 percent for the class of 2020. This figure is based on the performance of students who used an AP exam fee reduction, which states look to as a marker of equitable participation for low-income students.

Overall, 38.5 percent of Georgia's class of 2020 took an AP exam while in high school. This is a slight decrease compared to the class of 2019 – of those students, 40.5 percent took at least one AP exam. The national participation rate dropped slightly as well, from 39.9 to 38.3 percent.