Academic Magnet Requirements

Students must have an academic average of 80 or above for all subjects combined for the spring semester of the previous school year and the first grading period (whether six weeks or nine weeks) of the current school year, with no failing grades for any grading period (whether six weeks or nine weeks) in this time frame.

For entrance into a magnet school with academic entrance requirements during the 2026-2027 school year, a student can meet the assessment requirements as follows:

Students applying to Meigs Middle School, Martin Luther King Jr. School or Hume-Fogg High School may qualify with:

• 2025 TCAP Achievement and/or End-of-Course exams scores of Met or Exceeded Expectations in Math and English/Language Arts (ELA)
• Or a combined 2025 TCAP Achievement and/or End-of-Course stanine of 14 pr higher in Math and English/Language Arts (ELA)

Fifth and eighth grade students may also qualify with the Supplemental Magnet Qualifying Exam with Math and English/Language Arts (ELA). Note that these academic magnet qualifying assessments are only administered once per year and differ from other benchmark assessments given. Parents will receive a score for the Supplemental Magnet Qualifying Exam (SMQ) in the Personalized Student Dashboard indicating whether the students qualify.

• Students applying to Early College for 9th and 10th grade may qualify with:
  • 2025 TCAP Achievement scores of Met or Exceeded Expectations in Math and English/Language Arts (ELA)
  • Or a Combined 2025 TCAP Achievement Math and English/Language Arts (ELA) stanine score of 10 or higher
• Incoming 11th grade applicants to Early College High
• School must have:
  • a minimum score of 21 on the ACT or
  • a minimum score of the below on the SAT
• 490 in English
• 500 in Math
• 500 in Critical Reading

A Davidson County student who is new to MNPS, the state of Tennessee, is currently a home school student, and/or currently enrolled in a private school may qualify with the following:

• 2025 Tennessee TCAP scores of Met or Exceeded Expectations in Math and English/Language Arts (ELA)
• Academic average of 80 or above for all combined subjects (Q3, Q4, and Q1 grades) with no failing grades for any grading period, whether six weeks or nine weeks.
• Tests other than TCAP Achievement must be a recent standardized achievement test score totaling 14 stanine or higher for both Math and Reading, administered during the school years below:
  • Spring 2025 (2024-2025 school year)
  • Fall/Winter 2025 (2025-2026 school year)

If a student does not have recent test scores, families may choose to arrange and pay for a privately administered standardized achievement test. All standardized achievement tests must have been administered at a school or national testing center and administered in a secure, in-person environment. 

Requirements for Current MNPS English Learner Students 

English learners who are currently enrolled in MNPS can meet the standardized test requirement with just one subject instead of two: either Reading/English/Language Arts or Math.

• For entrance into academic magnets during the 2026-2027 school year, an English learner (EL) student can meet the assessment requirements in any one of the following ways:
  • An EL student will meet the requirement with a score of Met Expectations or Exceeded Expectations in ELA or Math on the 2025 TCAP Achievement and/or End-of-Course exam.
  • An EL student will meet the requirement with a 2025 TCAP Achievement state stanine of 7 or higher in either ELA or Math.
  • A fifth or eighth grade EL student will meet the requirement with a qualifying score in ELA or Math on the Supplemental Magnet Qualifying Exam.

Requirements for English Learners New to MNPS 

An EL student who is new to MNPS or perhaps even new to Tennessee and who does not have TCAP or Supplemental Magnet Qualifying Exams scores can qualify by submitting test results from a standardized achievement test.

For Meigs Middle School, Martin Luther King Jr. School and Hume-Fogg High School, a score of 7 national stanine or above for either Reading and/or Math will qualify. For Early College High School, a national stanine score of 5 or above will qualify. 

A summer pathway is available for students attending 8th grade at Head, Rose Park, John Early, and Meigs middle schools who have become eligible with an academic average of 80 or above for all subjects combined for the second, third and fourth nine weeks of the current school year, with no failing grades for any grading period (whether six weeks or nine weeks) in this time frame and meet the testing requirements with the Spring 2026 TCAP Achievement test.

Summer pathway notification will occur when the State of Tennessee standardized testing scores are available.