Academic Magnet High School continued our proud tradition of academic excellence in the 2023-24 school year. Finally fully emerging from the obstacles posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, our faculty delivered world class instruction and our students delivered world class academic outcomes. The school’s reputation for academic excellence in Honors and Advanced Placement courses remains firmly intact and our famously rigorous courses continue to lead our state and region.
Academic Magnet High School exemplifies the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by graduating remarkably career and college ready students who move into the most prestigious post-secondary learning institutions, the US military service academies, state and regional universities, and directly into the regional workforce. We have enhanced our collaboration with families, created new communication channels between school leadership and the community, and facilitated connectivity by working closely with parent groups and community supporters. We have added more strategic social, emotional, and academic support and additional college support, where we focused both staff and programming to prepare students to meet the next-step challenges at all grade levels.
Academic rigor and an emphasis on Advanced Placement coursework remain the hallmark of an AMHS education. We maintain our prodigious Advanced Placement course offerings and a culture of academic achievement beginning in 9th grade. This year 676 AMHS students took 1847 AP exams, a record number. Also, again this year, one hundred percent of Juniors and Seniors earned a passing score of 3 or higher on at least one AP exam during their tenure at AMHS.
Efforts to improve student diversity to better reflect the wider community in our region continued this year with our initiatives to build relationships within our district-wide feeder pattern middle schools. The sunsetting Jack Kent Cooke Foundation grant continued to support the implementation of access strategies for low-income middle school students and families in preparation for admission to AMHS. That grant funding also created opportunities for our existing students, like a tour of college campuses from Charleston to Raleigh Durham NC.
Partnership with parent support groups remains one of the keys to student success at AMHS. Partners in Education (PIE), the AMHS Foundation, and the School Improvement Council are all integral to the AMHS mission of educating students. Collaborative efforts within and between these groups created opportunities during the 2023-2024 school year that could not be funded through our standard operational budget. Working in concert, the three groups achieved new levels of college readiness support, the return of full 9th grade incoming student readiness programming, technology upgrades in support of student outcomes, a monthly lecture series for all students with educational experts, as well as the return of important cultural events at Academic Magnet like the International Dinner.
This year’s extraordinary graduating class of 168 students boasted 164 potential AP Capstone Diploma scholars, 16 National Merit finalists, and over eight million dollars in scholarship offers. We also had 103 Palmetto Fellows and 63 Life Scholarship recipients in this year's graduating class.
It is notable that Academic Magnet High School was named the Number 1 public high school in the state of South Carolina by US News and World Report for the fourth year in a row. AMHS also consistently ranks in the top 10 schools nationally.
Thank you to our faculty, our staff, or students, our families, and our community who support the efforts of Academic Magnet High School. Go Raptors!
Jacob Perlmutter, Principal
Jessica Garrett, SIC Chairperson
