Admissions to McFadden School of Excellence

As a school of choice, McFadden does not provide bus transportation before or after school. 

Once your child’s application has been fully submitted and the required recommendation has been completed, you will receive an email with a link to select your child’s screening date and time.

Yes, a recommendation is required for every applicant. During the application process, you will provide the recommender’s name, email address, and phone number. Once the application is submitted, the recommender will receive an email from Rutherford County Schools with a series of questions to provide feedback about your child. Recommendations are confidential and will not be shared with parents.

Kindergarten applicants: Recommendations should come from one of the following, in order of preference: preschool teacher, daycare teacher, Mother’s Day Out teacher, Sunday School teacher, caretaker.  Recommendations from relatives will not be accepted.  

Grades 1–5 applicants: The recommendation must be provided by your child’s current teacher. Recommendations from relatives will not be accepted.

Important recommendation notes for all applicants:

• It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure the recommendation is submitted before the January 31, 2026, deadline.
• Parents can log into SchoolMint to check whether the recommendation has been completed, but they cannot view the content.
• Applications with incomplete recommendations by the deadline will be denied.
• Based on past issues, please make sure you enter the correct email address for your recommender so they can complete the recommendation successfully.  Please note that the RCS email domain is @rcschools.net and MCS is @cityschools.net.
• Please inform the recommender to be looking for an email after you have submitted your child's application.

Before starting the application, parents should gather digital copies only of the following documents:

• Kindergarten:  contact information for recommendation, photo

• 1st - 3rd Grade:  contact information for recommendation, final report card from 2024-2025, photo

• 4th Grade: contact information for recommendation, final report card from 2024-2025, 2nd Grade ELA and Math TCAP score reports, photo

• 5th Grade: contact information for recommendation, final report card from 2024-2025, 3rd Grade ELA, Math, and Science TCAP score reports, photo

TCAP scores can be accessed through the TN Family Portal. The student ID is typically your child’s lunch or library number with “000” at the beginning.

If you need help accessing any of these documents, please reach out to your child’s current school for assistance.

Availability in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grades depends on the number of students who do not return.  We encourage families to apply and screen for these grades in the event a seat becomes available. While not guaranteed, we typically have at least 1-2 seats available for each of these grade levels.

The screening is a cognitive assessment designed to predict a child’s readiness for academic success in our advanced academic program. Each student is assessed one-on-one by a certified teacher. Because the assessment is interactive, it cannot be completed virtually. The screener is entirely oral and focuses on a student’s ability to work through challenging tasks. The length of the assessment varies depending on how far your child progresses through an increasingly rigorous set of tasks (20 - 45 minutes).

You may park in any available spot when you arrive. Enter through the main entrance and check in for the screening.  (Please note that you will be required to walk through our weapon's detection system, so please only bring in your keys, phone, and identification.)

Once checked in, you and your child will wait in the library until the scheduled screening time. We will have books and some educational toys available to help keep children engaged while they wait.  A teacher will escort your child to the screening, while you remain in the library. 

We understand that it may feel intimidating for your child to walk away with someone they don’t know. Please be assured that our team will do everything possible to make your child comfortable and supported during the screening.

After all screenings are complete, students are placed in rank order based on the results of the screening process. In kindergarten, for example, if 300 students are screened, the top 60 will be offered seats. The remaining 240 students will be placed on a waitlist.

Due to the large number of students screened, we are unable to provide individual scores. However, all families will be notified of admission decisions once the process is complete.