Quote:

Wando has the highest average SAT scores than any other public school in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester County. Not including Academic Magnet or School of the Arts.



No doubt about it - Wando High has a VERY strong soccer program AND academically is probably the strongest public school in the tri-county area other than AMHS. I said as much in my post. My point was that compared to other parts of the state and other parts of the country, there aren't any "truly outstanding public schools" in the area other than AMHS. Of course, that is my subjective opinion.

Newsweek attempts to quantify the Best High Schools in the Country. Here the SC schools who made the list in in '07 and their national rank:

11 Academic Magnet North Charleston
77 Southside Greenville
281 Mauldin Greenville
427 Dutch Fork Irmo
517 Governor's School for Arts Greenville
584 Hilton Head Hilton Head
654 Wade Hampton Greenville
750 Spartanburg Spartanburg
855 Woodruff Woodruff
886 Mann Greenville
910 Daniel Central
959 Richland Northeast Columbia
1084 South Aiken Aiken
1212 Woodmont Piedmont
1255 Socastee Myrtle Beach
1275 Spring Valley Columbia

Here's the list from 2006:

10 Academic Magnet North Charleston
36 Southside (tie) Greenville
138 Mauldin Greenville
434 Dutch Fork Irmo
456 Governor's School for Arts Greenville
595 Wade Hampton Greenville
674 Woodruff Woodruff
684 Mann Greenville
704 Hillcrest Simpsonville
744 Daniel Central
749 Riverside Greer
896 Spartanburg Spartanburg
912 Richland Northeast Columbia
939 Hilton Head (tie) Hilton Head
1004 Woodmont (tie) Piedmont
1043 Spring Valley Columbia
1116 South Aiken Aiken
1120 Beaufort (tie) Beaufort
1138 Irmo (tie) Columbia
1147 Eastside Greenville
1155 Aiken (tie) Aiken
1195 Dorman Roebuck
1206 Socastee (tie) Myrtle Beach

According to Newsweek, anyway, its pretty bleak in the Lowcountry outside of Academic Magnet.