Andrew Jackson High School aims to develop students with world-class skills along with life and career characteristics that meet or exceed the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Through a rigorous curriculum in core subject areas combined with arts opportunities, athletic pursuits, career and technology education, along with leadership development through JROTC, our well-rounded students are performing at the highest levels regionally as well as at the state and national level.
For the 2023-2024 school year, our graduation rate improved from the COVID low of 75.7% to 91.7%. Eighty percent of our students earned a Ready to Work Career Assessment certificate. In addition, 38% of our students scored 3 or higher on their AP exams. Students at Andrew Jackson High earned a composite ACT score of 16.9 (compared to a district score of 17 and a state score of 18.4) and a mean SAT mathematics score of 471 (compared to a district average of 451 and a state average of 485).
As the district’s arts magnet school, we offer students six arts focus areas: chorus, dance, visual art, instrumental music/band, piano, and drama. Students excelling in these areas have opportunities to earn honors-level credits or even AP credit in fine arts and/or music theory. These students also have opportunities to compete at the district, state, and national levels in their disciplines.
With a strong desire to ensure that our students are college and career ready, we provide opportunities to gain certifications in career and technology courses. On our campus, we offer health science, sports medicine, auto mechanics, agriculture education, architecture and mechanical design, and business education. We will be adding a carpentry program on our campus for the 2024-2025 school year. In addition, our students may explore multiple other career fields in courses offered at the Lancaster County Career Center. Through partnerships with USC-Lancaster, Winthrop University, and York Technical College, our students have opportunities to earn credits which grow both their high school and college transcripts. Four members of the 2024 graduating class completed their associates degrees while also earning their high school diplomas. All of these varied experiences ensure our students are ready for their next steps after graduation, whether that be entering college, the workforce, or the military.
In an additional effort to ensure that we are properly preparing our students, we have created a feedback loop with recent alumni to guide our practices and pedagogy. We know that our most successful graduates are often the ones who were the most well-balanced students. With this in mind, we provide a variety of athletic endeavors, clubs, and service organizations for our students to find the right fit for their skills and passions. Competing in Class AA, we field ten highly competitive athletic teams and boast a wide variety of clubs and organizations ranging from academics to service to special interest. These extracurricular activities build the soft skills of teamwork, dedication, and work ethic, all of which benefit our graduates after high school.
The dedicated teachers and staff of Andrew Jackson High School are driven to ensure that the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate is synonymous with the profile of the Andrew Jackson Volunteer.
