‘Classroom Chronicles’ makes first stop at Clinton
Education Commissioner observes school’s reading initiatives
Candice McQueen, Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education, visited Clinton Elementary School on Monday afternoon. Pictured with Commissioner McQueen, front and center, are students in Dee Dee Swanner’s first grade class, and Mrs. Swanner.
Since beginning the “Classroom Chronicles” tour two and a half years ago, McQueen has visited more than 100 school districts, 150 schools, and met more than 10,000 teachers statewide to look at how local school districts are implementing state education policies and practices and to get input from students and teachers on what is working.
This spring, the tour focuses mostly on McQueen visiting students in elementary schools to see how teachers are incorporating the state department of education’s standards on early literacy —commonly known as the Read to Be Ready Initiative — a campaign the Tennessee Department of Education launched in February, 2016, to boost reading proficiency among students.
The goal of Read to Be Ready is to get 75 percent of Tennessee third graders reading on grade level by 2025. McQueen’s visit Monday afternoon started off with the commissioner visiting Mrs. Brock’s first grade class and listening to a reading lesson.
Brock read aloud to students and asked the students what the phrase, “quick as a wink,” meant. A student replied that it meant “very, very fast.”
A kindergarten class was practicing what the teacher called “echo reading,” and learning about plural nouns.
During her tour, McQueen visited two first grade classes, a Kindergarten class, a sixth grade class, and a fifth grade class before meeting with educators in Clinton Elementary School’s library and speaking with them individually about the system’s framework for implementing state policies and procedures on early literacy.
She also asked what, if any, resources educators needed to continue carrying out the state’s education objectives.
Monday was the first day of McQueen’s Chronicles’ tour this spring on early literacy. Clinton City Schools are one of the first schools to be selected, said Sara Gast, Director of Strategic Communications for the Tennessee Department of Education.
Gast said Clinton City Schools was selected because of the school system’s best practices in exhibiting how it has excelled in the Read to Be Ready Initiative.
“We’re currently looking at the schools that have excelled in their focus on reading — the ones that have been really thoughtful about Read to Be Ready,” Gast said.
Clinton City Schools Director Kelly Johnson was pleased with McQueen’s visit.
“McQueen is good to seek input from stakeholders, particularly students, and there’s strong evidence that indicates she uses that input to make decisions to better improve educational outcomes for students across the state,” Johnson said.
After visiting the classrooms, McQueen spoke with educators in the library, and asked if the school system needed any additional resources for Read to Be Ready. Educators replied that the state could provide teachers with more examples of what the state is aiming to accomplish so teachers could better prepare students.
Educators showed McQueen the school system’s framework for Read to Be Ready by grade-level. Impressed with the model framework presented to her, McQueen lauded the Clinton City School District for taking on the state’s education objectives and making them their own.
“You’ve taken the state’s vision and figured out how to own it. It’s really important that you’ve made it your own and it’s important for our kids,” McQueen stated.
Asked what some of the take-aways were from her visit with Clinton City Schools, McQueen said she was encouraged by what she saw in the classrooms.
“It’s exactly what we hoped would be happening,” she said.
Most impressive, she added, is how the school district has “created their own vision” of the state’s vision with a local group of talented educational leaders that have already bought into the state’s goals and laid the foundation for building better reading proficiency in the schools.
“What does good practice look like? Well, there has to be a foundation or framework in place for best practices and changes to occur. Clinton City Schools already has that framework in place,” McQueen stated.
Before leaving, McQueen told educators and administrators she was interested in returning to the school district and highlighting some of the best practices she observed today.
“We’d love to come back and possibly do a highlight of what you’re doing here,” McQueen said.
The Commissioner also visited Jefferson County Schools Monday before making her way to Nashville.