Education Commissioner Candice McQueen Continues Statewide Classroom Tour

Thursday, September 07, 2017 | 10:54am

NASHVILLE—Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen begins her next set of school visits tomorrow, focusing the Classroom Chronicles tour this school year on the department's three areas of growth: equity, expectations, and pathways.

Over the course of the last two school years, Commissioner McQueen has met with thousands of teachers and visited 770 classrooms across 118 school districts – almost 85 percent of all districts in the state – on the Classroom Chronicles tour. This year, she aims to meet with educators in the remaining 29 districts and hear from students and teachers about the continuing work under Tennessee Succeeds, the department's strategic plan.

"Since I first took the role of commissioner in January 2015, I have focused on listening to educators and students and incorporating their feedback into our work at the department," McQueen said. "Continuing the Classroom Chronicles tour will ensure that voices from all areas of our state are heard and valued as we make decisions that impact our schools. By focusing our conversations this year on equity, expectations, and pathways, will provide insight as we work to give our students more and better opportunities for success."

Tomorrow's visit to Rutledge Primary School in Grainger County Schools will be the first stop on the Classroom Chronicles tour for this school year and was chosen because of their participation in the Read to be Ready Coaching Network. Early grades reading is a priority for the commissioner, and classroom visits during the spring semester focused on elementary schools across the state, some of which included First Lady Crissy Haslam, a strong advocate of early literacy.

This school year, McQueen will continue to meet with classroom teachers at each school she visits, while also hosting roundtables with educators from a variety of backgrounds in each area. The conversations will focus on how an emphasis on equity, expectations, and pathways will allow Tennessee to continue our historic gains and what this work looks like as the state continues the work under Tennessee Succeeds. The commissioner will also use these unifying focus areas during her annual meeting with superintendents hosted by the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents in Gatlinburg next week.

Additional school visits on the Classroom Chronicles tour are still being scheduled and will be advised to local media. To read Commissioner McQueen's blog post on why the department is focusing on equity, expectations, and pathways, please visit the department's blog, Classroom Chronicles.

For media inquiries contact Sara Gast, director of communications, at Sara.Gast@tn.gov or call (615) 532-6260.