Pride. In all, Madison is known not so much by “schools” as by educational families – students surrounded by caring, thoughtful parents and community members who expect graduates to have earned a top-notch education. Our students attend Virginia and the nation’s top schools and enter the workforce exceptionally well prepared. This great feat is accomplished by a caring community centered on what we call “Madison Pride” – the drive to provide children an absolutely remarkable education and a plethora of opportunities.
Schools. For nearly two decades, student enrollment has hovered around 2,000 students in four schools: Madison Primary School (PK-2), Waverly Yowell Elementary School (3-5), William H. Wetsel Middle School (6-8), and Madison County High School (9-12).
Exceptional Education. Madison County Public Schools (MCPS), a student-centered and community-supported school division, insures a superior education in a changing world. Our vision is to build on excellence to exceed community expectations … to be the best. In Madison, we are proud of excellent schools, which focus on traditional methods and progressive programs in our never-ending cycle of improvement. This is why we are regarded as a superior school division in the Commonwealth.
We are committed to helping students acquire the strong values to deal effectively with important intellectual, ethical, and social problems.
Responding to community, parent, and workforce expectations, MCPS aims to educate children to be prepared for good citizenry and life-long learning. Twenty-first century skills require that tomorrow’s workforce be adept at technology, excellent communicators, responsible employees, and physically fit and active. To this end, we want every secondary student to take Dual Enrollment, Advanced Placement, or earn an Industry Certification prior to graduation as well as a foreign language. And, we encourage all students to be scholar-athletes or scholar-performers.
MCPS embraces the notion of global awareness. We aim to provide world awareness through foreign language, current events, classes in culture and diversity, as well as K-12 division wide studies on a central question. We support enrichment experiences for all students to engage them with the world beyond Madison and by developing national and international connections through virtual exchanges with national and international sister schools. We fully support the incorporation of cultures and current events of local, national and international communities at every grade level.
Equally, we support the notion of community citizenry and awareness. MCPS embraces our local community that is rich in history and tradition. Our landscape boasts preeminent countryside – mountain life and flatlands, rich with agriculture, viniculture, forestry, and pastureland. We expect students to know our Madison community and natural wealth as we encourage field trips, community service projects and service learning. In our preeminent countryside, students have the opportunity to experience and learn from our amazing location.
Over the course of academic careers, beginning in Kindergarten, students excel in academic competitions. In fact, Madison has won the prestigious Wells Fargo Cup (formally Wachovia Cup) 19 times in 20 years in 2013. Winners of the Wells Fargo Cup are determined by a point system based on performance in Virginia High School League (VHSL) state competitions: “Madison County once again claimed the top spot in Group A. Madison County students claimed a first place finish in forensics along with top five finishes in debate and creative writing, to go along with Trophy Class in yearbook, while taking home points in magazine and news magazine.
Additionally, two Madison students won national contests: one for the United States Constitution Day Contest and one for the National Garden Clubs Contest.
Madison County Education Foundation. MCPS enjoys the support of the Madison County Education Foundation who endeavors to continually strive for educational excellence in Madison County by drawing on the County’s strong community spirit and resources to enrich the educational experience of its students and educators.
It operates independently from the Madison County Public Schools and is dedicated to raising private funds and facilitating programs to enhance and augment educational opportunities for students in Madison County.
Additional information can be found on the division website at: www.madisonschools.k12.va.us