Home > Virginia > Fairfax County > Thomas Jefferson High School
Thomas Jefferson High School
6560 Braddock Rd, Alexandria, VA, 22312-2206 -  Map
tel: (703)750-8300
View this school's website in a new browser Visit School Website  
View current housing listings in 22312
Add School Reviews Review school: Add School Reviews - Recommended Add School Reviews - Not Recommended
 Find your graduating class at Classmates.com Find your graduating class!
     
School Overview:
Definition of Terms Thomas Jefferson High School
School Level High school
Grades Offered Grades 9 - 12
County Fairfax County, VA
Students & Faculty
Total Students 1738 students
% Male / % Female 54%  /  46%
Total Classroom Teachers 118 teachers
Students by Grade
Grade 9 - 452 students
Grade 10 - 441 students
Grade 11 - 434 students
Grade 12 - 411 students
This School ( VA ) School Average
Teacher : Student Ratio 1:15 1:13
Students by Ethnicity
This School ( VA ) School Average
% American Indian n/a n/a
% Asian 34% 4%
% Hispanic 3% 8%
% Black 2% 27%
% White 57% 58%
% Unknown 4 % 4%
Additional Student Information
This School ( VA ) School Average
% Eligible for Free Lunch n/a 28%
% Eligible for Reduced Lunch 1% 7%
% Migrant Students Enrolled n/a n/a
School Performance:
( VA ) Statewide Testing Performance
School Statewide Performance View Education Department Test Scores
School District:
School District Name Fairfax County Public s School District
This School's Agency ( VA ) District Average
Number of Schools Managed 207 4
Number of Students Managed 164,193 students 3,893 students
District Total Revenue $2,054,496,000 $33,339,000
District Expenditure $2,038,156,000 $35,891,000
District Revenue / Student $12,513 $9,974
District Expenditure / Student $12,413 $10,088
District Graduation Rates 89% 84%
School Notes:
  • Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST, TJ, Jefferson) is a public secondary magnet school in Alexandria, Virginia. It is operated by Fairfax County Public Schools, but enrolls students from most of the school districts in Northern Virginia. The magnet school program was founded in 1985 through the cooperation of state and county governments, as well as corporate sponsorship from the defense and technology industries, and occupies the building of a previous non-magnet Thomas Jefferson High School (constructed in 1965). As a publicly funded and administered high school with selective admissions, TJHSST is often compared with other notable public magnet schools such as New York City's Stuyvesant High School. TJHSST is one of 18 Virginia Governor's Schools, and a founding member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology.
  • Admissions and enrollment: Every fall, the TJHSST Admissions office solicits applications for freshman admission from rising eighth-graders who live in eligible areas in Northern Virginia. After paying a registration fee, all applicants take an admissions test, which consists of a standardized reasoning test and two essay questions.
  • The reasoning test scores are combined with the student's middle-school GPA to form an overall, objective ranking; the Admissions office designates the top scorers as semifinalists, a group generally about twice as large as the planned freshman class. The semifinalists submit further information, including teacher recommendations, awards, and a personal statement. This info, along with the student essays written during the admission test, is reviewed by the two selection panels who select the next year's freshman class.
  • Participating localities: While TJHSST is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system (which serves residents of Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax), residents of Arlington, Loudoun, Fauquier, and Prince William counties, as well as the City of Falls Church, are also eligible to apply for admission. A particular number of admission slots is allotted to each participating locality. In March 2006, the Alexandria School Board voted 7-2 in favor of allowing a maximum of two students from Alexandria to attend the school, although a subsequent vote (5-4) in September 2006 rescinded that earlier decision. Each school district shares in the cost of operating the school. The independent cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, although located within a participating county, have declined to purchase spaces for their students.
  • Curriculum: TJHSST offers an extensive mathematics and science curriculum, including courses in organic chemistry, neurobiology, marine biology, DNA science, and quantum mechanics. All courses at TJHSST are taught at the Honors/GT, Advanced Placement, or post-Advanced Placement level. All students are required to complete an introductory Java computer science course. Starting with the class of 2008, the computer science course must be completed before junior year. Seniors must also participate in the Senior Technology Laboratory Research program, which consists of a year-long research project or an off-campus mentorship through one of the school's research labs. These labs are devoted to numerous fields, including robotics, microelectronics, chemistry, prototyping, optics, computer aided design, astronomy, and oceanography. There was recently some debate over the inclusion of the Video Technology Lab, responsible among other things for producing the school's video morning announcement program. It was ultimately decided that the Video Technology Lab would be closed, despite an active letter writing campaign by students to the Board of Education. A new technology lab was recently approved in neuroscience.
  • The school also offers a strong humanities and foreign language curriculum. Japanese, Chinese, and Russian are taught in addition to the more traditional German, French, Spanish, and Latin. Every other year, students in Russian classes visit Russia, and during the other years, Pskov State Pedagogical University students from Russia visit TJ.
  • TJ also offers its IBET (Integrated Biology, English, and Technology) program to ninth graders. Students spend nine class periods a week with the same group of peers, and the IBET teachers work together to produce an integrated curriculum. The technology aspect of the program (formally known as Principles of Engineering and Technology) stresses drafting, CAD, and basic electronics skills. Integrated Humanities courses are offered in 10th and 11th grade, with several integrated programs available for seniors.
  • All students attending TJHSST must pursue a special TJ Diploma. The TJ Diploma requirements duplicate those of the Virginia Advanced Studies Diploma with additional mathematics, computer science, earth science, and engineering requirements.
  • Awards and Distinctions: TJHSST has fielded more National Merit Semifinalists than any other high school in America for most of the 1990s and 2000s. From 2000 to 2005, it fielded more USAMO qualifiers than any other high school in America and has a distinguished history of U.S. Physics Olympiad Team members and medal winners.
  • TJHSST was recently ranked as the top public high school in the nation by PrepReview. TJHSST also has the highest average SAT score among all American high schools. Each year, over a quarter of its graduating class accepts admission to the University of Virginia. Other graduates attend Ivy League schools and high-ranking public schools across the nation.
  • For schools with more than 1,000 students, TJHSST was cited as having the highest-performing AP Chemistry, AP French Language, AP French Literature, AP Government and Politics: U.S., and AP U.S. History courses among all schools worldwide in its size range.
  • President Reagan's visit: President Reagan's visit in 1986 consisted of a question and answer session with a select group of students.
  • Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's visit: The Prime Minister of Japan visited in 2001.
  • Ian Anderson's visit: Ian Anderson of the classic rock band Jethro Tull visited the school on October 12, 2005, along with classical violinist Lucia Micarelli. He answered questions from students about his work, being on tour, and illegal file sharing. The visit was the subject of articles in the Washington Post as well as the Washington Times.
  • Vice President Al Gore's visit: Al Gore visited in 1999 to provide the keynote address to the graduating class of 1999.
  • Mandy Moore's visit: In 2000, Mandy Moore performed a concert at TJHSST as a result of a radio contest sponsored by now-defunct local radio station WWZZ (Z104). The contest was conducted via online voting on the Z104 website. Students were allowed to vote for their school as much as once a day, for the duration of the contest. However, because the voting system had no way of verifying who was voting, several TJHSST students wrote a number of various computer scripts that generated rapid, automatic votes for TJHSST, randomly choosing a member of the student body to vote as. Lake Braddock Secondary School students followed suit and wrote their own vote-generating script to compete with TJHSST.
  • Jesse Jackson's visit: In the winter of 2001, Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the school. He gave a speech to the entire student body about the recent 9/11 attacks and the need for unity among the people of the nation. His speech culminated in Jackson leading the student body in a chant of his famous line, "I am somebody."
  • French Ambassador's visit: In 2005, French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte visited the school. He gave a speech to the French and government classes.
  • NASA downlink: On November 15th, 2005, the school hosted a downlink with the crew of International Space Station Expedition 12. Astronauts William McArthur and Valery Ivanovich Tokarev fielded questions from students in both English and Russian. United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings was also in attendance for the event.
  • Bulent Atalay's visit: In 2006, physicist Dr. Bulent Atalay visited the school and gave a speech discussing topics in his new book, Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci.
  • Jack McConnell's visit: On October 20, 2006, First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell visited TJHSST to observe one of America's top schools. He intends to reform the Scottish education system with the belief that Scotland's education system is holding back some of its brightest students.
  • Athletics: The TJHSST mascot is the "Colonials". Teams currently play in the AAA Liberty District and the Northern Region of the Virginia High School League.
  • Highlights of Colonial Athletics: The Colonials have been recognized for their strong crew, cross country, track and field, tennis and swim and dive teams. In addition, the school's football team went to the 2004 Division 5 Northern Region playoffs. Colonials crew has been a dominating force in Virginia rowing, winning 10 of the last 11 boys eight varsity state titles. Both the girls and boys' teams have won medals at the prestigious Stotesbury and SRA regattas. The tennis team has won 13 district championships in twenty seasons and the crew, cross country, and swim and dive teams have won multiple state championships in recent years. Other teams with notable success include the soccer team, both girls and boys, and the golf team, which boasts a 16-3 record for the last three years in regional and state championships.
  • A tongue-in-cheek bumper sticker associated with the school states "we came for the sports".
  • GMU partnership: In March 2004, TJHSST announced a partnership with nearby George Mason University. Among the proposals set forth in the partnership are the relocation of TJHSST to the George Mason University campus and instruction by university professors at the high school. In the 2005-2006 school year, a small group of Thomas Jefferson students piloted a program in which they took college-level courses at GMU's Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering.
  • Addition of learning cottages: In response to increasing student enrollment, several "learning cottages" (trailers) were placed in the back of the school's campus in May 2005. There are currently over 20 trailers at TJ, though some are not being used because of space restrictions. For the 2006-2007 school year, trailers were placed on two of TJ's tennis courts, which has caused some doubt as to where the tennis teams will play during their spring seasons.
  • Apple Federal Credit Union Colonial Branch Established: TJHSST, which does not have a business department, announced the Grand Opening of the Apple Federal Credit Union Colonial Branch. The Colonial Branch helps teach students financial literacy and offers them convenient access to their banking accounts.
  • Japanese exchange program: TJHSST celebrated the ten-year anniversary of its sister school relationship with Chiben Gakuen High School in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan in 2003. Each year, several TJHSST and Chiben Gakuen students participate in an exchange program to foster intercultural and language development.
  • TJ3Sat Project: TJHSST Systems Engineering Course is designing and building a CubeSat which is planned to be launched in 2008 or 2009. Orbital Sciences Corporation donated the CubeSat Kit to the school on December 6th, 2006 and will also provide the launch for the satellite. If successful, TJ3SAT will be the first satellite launched into space that is built by high school students.
  • Computer Systems Lab: The Computer Systems Lab (CSL, often shortened to "syslab") at TJHSST is one of very few high school computing facilities with a supercomputer. In the late 1980s, a team from the school won an ETA-10P supercomputer in the SuperQuest competition, a national science competition for high school students. Unfortunately, the ETA-10P was damaged by a roof leak in the 1990s. Cray Inc. donated a new SV1 supercomputer to the school in December 2002, which is still functioning today. The supercomputers have been used in research projects by students and may be used in a course for students taking the advanced computer science class entitled Supercomputer Applications.
  • One of the interesting aspects of this lab is the strong encouragement of student involvement. Since the early 1990s, designated student system administrators (often referred to as "sysadmins") have maintained the lab's workstations and servers (currently running Debian GNU/Linux and Scientific Linux), including the upkeep of the school's E-mail, web site, and intranet, among other services. Over the years, students in the Computer Systems Research course as well as the sysadmins have worked to improve the computer resources in the school. A system administrator understudy program is in place in order to train aspiring sysadmins in the "arts" of the syslab. The understudy students have been assigned the old "elements" (machines named after the chemical elements) to be their testing stations. Their first tasks include fixing whatever is broken inside the elements, and then installing Linux on them properly.
  • One notable project developed in the "syslab" is the TJHSST Intranet. This large web application was an early venture into PHP, and is known for bringing Rasmus Lerdorf, the original creator of PHP, to the school for a visit. It was made as a replacement for the aging mechanically-based Eighth Period scheduling system, but now it also provides features such as access to files on the school's intranet and the student directory. In recent years, the Intranet2 project has been developed in order to redesign and reimplement the Intranet system with Object-oriented programming and modern versions of PHP in mind. It was released on May 18th, 2006, but will still continue to be developed indefinitely.
  • Performing arts: The drama program performs three major plays each year. The independent Shakespeare Troupe student group additionally performs three Shakespeare plays each year. Every other year, the drama department puts on a musical, complete with singers and live pit orchestra.
  • The choir program holds several concerts over the course of the year, the largest of which is Spring Show. Spring Show is held during second semester and involves both curricular and extracurricular singers.
  • The orchestra program consists of a symphonic and a concert ensemble. They perform in four concerts over the course of the year, including the judge-evaluated Spring Festival. For the past several years, the orchestra program has achieved the rating of "superior" at every annual Festival. In addition, the symphonic orchestra won the title of "Best Overall High School Orchestra" at the 1991 International Quebec Music Festival.
  • TJ's band program, consists of three concert bands and one jazz band in addition to a number of extracurricular ensembles. Each year, the bands perform in several concerts, including a Fall Preview concert in conjunction with the orchestral and choral programs and the District XI VBODA Concert Band Festival. The school's extracurricular bands include the Thomas Jefferson Marching Colonials (TJMC), the marching band, a winter drumline, a winter guard, and a second jazz band. TJMC rehearsals begin in the early summer, and the band's season runs through early November. In addition to performing at home football games, the band participates in several competitions throughout the fall, usually concluding the season at the USSBA National Championships. The winter drumline's season begins in late November and performs through early April. The extracurricular jazz band rehearses during eighth period and performs with the curricular jazz band at a spring Jazz Cabaret.
  • International programs: In addition to the Chiben Gakuen student exchange, TJHSST also hosts the annual week long Jefferson Overseas Schools Technology Institute during the summer for American-based overseas school educators. Also, guest instructors from overseas frequently teach at TJHSST for an academic year, and have hailed from countries such as Germany and Latvia over the past decade.
  • Academic competitions: Academic teams at TJHSST have consistently performed well across state, national, and international levels. Teams that have maintained perennial success include those competing in chess, the American Regions Math League competition, Odyssey of the Mind, and both the Regional Virginia and National Science Bowls. In certain cases, teams have held a winning streak of several years or have won multiple times. TJHSST is also known for its strong performance in the It's Academic high school quiz tournament, which is produced and broadcast in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.
  • The quizbowl team at TJHSST is one of the best high school teams in the nation, often winning tournaments at the state and national levels. In some years its skill level is comparable to that of College Bowl teams, as the team has performed quite well in the college tournaments in which it has participated. In high school tournaments, it boasted a 38-game winning streak at NAQT's High School National Championship Tournament, taking 1st place for three consecutive years (2003, 2004, 2005). Moreover, it also won the 2005 PACE National Scholastics Championship, the first team to win both prestigious national tournaments since State College's wins in 2000. The team often produces some of the top players for the Virginia team at the Panasonic Academic Challenge which Virginia has won three times in a row (2003, 2004, and 2005) in addition to 1994. Finally, the team has won the VHSL Scholastic Bowl AAA State Championship seven times, including most recently in 2006.
  • Model United Nations: The Model United Nations club is the largest regularly-meeting organization in the school, with roughly 150 regular participants. Its Officer Corps includes over 20 members, including the Secretariat (Secretary General, Under-Secretary General, Senator, and Arbitrator). The club has been successful in national competitions, competing for awards at conferences hosted by several universities. TJMUN is also known for its winning streak at local conferences. TJMUN hosts its own conference each spring, TechMUN, named for the school's reputation.
  • NCSSSMST: TJHSST and George Mason University have been chosen to host the 2007 NCSSSMST Conference, to take place October 18-20, 2007 between the two campuses. The conference is currently being planned by a small group of students at TJ.
  • Notable alumni: Notable alumni of TJHSST include: Mark Changizi '87, neurobiologist.
  • Holly Harrison '90, first woman in Coast Guard history to be awarded the Bronze Star Medal
  • Ehren Kruger '90, screenwriter, Arlington Road.
  • Jamie Weiss '91, winner of 1990 Jeopardy! Teen Tournament, contestant in 2005 Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions.
  • Michael Montemerlo '93, leader of the first team to ever complete and win the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005.
  • Chris Colin '93, author, What Really Happened to the Class of '93 : Start-ups, Dropouts, and Other Navigations Through an Untidy Decade (ISBN 0-7679-1479-1), which profiles twenty alumni.
  • Dustin Thomason '94, co-author, The Rule of Four. Also co-creator and writer for ABC TV show, "The Evidence".
  • Ian Caldwell '94, co-author, The Rule of Four.
  • Jose Llana '94, Broadway actor: The King and I, Rent, Flower Drum Song, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
  • Ivana Ma '94, contestant, The Apprentice 2.
  • Vandana Madhavan, '94, 2nd place in 1996 Jeopardy! College Championship.
  • Daniel Rubén Odio-Páez '94, profiled on the front page of the Marketplace section of the Wall Street Journal in July, 2004.
  • Courtney DeYoung '95, captain of the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders from 2000-2006, two time NFL Probowl Selection.
  • Greg Harrell-Edge '99, deemed the "Laziest Man In America" by the TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live.
  • Conor Lastowka '99, founder of National High Five Day.
  • Eric Froehlich '02, formerly the youngest ever winner of a World Series of Poker event; two-time bracelet winner at the World Series of Poker.
  • S.R. Sidarth '03, referred to as "Macaca" by George F. Allen in the 2006 United States Senate election.
  • Ben Gelb, '04, Kings of Chaos co-creator.
  • Aman Gupta, '04, Kings of Chaos co-creator.
  • Nick Meyer, '04 Kings of Chaos co-creator.
  • Rocco Repetski, '04, Kings of Chaos co-creator.
  • Christo Landry, '04, United States representative in the World Cross Country Championships.
  • Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL
  • Add information about this school (e.g., awards, news stories, notable alumni, fun facts)
 
School Zip Code:
About This Zip Code (22312)
School Zip (22312) (VA) State Average
Population (Approximate) 28,370 people 6,532,353 people
% (age 25+) w/College Degree 46% 26%
Population Average Age 34 years old 35.7 years old
Average Household size 2.8 persons 2.5 persons
Median Household Income $58,263 $50,207
Avg. # of Rooms in Household 5.1 rooms 6.0 rooms
Median Age of Housing Structure 38 years old 34 years old
View current housing listings in 22312
% Owning / % Renting 53% / 47% 67% / 33%
School Map:
 Get: driving directions View weather forecasts and averages Weather: 10-day forecast or monthly climate averages.

  Nearby Schools:
1. Stuart High School - 1519 students - view location
2. Edison High School - 1845 students - view location
3. Wakefield High School - 1767 students - view location
4. Annandale High School - 2425 students - view location
5. T. C. Williams High School - 2893 students - view location
View all schools in: Alexandria Town, Fairfax County, Zip 22312 
Tip: Zoom in/out using the slider below. View aerial photos using the Satellite or Hybrid buttons.
Note: Data has been gathered from several government and commercial data sources. School data reflects years 2002-04 statistics (most recent years available). Area and demographic data reflects year 2000 statistics. Public School Review does not ensure the timeliness or accuracy of the information on this site.

  Quick Links:
•  View website: View this school's website in a new browser Visit school website
•  Find housing: View current housing listings in 22312
•  Reconnect: Find your graduating class at Classmates.com Find your graduating class at Classmates.com
•  Review:  Add School Reviews Review school: Add School Reviews - Recommended Add School Reviews - Not Recommended
•  Tools: Search schools by zip, Compare schools side-by-side
•  More schools: Private schools, Boarding schools & military schools
•  Return to: Fairfax County public schools, Virginia public schools, Home

Featured Partners: