FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA – Virginia's best high school, and the sixth best in the country, is Alexandria's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, according to a new ranking.
U.S. News & World Report has compiled a list of roughly 18,000 of the best high schools in the country from a survey of about 27,000 public, charter and tech-focused schools. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a selective admissions high school in Fairfax County, was the only Virginia school to crack the top 10. The school scored 99.97 out of a possible 100 points on the website's scoring rubric.
Thomas Jefferson High School, a Virginia Governor's School, focuses on math, science, and technology and aims to foster a culture of ethical innovation, the school says. The school's curriculum culminates in a lab project for seniors either in one of the school's more than a dozen specialized research laboratories or through its lab practicum program.
The school also has sports teams and non-science clubs, including a film society, a bird and wildlife club, the JRR Tolkien Fellowship and more.
Thomas Jefferson High School was founded in 1985 and draws students from Fairfax County as well as Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William Counties and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.
The school teaches grades nine through 12, has 2,108 students and has a student-teacher ratio of 17:1. In addition to being ranked sixth nationally, the school was ranked second in Washington, DC, metropolitan area high schools and number seven among STEM high schools.
The school consistently ranks among U.S. News and World Report's top 10 in its annual high school ranking and was named best school in the nation in 2020 and 2021.
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