State School Superintendent John Barge recently named the 2013 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools, and Troup County high schools were among the 424 recognized.

Callaway High School received recognition as a Georgia 2013 AP Challenge School, and LaGrange High School received recognition as an AP STEM Achievement School. Both high schools were named as AP STEM Schools.

AP Challenge Schools are those with 900 or fewer students with students testing in four of the core areas: English, math, science and social studies.

AP STEM Schools are those with students testing in at least two AP math courses and two AP science courses, like AP calculus AB, AP calculus BC, AP statistics, AP biology, AP chemistry, AP environmental science, AP physics B, AP physics C, AP computer science.

AP STEM Achievement Schools are those with students testing in at least two AP math courses and 2 AP science courses and at least 40 percent of the exam scores on AP math and AP science exams earning scores of three or higher.

Georgia has moved up to 12th in the nation in the percentage of seniors scoring a 3 or higher – a passing score – on AP exams, according to The College Board’s AP Report to the Nation released last week. Georgia ranked 13th in the nation last year.

“Georgia’s students continue to outperform most of their peers throughout the country on Advanced Placement exams,” Barge said in a release. “These results show that Georgia’s students can compete against any students in the nation. Just as SAT results get everyone’s attention, I think the performance of our students on Advanced Placement exams deserves the same attention.”

This report measures progress of the class of 2012. When results are broken out by subgroup, Georgia’s African-American students rank second in the nation behind Washington D.C. in the percentage of seniors scoring a 3 or higher on AP exams. Georgia’s 10-year increase – 10.1 percent – in the percentage of seniors scoring a 3 or higher on AP exams also shows impressive results, ranking ninth in the nation.

Georgia is also a national leader when it comes to public school students enrolling in AP courses and taking the exams, according to state school leaders. Only five other states in the country had a greater percentage of AP exam takers last year. The percentage of Georgia seniors who took an AP exam was 41.1 percent, compared to 32.4 percent for the nation.

The 2013 AP Honor Schools are named in five categories: AP Challenge Schools, AP Access and Support Schools, AP Merit Schools, AP STEM Schools and AP STEM Achievement Schools.