• Please review Board Policy: BOE #J-154, Reviewed 11/21 

    The Knox County Board of Education established a regional Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) school, the L&N STEM Academy (hereinafter “the STEM Academy”) in 2011. The STEM Academy began as a high-quality, rigorous, stand-alone Knox County magnet school focused on the STEM disciplines and particularly on the use of technology as a learning tool.  

    The STEM Academy is not a comprehensive high school and does not offer all educational services to all students. Rather, it endeavors to provide opportunities not otherwise available to Knox County students and students from outside the district as provided for in this policy.

    The STEM Academy is a regional school designed to provide students from the East Tennessee region access to courses that will prepare them for work or study following graduation and to offer opportunities not otherwise available to students from small, rural districts due to funding constraints, staff limitations, scheduling constraints, and distance from higher education institutions. As such, the STEM Academy has no defined zone and enrolls both students from within the district as well as a limited number of students from outside the district. 

    Who is Eligible to Apply?

    All Knox County School high school students, as well as out-of-district students, are eligible to apply for a transfer to the L&N STEM Academy.  The L&N STEM Academy accepts transfers for 9th-11th-grade students only. All rising 9th and 11th-grade students are eligible to apply for the L&N STEM Academy. Rising 9th and 10th-grade transfer students will be selected through a lottery system.  Rising 11th-grade students requesting a transfer to L&N STEM must be interviewed by the school principal, and will only be contacted for an interview if spaces are available in the junior class.

    Each class of students will be composed of approximately 150 students.  Therefore, ~150 9th-grade students will be granted transfers and approximately 30 to 40 10th-grade students will be granted transfers to fill our sophomore class to 150.

    How are students chosen?

    If the number of students who apply for the L&N STEM Academy exceeds the number of available seats, a geographic lottery will be used to determine which students receive a transfer.  Students living in Knox County will be allocated to the L&N STEM Academy based on their zoned KCS high school. Each zoned high school will receive an allotted number of seats in the L&N rising 9th grade class, based on the number of students it has when compared to the rest of the district.  This lottery is completed by a computer program that randomly assigns students a lottery number.  There are no additional weights for gender, race, socio-economic background, or previous academic history.

    For example, if High School X has 10% of all rising 9th-grade students throughout the county, then 10% of the students accepted to the L&N STEM Academy would be zoned for High School X. In this example, 15 9th-grade students (10% of 150 9th-graders) who are zoned to attend High School X would receive a transfer.

    If a particular zoned school does not fulfill its full allotment of students, then the extra seats are placed into a second-round lottery for students who did not receive a seat during the initial lottery period.

    If you are applying for a transfer from a surrounding participating county, two students per county will be granted a transfer.  Please see the graphic below to see if you live in a participating county.

     
    What if I am transferring from a private school, a homeschool, or coming to STEM from out of state?  Anything I should know?
     
    If you are coming to L&N STEM from a private school, a homeschool, or out-of-state, and you have a Knox County home address, you will fall into the lottery system within your zoned high school's allotment.  If you live outside of Knox County, you will fall into the lottery system within your home county's allotment.
     
    If you are granted a transfer to STEM, here are some things to know about the transferring of high school credit to your L&N STEM transcript: 
    From an Out of State Non-Public School: 

    1. Contact the school or check their website to confirm accreditation. 

    2. If accredited, all credits on the transcript will be accepted. 

    3. If it is not an accredited program, grades and credits will be awarded consistent with KCS Homeschool procedures. (See below) 

    From a Category IV or V Home School: 

    Please carefully review Board Policy: BOE #J-130, Reviewed 11/21 

    Home school students entering public schools are treated as students entering from other non-approved schools and are subject to State Board of Education Rule No. 0520-1-3-03(11).

    Transferring Credit from Category IV and V Home Schools : 

    (You can check the non-public home school list and the approved Category III online school list)  

    Students entering from Category 4 and 5 schools, as designated by the Tennessee Department of Education, will be tested for credit. Students may be tested by taking and passing the final exam for each core course  (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Wellness) listed on a transcript from a Category 4 or 5 non-public school. Upon passing the exam, credit may be awarded. If a student demonstrates mastery on the exam, then the student’s grade from his/her transcript will be entered on his/her  Knox County Schools’ transcript.

    Home school students whose transcripts state they have earned a credit in a World Language shall be administered the Knox County EOC/mastery test for the highest level of language for which they are requesting credit be given. (Ex. A student who has earned a credit in French I and II will be given the French II EOC). KCS has the authority to award credit for high school courses completed at non-public middle schools based on demonstrated mastery of the subject matter, e.g., successful completion of mastery test or written exam or performance in subsequent courses. 

    If you have accepted a transfer to L&N STEM and either need to test for your credits or have questions about your transcript, please contact our registrar, Shelley Rogers at shelley.rogers@knoxschools.org 

    High School Credit Earned in Middle School: 

    Students in a KCS middle school who successfully complete a course that includes the EOC/mastery test in a class taught using the high school curriculum standards will earn high school credit. The grade earned will be posted on the high school transcript and calculated in the high school GPA. 

    For students who attended a middle school whose academic record/transcript indicates a high school course  was taken in middle school, the determination to post high school credit will be as follows:  

    Knox County Schools will honor the sending school district’s policy, provided it is an accredited school. KCS will not award credit if the sending school/district’s policy was not to award credit. If no transcript exists, our school will contact the former middle school and request documentation of the completed high school course and the grade earned. Our school will also seek clarification about the sending school/district’s high school posting procedures (e.g., are grades posted on the high school transcript? If posted, are they calculated in the high school grade point average?).  

    If determination is made that a student did not receive high school credit, a parent may request that the student be tested to receive a Pass/Fail credit. 


    How do I Apply?

    You can apply online HERE before the designated date in February of the current year.
     
    QUESTIONS?
    Email Dr. Shannon Siebe, 9th/10th Grade Principal at shannon.siebe@knoxschools.org