Metro Schools announces academic eligibility requirements for summer pathways

Students in our four magnet feeder middle schools have an opportunity to gain a summer pathway into Hume Fogg or MLK. Meaning, students who have attended Meigs, Head, Rose Park and John Early are given a second chance to qualify for entrance into the magnet high school based on grades and test scores from the most recent school year.

According to the district’s Student Assignment Options Policy, students normally qualify for the summer pathway by meeting the following two academic requirements:

Students must have an academic average of 85 or above for all subjects combined for the second, third and fourth nine weeks of the most recent school year, with no failing grades for any grading period in this time frame.
Students who took Tennessee’s criterion-referenced state achievement test (TCAP) in the previous year must have scores of Proficient or Advanced in both reading and math (except for EL students, who must have scores of Proficient or Advanced in either reading or math).

Since the state canceled TNReady testing this past spring, the district has developed alternative ways to determine academic eligibility for students who didn’t qualify based on either 2015 grades or test scores.

All students will still be required to meet the course grade requirements. However, in place of the TCAP requirements, students may qualify based on any of the following:

2015 TCAP assessment – the student must have scored Proficient or Advanced in both reading and math
Fall 2015 8th grade EXPLORE scores – the student’s reading and math stanine scores must total 14 or above
2016 TVAAS projections for reading and math – the student must have stanine scores that total 14 or above
Students who do not meet any of the above assessment qualifications will be provided an additional opportunity for summer testing on two dates using a nationally normed standardized achievement test, the Terra Nova Survey, 3rd Edition. Students must receive reading and math stanine scores that total 14 or above unless they are an EL student who can qualify with a stanine of a 7 in either reading or math.

Summer testing will be held at the four magnet feeder middle schools on Wednesday, June 22 and Tuesday, July 12. Students who qualify for summer testing will receive a letter in the mail this week with information on how to register for one of these two test dates.

The qualifications described above apply only to students eligible for the 2016 summer academic pathway option.

District staff are still working to determine academic entrance requirements for all students intending to apply to an academic magnet during the 2017-18 school options process this fall.