> a magnet school, so already presumably for "gifted" students, that in turn had advanced courses like honors or AP.

I too attended a magnet school, but the point of magnet schools were not actually for 'gifted' students. While many did offer advanced classes or programs, the goal was to influence racial desegregation by offering programs to encourage white students to attend black majority schools.

I used magnet because that's the most commonly known term, but my high school definitely was not an attempt to desegregate schools. If anything it increased segregation by a lot.