ARLINGTON, Tenn. — For Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen, this day was all about going back to the classroom.
In this case, she was hearing first hand from the students themselves at Arlington High School.
McQueen said Arlington High is a state example of student growth and a community engaged in education.
“Are you going to be a teacher? Have you made that decision? Are you interested in pursuing a science degree after high school? What are you interested in?” McQueen asked students.
This is what McQueen calls her second Tennessee Classroom Listening Tour. The focus is on students and getting their perspective on what they think is needed in education.
“We realized one of the pieces we needed to learn more about was the student voice and this year we are focusing primarily on our high school students and learning about their pathway to post-secondary and how we can best support student engagement,” McQueen said.
This year Tennessee students increased their average ACT scores by a tenth of a point, but only a fifth of those who took the test were deemed ready for college in all four subject areas.
“You have to be thinking of the ACT at the K-12 level more so than we currently do, but if we’re teaching rigorous standards every single year and monitoring that then we should see improvements,” McQueen said.
But the education commissioner didn’t just talk about what can be done to improve the classroom, but also what happens when students aren’t in them because they are truant.
This comes at a time when some school districts such as Shelby County Schools and the District Attorney’s office are trying crackdown on students and parents with children who are skipping school.
“What happens in early grades that cause students not to come to school and some of this is about our support mechanism. We need to gather around our families at those ages and make sure education is a priority. ” McQueen said.
