On February 7, 2012, State School Superintendent John Barge named the state's Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools. In making the announcement Superintendent Barge said, "Georgia has much to be proud of when it comes to the success of Advanced Placement.  Much of this success can be attributed to the dedication to rigor and excellence at each of our AP Honor Schools." 

Advanced Placement (AP) classes and exams are administered by the College Board, which also administers the SAT. AP classes offer rigorous college-level learning options to students in high school. Students who receive a 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams may receive college credit.

The 2012 AP Honor Schools are named in five categories, based on the results of 2011 AP classes and exams:
- AP CHALLENGE SCHOOLS: Schools of 900 or fewer students with students testing in four of the core areas (English, math, science, and social studies)
- AP ACCESS & SUPPORT SCHOOLS: Schools with at least 30% of their AP exams taken by students who identified themselves as African- American and/or Hispanic and 30% of all AP exams earning scores of 3 or higher.
- AP MERIT SCHOOLS: Schools with at least 20% of the student population taking AP exams and at least 50% of all AP exams earning scores of three (3) or higher
- AP STEM SCHOOLS: Schools with students testing in at least two (2) AP math courses and two (2) AP science courses (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: Schools with students testing in at least 2 AP math courses and 2 AP science courses and at least 40% of the exam scores on AP math and AP science exams earning scores of three (3) or higher  (Category for both Chestatee and Flowery Branch)

See Media Report

See 2012 AP Stem Achievement Schools Document