Newsweek magazine has ranked TJHSST in Fairfax county the highest performing high school in the nation in an article entitled “The Number 1 High School in America Offers a Real Head Start”.[read_more]
With its focus on student-driven research, specialized college-level coursework in subjects like computer science and bio-nanotechnology, and high proportion of faculty holding Ph.D.s, Thomas Jefferson hardly resembles a conventional high school. “We’re a lot like a college in a lot of ways, because we have a really active alumni base that’s willing to help us, that communicates with us,†says Anant Das, a rising senior spending part of the summer on campus to prepare for a stint as student council president. “They love to come back and be with us. I don’t think you get that at other high schools…..
“We’re preparing kids to go into fields that have yet to be invented,†says Glazer,(TJ Principal) who’s entering his ninth year at the school. “We’re really focusing more on skills and an appreciation for STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics]. But if they decide to become journalists, we convey that they have a unique knowledge base in STEM. They would be able to contribute to articles on energy, the environment, and government policy on those important issues.â€
More on Newsweek’s rankings of the top high schools here.
