CHARLESTON – US News & World Report, in its annual ranking of “America’s Best High Schools,” has rated 19 schools in South Carolina among the best in the country.
Charleston County’s Academic Magnet High came in ninth place among the magazine’s top 100 “gold” schools. The list was posted on US News & World Report’s Web site Dec. 4 and appears in its Dec. 8 printed edition.
The North Charleston school improved from No. 27 last year — the magazine’s first list of top high schools. Academic Magnet High also landed in the No. 2 spot for magnet schools nationwide.
Eighteen other high schools in the state did not make the top 100, but earned a place in the silver or bronze medal categories in a comparison of more than 21,000 public high schools across the country.
Schools listed in the silver category for 2008 include:
Charleston School of the Arts, Charleston County
Chapin High School, Lexington/Richland District Five
Lexington High, Lexington District One
Mayo High, Darlington County
Riverside High, Greenville County
Lexington High and the Charleston School of the Arts also earned silver honors in 2007. Mayo High moved up after being ranked as a bronze medalist last year, when a total of 15 Palmetto State schools were recognized by the magazine.
Schools listed in the bronze category for 2008 include:
Aiken High, Aiken County
Bethune-Bowman Middle High, Orangeburg District Five
Broome High, Spartanburg District Three
Calhoun County High, Calhoun County
C.E. Murray High, Williamsburg County
Green Sea Floyds High, Horry County
Greenville Technical Charter High, Greenville County
Latta High, Dillon District Three
Ninety-Six High, Greenwood District 52
Ridge Spring-Monetta High, Aiken County
Walhalla Senior High, Oconee County
Wando High, Charleston County
Wren High, Anderson District One
Five of these high schools – Bethune-Bowman, Calhoun County, Greenville Technical Charter, Latta and Ninety-Six – made the bronze list last year, also. Wando High was in the silver medal category in 2007.
The magazine and its partner in the rankings project, School Evaluation Services, examined 21,069 public high schools in 48 states. The rankings are based on comparisons of students’ test scores to state averages and their participation in and performance on Advanced Placement tests.
The 100 high schools with the highest college readiness scores were ranked and awarded gold medals, and the next 504 top-performing high schools received silver medals. Bronze medals went to 1,321 schools.
SCBIZ Daily Staff, December 9, 2008
