Washington State assessment results in reading and math identifies Madison as a "school in improvement".

It opened in September 1929 as James Madison Intermediate School with 749 seventh and eighth grade students.

A new gymnasium designed by architects Grant, Copeland, Chervenak & Associates was added south of the original building in 1973.

The historic portion of the school was restored and new additions terracing down the hill to link to the playfield to the west.

The original double-sided corridors were restructured to provide learning clusters of classrooms, labs, teacher planning offices and open flexible areas to support grade-based teams.