Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
magnet high school in Alexandria, Virginia
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, Thomas Jefferson, or TJ) is a magnet high school located in Fairfax County, Virginia, operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the building of the previous Thomas Jefferson High School, constructed in 1964. A selective admissions program was initiated in 1985 through the cooperation of state and county governments and corporate sponsorship from the defense and technology industries. It 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.
Attendance at the school is open to students in six local jurisdictions based on academic achievement described in the Student Portrait Sheet—a compilation of 4 essays, problem-solving skills—assessed by the Problem Solving Essay, an unweighted grade-point average consisting of 7th grade final grades—8th grade first quarter grades—and summer grades, and socio-economic background. Before the 2020–21 school year, the admissions process also involved a math, reading, and science exam.
Administration
The current principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is Michael Mukai.
History
20th century
Thomas Jefferson High School was constructed and opened in 1964. Fairfax County Public Schools' superintendent William J. Burkholder and his staff began working on the idea of a science high school in 1983 with advice from the superintendent's business/advisory council. Burkholder announced the plans for the magnet school in January 1984.
“Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology” enters the record as magnet high school in Alexandria, Virginia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thomas, Jefferson and High can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Thomas, Jefferson and High provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7791268. VIAF identifies the subject as 124537056. The Library of Congress control number is n2003117520. Authority coordinates are 38.817, -77.168. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964, 1985, 2020 and 1983.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology primary sources, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.