The Georgia Department of Education and State Superintendent Richard Woods announced the 2024 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools list, including all 16 traditional high schools in the Cobb County School District. 

"I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the 2024 AP Honor Schools," Superintendent 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. Additionally, I am thrilled that the number of AP Honor Schools and school districts continues to rise each year—a testament to the commitment of Georgia public education to expand opportunities for all Georgia students."

All 16 traditional high schools in Cobb Schools earned the AP Honor School title in at least two categories. Nine schools earned honors in five categories. Hillgrove and North Cobb topped the District's list with honors in six categories.

McEachern High School is one of the schools being commended for the growth of its AP Program. In order to earn recognition as an AP Expansion School, McEachern exhibited a 25% growth in AP student participation between May 2022 and May 2023 with a minimum of 25 students testing in May 2022. 

In addition to the Expansion category, Cobb Schools had representatives in every other category except the AP Challenge, which is designed for high schools with smaller populations (under 900 students). The categories and the schools recognized by the Georgia DOE are:

AP Access and Support Schools
Schools with at least 30% of AP exams taken by students who identified as African American and/or Hispanic (minimum of 16 students) and 30% of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher. At least 25 exams must be administered.

AP Humanities Schools
Schools with at least five exams administered in each of the following AP categories: one ELA course, two social studies courses, one fine arts course, and one world language course, and a minimum of 25 total exams administered.

AP Humanities Achievement Schools
AP Humanities schools with at least 50% of all AP Humanities exams earning scores of 3 or higher.

AP Schools of Distinction
Schools with at least 20% of the total student population taking AP exams and at least 50% of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher.

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, and a minimum of 25 exams administered.

AP STEM Achievement Schools
AP STEM schools with at least 50% of all AP STEM exams earning scores of 3 or higher.