Putnam County High School was named an AP Challenge School by State School Superintendent Richard Woods.
On March 31, Superintendent Woods named the 88 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools for 2022.
“We are committed to expanding opportunities for Georgia students, including in advanced and accelerated coursework,” Superintendent Woods said in a press release. “I offer my sincere congratulations to each of this year’s AP Honor Schools, and thank each teacher, student, and school leader who worked hard to create strong AP opportunities in these 88 Georgia schools.”
The 2022 AP Honor Schools were named in eight categories, based on the results of 2021 AP courses and exams.
Advanced Placement classes allow students to take a high school class that counts towards college. The course has an exam, administered by the College Board, at the end that could potentially offer the student college credit towards the future. Students who receive a 3, 4 or 5 on an AP exam may receive college credit.
Putnam County High School was one of 45 schools named an AP Challenge School. An AP Challenge School is a school with enrollments of 900 or fewer students and students testing in English, math, science, and social studies.
“We are very proud of the honor and very proud that this shows how we are expanding our offerings to our students and encouraging them to challenge themselves,” said Andrew Cooper, principal of Putnam County High School.
Research has shown that students who take these advanced placement classes are better prepared for college. The class structure allows the student to learn about a college class, develop college skills, discover what topics they may like to pursue in college and boost their GPA.
“It is a mission of ours to not only increase the number of offers for AP classes at the school but also to increase student participation by offering encouragement. We believe in the long run this can help students as they matriculate on to fouryear schools,” said Cooper.
Putnam County High School offers nine advanced placement courses: AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Biology, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Spanish, AP Spanish Culture, AP Economics and AP U.S. History
“Part of the mission we’ve had over the past couple of years is to add more advanced placement classes and offer students the opportunity to take challenging classes and better prepare them for college,” said Cooper.
Next year, the school plans to add AP World History and AP Human Geography to the roster
“We also have some students who have taken other AP classes through Georgia Virtual School for subjects that we have had low participation in or have not been able to add as of yet,” said Cooper.
AP Courses offered by a school can change each school year so it is best to check with the faculty in charge of scheduling or go to the AP Course Audit on the College Board website to find out what the school is offering.