James Madison High School is an American public high school in Vienna, Virginia and is a part of the Fairfax County Public Schools. As of the 2024-2025 school year, it had 2,090 students attending and a graduation rate of 96%

According to Newsweek magazine's 2014 list of the top U.S. high schools, Madison was ranked 93rd. U.S. News & World Report named it a Silver Medal school in 2010, and in 2025, ranked it 356th among national public schools. US News High School RankYearNationalStateCounty2025-263561072024-25273962023-247191272022-2336187

Elementary schools feeding Madison include Wolftrap, Vienna, Louise Archer, Flint Hill, Marshall Road, and Cunningham Park. Middle schools feeding Madison include Thoreau and Kilmer. These schools make up the "Madison Pyramid". Freedom Hill ES, Oakton ES, Westbriar ES and Luther Jackson MS also send students to Madison on occasion.

History James Madison High School was opened in September 1959, headed by its first principal, Elton A. Bonner, and its first Vice Principals, Elam Hertzler and George Dozier. Madison began as a segregated high school and was integrated in 1960 thanks to the implementation of the Brown v Board of Education decision. Of the first students to be transferred were Phyllis and Preston Blackwell.

The original student governing body was the SCA, which stands for Student Cooperative Association. Homerooms would elect 2 representatives to it each year and it ran welfare programs and fundraising campaigns.

Since 1959, the school has undergone 4 renovations with the newest being completed in the spring of 2022. The first of these renovations was completed in the schools first 6 years of operation under Mr. Bonner. It added English huts, new football lights, portable bleachers, baseball dugouts, and an entire new wing to accommodate the growing student population.

While not an official renovation, in 1967, the school received a lot of new equipment to modernize the school. The science department greatly benefited from this, adding many new labs to its collection. Through this modernization, Madison became one of the first schools in Fairfax County to acquire a device that could pinpoint the ideal university for a student to attend based on conditions they inputed.

In 2003, the 3rd renovation introduced a new library including a state-of-the-art computer lab that was added to the front of the building. Many county officials including past school principals attended the opening ceremony. In 2022, the 23.5 million dollar renovation replaced the library from 2003 with a modern, 3-story addition and renovated the cafeteria in the back. This new 32,000 square foot addition placed the library on the 3rd floor, freeing up the floors below for more teaching spaces. At the same time, Madison's football stadium received a major upgrade with its track being completely redone. Madison's Past PrincipalsElton A. Bonner1959 - 1968Shelton T. Belsches1968 - 1971Taylor Williams1971 - 1972Clarence Drayer1972 - 1977 George Felton1977 - 1781Norman F. Bradford1981 - 1989

Demographics In the 2024-25 school year, James Madison High School's student body was 58.11% White, 16.13% Asian, 16.08% Hispanic, 1.97% Black and 7.70% Other.

Academics

Curriculum James Madison High School allows students to take a wide range of core and elective classes at various levels including Standard, Honors, AP, DE, and AV. Electives include many levels of computer science, various engineering courses, psychology, all aspects of performing arts, visual and 3d arts, journalism, yearbook, marketing, entrepreneurship, 3 foreign languages (Spanish, French, and Latin), etc.

Students wanting to take courses not offered at Madison may do so through academy programs at other schools including Marshall, Fairfax, Centreville, and Falls Church.

Madison offers a total of 30 AP courses, with one more being introduced in the 2026-27 school year. List of AP Courses at MadisonCourseNotesAP English Lang and CompAP English Lit and CompAP Human GeographyIntroduced in the 2025-26 school yearAP World HistoryAP United States HistoryAP US Gov and PoliticsAP Micro/Macro EconomicsStudents take both the Micro and Macro examsAP Business with Personal FinanceTo be introduced in the 2026-27 school yearAP PsychologyAP African American StudiesAP Precalculus AB/BCAP StatisticsAP Calculus ABAP Calculus BCAP Comp Science PrinciplesAP Comp Science AAP BiologyAP ChemistryAP Environmental ScienceAP Physics 1AP Physics 2AP Physics C: MechanicsAP French Lang and CultureAP LatinAP Spanish Lang and CultureAP Studio Art: DrawingAP Art: 2-D Digital ArtAP Art: 2-D PhotoAP Studio Art: 3-D DesignAP Capstone 1: Seminar AP Capstone 2: ResearchSeminar 10 available for the 2025-26 school year

Standardized Testing James Madison High School continually surpasses most Virginia schools in statewide and nationwide exams. For the 2024-25 school year, there was a 95.72% pass rate on English:Reading SOLs, >50% pass rate on English:Writing SOLs, >50% pass rate on History and Social Science, 94.75% pass rate on Mathematics SOLs, and 88.80% pass rate on Science SOLs. In 2025, Madison's average SAT score was 1229/1600.

Athletics James Madison's sports teams play in the Concorde District and 6A Northern Region. Their traditional rival schools include nearby schools Oakton, Langley, Marshall, Chantilly, and South Lakes.

Football The James Madison football team is headed by Coach Justin Counts, and assisted by Coaches Brendan Ginley, Jordan Durham, and Andrew Baird. Madison Football RankingsYearState RankingOverall2025-26329-52024-25914-12023-241312-22022-231711-42021-221013-22020-21328-12019-20398-42018-192110-32017-18598-4

Crew Founded in 2002, the James Madison Rowing team rows out of Sandy Run Regional Park, which is set on the banks of the Occoquan River. Both the men's and women's teams have had a fair amount of success. The women's team holds multiple state championships and went so far as to win the Stotesbury Cup and SRAA National Championship (1V8) in 2013.

Extracurricular activities

Marching Band and Concert Band The James Madison High School "Pride of Vienna" Marching Band, under the direction of Michael Hackbarth, won three consecutive Virginia state championships in 2018, 2019 and 2021 as well as being a 4 time Virginia class 5A state champion. They placed 1st at the Bands of America mid-Atlantic regional in 2019 and also attended the 2019 Bands of America Grand National Championships, where they achieved second place in class 3A, placing them at 29th overall in the semifinals. The school is one of the five schools to have earned the Sudler Flag twice. In the 2022 VBODA (Virginia Band & Orchestra Association) assessment, the school's symphonic band achieved perfect grades for grade 4, with its wind symphony achieving the same in grade 6, making it the highest achieving band in the district.

Madison's band has had 4 directors throughout its history, the first being Ralph Hills, who led for 4 years upon the school's founding. Later came Mr. Yole in 1963 who directed the band for 10 years until 1973. Under his leadership, the band grew into two groups, Concert and Symphonic, each performing and receiving superior ratings at concert music festivals. Then, in 1973, Carl (Jeff) Bianchi took over and led the band until 1997. Finally, in 2001, Mr. Hackbarth took over an has been directing the band since.

In the early days of Madison's history, their first colorguard group called the "Majorettes" practiced and performed alongside them during halftime shows. They also competed with other groups independently.

Orchestra Under the direction of Erin Eberly, the James Madison High School Orchestra has consistently received Superior Ratings and Best Overall Orchestra awards at local, regional, and national events. The orchestra is divided into 4 ensembles, each requiring annual audition. These ensembles include Chamber Select, Chamber, Philharmonic, and Symphonic.

Theater Madison's drama department is currently run by Laura Loy. MAD Drama runs 2 theatrical productions per year: A play in the fall and a musical in the spring. They also run many on-act student-written plays throughout the year. Madison's Past ProductionsYearPlayMusical2022-2023Much Ado About NothingMama Mia2023-2024Deadwood DickPippin2024-2025PuffsMean Girls2025-2026A Midsummer Night's DreamZombie Prom

Newspaper Madison's resident newspaper is The Hawk Talk, run by students and advised by staff. Its first publication was in 1967

Campus James Madison High School's building, like many others in Fairfax County, is of considerable size, consisting of mostly two floors with a third being added to the new addition in 2022. In fact, this added 3rd floor turned Madison into the tallest building in Fairfax County. Like most other high schools, Madison's hallways are divided among subjects with English, History, PE, and the Performing Arts being downstairs, while Science, Math, and World Languages being upstairs.

Beyond the building, Madison's athletic complex consists of 5 fields: a football stadium + track, a baseball field, a softball field, a multipurpose practice field, and 5 tennis courts.

Notable alumni

John Brenkus, host of ESPN's Sports Science and the podcast "The Brink of Midnight” Bob Brower, former professional baseball player, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers Valerie Camillo, sports executive, president & CEO of Spectacor Sports & Entertainment Akhil Chada, co-founder of Facet Enterprises Dana Coons, long distance runner Robert DeProspero, former United States Secret Service special agent Meghan Douglas, fashion model Greg Duncan, diver Bryce Eldridge, First Baseman for San Francisco Giants. Jay Franklin, former MLB player, pitcher, selected second overall by the San Diego Padres in the 1971 MLB draft Azita Ghanizada, actress Alia Abu El Hawa, footballer, member of the Jordan women's national team. Julia Leas, soccer player Mark Jordan Legan, TV writer, NPR contributor, host of the podcast "Film Freaks Forever" Adam Bhala Lough, music video director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker Jim McNamara, former MLB player, catcher for the San Francisco Giants Robin Reed, former lead news anchor and chief meteorologist at WDBJ-DT Robert Shafer, Grammy Award-winning American conductor, classical composer Randy Scott, ESPN sportscaster Robb Spewak, radio personality on The Don and Mike Show Stephen Swartz, electronic music artist James Triantos, professional baseball second baseman in the Chicago Cubs organization Robyn Vining, former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 14th district, current member of the 13th Mike Wallace, former MLB player, drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 4th round of the 1969 draft Liam Walsh, co-founder of Facet Enterprises Natalie Wynn a.k.a. ContraPoints, YouTuber Mia Yim, professional wrestler Rob Owen, TV columnist, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, TribLive.com

References