Academic Magnet hits #2 in the Rankings

With data from 2017-2018, Raptors stay in the top two

William Kronsberg, Staff Writer|May 2, 2020

Yours truly modeling last year’s celebratory t-shirt

Let’s address the elephant in the room first. We aren’t number one anymore. The champions have fallen. But we certainly didn’t fall far. After topping the US News and World Report high school rankings last year, Academic Magnet has been named the second best American high school in the ranking that came out on April 21st.

So who is number one?

It’s Thomas Jefferson High School, and, of course it is. Like it’s namesake US president, TJHS stole the top spot right out from under the nose of the incumbent. The Alexandria, VA, school, formally known as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, received a 100/100 score. Magnet got a 99.99. The third and fourth-ranked school got a 99.98 with five and six earning a 99.97. So it was definitely a close one.

But how?

Jefferson and Magnet both have a 100% graduation rate and 100% college readiness. Though our enrollment is a touch above one third of our counterpart, both schools have all students take and pass AP exams each year. While they have a higher percentage of minority students, both schools are working hard to reach more economically disadvantaged students. So there’s not a ton of difference between our schools. We are still right near the top of the list. You barely even have to scroll down on the main page to see AMHS, so let’s celebrate this victory.

Academic Magnet is the top school in South Carolina, and the top three are all CCSD schools. Congrats to SOA and Wando on being right there with us. We’re also in the top two of all magnet schools in the country and continuing to rise up the STEM school rankings, even with our wide-ranging curriculum. But we are number 1 in so many areas, too. We tied for the top in both Math and Reading Proficiency and Performance. Our complete graduation rate is equaled by few, and our college readiness is rivaled by only a handful of other top schools.

So maybe we won’t have a huge party with games and ice cream and t-shirts this year. Guess what? We can’t anyway. We have survived two consecutive years as a top two high school in the entire country. The work put in by our administrators, parents, supporters, gifted students, and great teachers has brought us to this point, and I’m glad to graduate (the concept, not necessarily the event) from this school next month.

Thank you to our amazing principal and assistant principal for another great year, and especially to our teachers and students for putting in the work. I hope we can get back on campus stronger than ever to keep up the AMHS clout next year.

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