Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (often abbreviated TJHSST) is a public magnet school in Fairfax County, Virginia, with specialization in the fields of science and mathematics, and which enrolls students from several localities within the Northern Virginia area. 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, Maryland's Montgomery Blair High School and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. TJHSST is one of 16 Virginia Governor's Schools, and a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology.

Admissions and enrollment

The school enrolls approximately 450 students in each of ninth through twelfth grades, competitively selected on the basis of middle school academic records, a standardized admission examination (including an essay portion), and teacher recommendations. Out of an applicant pool of over 2500 annually, only about one in five applicants is selected for each incoming class. For the upcoming freshmen classes of 2009 et seq., the enrollment has been increased to about 500 students to reflect the growing population of its constituent communities in Fairfax County and other participating localities, as well as to place it in accordance with the recent affirmative action initiatives the Fairfax School Board has promoted.

Participating localities

While the school 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 and the City of Falls Church are also eligible to apply for admission, with a particular number of admission slots allotted to each participating locality. Each school district shares in the cost of operating the school. The independent cities of Alexandria, Manassas and Manassas Park, although located either near the school or within a participating county, have declined to purchase spaces for their students.

Diversity

Reflecting the racial, cultural and linguistic diversity of the surrounding Northern Virginia area, the student body of TJHSST includes students from a great variety of social, ethnic and economic backgrounds; the largest racial groups are whites at about 60% and Asians (including Chinese, Indian, Korean, Pakistani and Vietnamese) at about 25% of the student body. Furthermore, the school is largely free of any visible ethnic or racial tension, with members of various ethnicities intersocializing freely.

However, criticism has been directed to the skewed proportion of racial representation at the school, in particular the low percentage of black students (and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic students) compared to the percentage of blacks in the overall populations of the participating localities. Because of this discrepancy, in 2004 the Fairfax County School Board commissioned a study to determine what steps, if any, should be undertaken to remedy the underrepresentation of certain racial or ethnic groups among enrollees. Prior to the study, although admissions decisions were based mainly on middle school grades and students' scores on the admission examination, the administration nonetheless ensured that underrepresented minorities were admitted in higher proportion than quantitative scores alone would determine. However, in recent years attorneys working for Fairfax County Public Schools published an interpretation of law that restricted such "soft affirmative action" and which led to a severe decline in enrollment among black students in particular (to the extent that only two or three black students enrolled at TJHSST in certain incoming classes). The commission concluded that a program of affirmative action is necessary to mitigate the underrepresentation, which caused controversy about what course of action should be taken based on this conclusion.

Curriculum

TJHSST offers a uniquely extensive mathematics and science curriculum, offering courses such as Neurobiology, Marine Biology, DNA Science, Quantum Mechanics, and several advanced mathematics courses. All courses at TJHSST (or TJ for short) 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. A unique program offered is the Senior Technology Laboratory Research program. Seniors are required to complete a year-long research project or an off campus mentorship through one of the school's several research labs (http://academics.tjhsst.edu/labs_list.html), devoted to fields including microelectronics, computer science, chemistry, prototyping, optics, video technology, computer aided design, astronomy, oceanography, and biotechnology.

The school also offers a strong humanities and foreign language curriculum. Japanese and Russian are taught in addition to the more traditional German, French, Spanish, and Latin. Beginning in the 2005-06 school year, TJHSST will also offer introductory Chinese.

Another distinctive aspect of the curriculum is the ninth grade IBET (Integrated Biology, English, and Technology) program. 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 the several integrated programs available for seniors.

Students at TJ are not given a class rank, because the administrators of the school determined that the competition engendered among the student body would not promote the educational and developmental goals of the school, in light of the competitive selection process, inter alia.

The 8th Period Student Activities Program (http://activities.tjhsst.edu/) is a required part of the school day. Students sign up for clubs and activities through the school Intranet. While a plethora of traditional activities are offered, some are unique to the research laboratories. Students may study, participate in clubs and teams, attend assemblies, tutor outside the school, and have social gatherings.

All students attending TJHSST must pursue a special TJ Diploma. The TJ Diploma requirements are the same as the Fairfax County Advanced Studies Diploma with additional mathematics, computer science, earth science, and engineering requirements.[1] (http://information.tjhsst.edu/dss/forms.php)

Awards and Distinctions

TJHSST has fielded more National Merit Semifinalists than any other high school in America for most of the 1990s and 2000s; this is, however, partly due to the relatively low National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) cutoff in Virginia. From 2000 to 2005, it fielded more USAMO qualifiers than any other high school in America.

TJHSST was recently ranked as the top public high school in the nation by PrepReview (http://www.prepreview.com/english/us/rank/us_highschool.htm). TJHSST also has the highest average SAT score among American high schools. Each year, over a quarter of its graduating class accepts admission to the University of Virginia. Other popular destinations among graduates include the College of William and Mary, Virginia Tech, Duke University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University, Yale University, and Stanford University.

For schools with more than 1,000 students, TJHSST was cited as having the highest-performing AP Biology, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP English Language & Comprehension, AP French Language, AP Government & Politics: U.S., AP Psychology, and AP U.S. History courses among all schools nationwide in its size range. No other school had a greater proportion of its student body succeed in these subjects.

Recent developments

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 response to increasing student enrollment and admission, school administrators have announced the addition of several "learning cottages" to be placed in the back of the school's campus in Alexandria, occupying a large number of student parking spaces. The new admissions process is a topic of constant debate.

TJHSST celebrated the tenth-year anniversary of its sister school relationship with Chiben Gakuen High School in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan in 2003. Each year TJHSST and Chiben Gakuen exchange several students for language and intercultural development.

School features and activities

Among the facilities, programs and activities ongoing at TJHSST, several have gained distinction for their uniqueness among comparable high schools either nationally or regionally. In part because the school maintains a daily schedule of eight class periods, with the final eighth period devoted to a variety of extracurricular activities, students at TJHSST participate in several such activities, which reflect the interest of many students in not only the scientific and mathematical topics, but also their pursuits in athletics, the humanities and performing arts such as the marching band, football and lacrosse intervarsity sports teams and language clubs.

Computer Systems Lab

The Computer Systems Lab (http://academics.tjhsst.edu/syslab/) (affectionately known as the "Syslab") at TJHSST is one of a 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 (although the supercomputer has reportedly suffered instability, including several crashes during the 2004/2005 school year). 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.

Student administrators in the Computer Systems Lab are responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the lab's 50 or so Debian (GNU/Linux) computers as well as the school's servers.

Performing arts

TJ Drama performs three plays each year. The independent Shakespeare Troupe student group additionally performs three Shakespeare plays each year.

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.

Quiz competition

The quiz bowl team at TJHSST is one of the best high school teams in the nation, often winning tournaments at the state and national levels. Teams from the school also compete well in the It's Academic high school quiz tournament and television show produced in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. In addition, Thomas Jefferson consistently performs well in the United States Department of Energy's National Science Bowl.

Contact Information

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
6560 Braddock Road
Alexandria, VA 22312

External links

• TJHSST Homepage (http://www.tjhsst.edu/)
• TJHSST Alumni Organization (http://www.tjhsstalumni.org/)
• TJHSST Partnership Fund (http://tjpartnershipfund.org/)
• TJHSST page on the Virginia Governer's Schools website (http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/Govschools/thosjeff.html)