Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School, 613 17th Ave. N.: grades 8-12, 1,280 students in 2024-25, state letter grade A.

Last checked Oct. 19, 2026. Sources: MLK Magnet High, Metro Nashville Public Schools’ school directory, 2026-27 pathways chart (PDF), district calendar, school start times and zone finder, the Tennessee Department of Education’s State Report Card, 2024-25 letter grade, school profile, graduation rate and ACT files and spring 2026 test file, the federal NCES school directory, the TSSAA’s 2026-27 classifications.

Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School is a Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) high school serving eighth grade through 12th grade. MNPS’s 2026-27 pathways chart lists it with the Pearl-Cohn cluster in the district’s Northwest quadrant. MNPS lists it among its magnet schools.

  • Address: 613 17th Ave. N., Nashville, TN 37203
  • Main office: 615-329-8400
  • Grades: 8-12
  • School hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 start times
  • Website: mlk.mnps.org

Who to call

  • Front office: 615-329-8400
  • Enrolling a new student: the school, or the Pearl-Cohn Enrollment Center at McKissack Middle School, 915 38th Ave. N., 615-329-8170, option 4, open 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays (all eight centers); MNPS Family Information Center 615-259-4636
  • Applying: the MNPS School Options process
  • Getting there: MNPS says that in most cases it does not provide school buses to out-of-zone students at optional schools; high school students, and middle school students at MNPS optional schools, ride WeGo buses free through the StrIDe program (Transportation, 615-259-4636)

Principal

Principal Angela McShepard-Ray, according to the school’s website.

Enrollment

The federal NCES directory counted 1,219 students in the 2023-24 school year, with 60 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 20 students per teacher. The Tennessee Department of Education’s 2024-25 school profile file has a newer count of 1,280 students.

State report card

Tennessee grades every public school A to F. The department says School Letter Grades give “a snapshot of how each school in the state is performing, including student achievement and academic growth measures for all schools, as well as a measure of college and career readiness just for high schools.”

From the state’s 2024-25 letter grade file, 2025 graduation rate file and 2024-25 ACT file:

Measure MLK Magnet High
Overall letter grade, 2024-25 A (score 4.9 of 5)
Achievement grade A
Academic growth grade A
Growth of the lowest-scoring 25% of students B
College and career readiness grade A
Overall success rate on state tests, 2024-25 88.4%
Graduation rate, class of 2025 more than 99% (of 242 students)
Average ACT composite, 2024-25 27.1 (242 students tested)

The state’s spring 2026 test file has the share of MLK Magnet High students in tested grades who met or exceeded expectations on TCAP: 78.1% in English language arts, 83.3% in math, 92.7% in science and 90% in social studies. It also has the share of MLK Magnet High students who met or exceeded expectations on each end-of-course exam: English I 88.3%, Integrated Math I 87.4%, Integrated Math III 90.6%, Biology 92% and U.S. History 92.3%. The 2025-26 letter grades have not been published yet.

The State Report Card page for MLK Magnet High holds the full detail: results by grade and subject, chronic absenteeism and results for each group of students.

Admission and pathway

MLK Magnet High has no attendance zone. Students apply through the district’s School Options process, which MNPS says uses a computerized random selection for applications received by the deadline; for 2026-27, applications opened Jan. 20, 2026, and were due Feb. 13. New MNPS families may apply year-round to optional schools with open seats.

MLK Magnet High is one of the schools MNPS lists with academic entrance requirements. For 2026-27, students already in MNPS needed an 80 average or higher with no missing or failing grades and met or exceeded expectations in both math and English language arts; the full rules are on the district’s academic requirements page.

The district’s 2026-27 pathways chart (PDF) lists MLK Magnet High with the Pearl-Cohn cluster, whose zoned high school is Pearl-Cohn High.

Grade change: MLK serves grades 8 to 12 in 2026-27 and becomes a grade 9 to 12 high school in 2027-28, MNPS says; Head Magnet Middle became Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet Middle at Head Campus, a guaranteed pathway for students who meet the requirements (district page).

Calendar and school hours

The MNPS 2026-27 district calendar has these dates next:

  • Thursday, Oct. 22: report cards issued
  • Tuesday, Nov. 3: parent conference day, no school for students
  • Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, district closed
  • Nov. 23-27: Thanksgiving break (district closed Nov. 26-27)
  • Dec. 15-17: half days for high school exams
  • Friday, Dec. 18: half day; the second quarter ends
  • Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: winter break
  • March 22-26, 2027: spring break and the spring holiday
  • Tuesday, May 25, 2027: last day for students, a half day

The school day runs 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 school start times; the school kept its schedule when the district adjusted start times for 2026-27.

Sports and activities

MLK Magnet High competes in the TSSAA, the state high school athletic association. Boys basketball is in Class 3A, Region 5, District 10. For game nights, see our Friday night football guide and the scoreboard.

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Frequently asked questions

What grades does MLK Magnet High serve?

Eighth grade through 12th grade. The school is at 613 17th Ave. N. in Nashville; the main office number is 615-329-8400.

What is MLK Magnet High’s state report card grade?

MLK Magnet High received an A overall in Tennessee’s 2024-25 School Letter Grades, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.

What time does MLK Magnet High start?

School runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the district’s 2026-27 school start times.