First Lady Haslam, Dr. McQueen tour West Side Elementary
Published 8:50 am Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Star Photo/Curtis Carden Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Candice McQueen (far left) and First Lady Crissy Haslam (far right) pose with their special tour guides during Tuesday's visit of West Side Elementary.
Star Photo/Curtis Carden Commissioner Candice McQueen and West Side Principal John Wright (left) talk prior to embarking on a tour.
First Lady Crissy Haslam and Commissioner Candice McQueen receive a tour of West Side.
Star Photo/Curtis Carden Commissioner Candice McQueen (far right) goes discusses testing procedures while Director of Schools Dr. Corey Gardenhour and Board of Education members listen.
Star Photo/Curtis Carden McQueen fields a question from a student in Tammy Markland's class.
Building a strong educational landscape all starts with focusing on the base.
That’s the message Northeast Tennessee received Tuesday as State Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Candice McQueen and First Lady Crissy Haslam toured three different elementary schools in the region, including West Side Elementary in Elizabethton.
State officials had the opportunity to discuss the importance of early literacy, which is fully focused in the state’s Read to be Ready initiative that was unveiled last year.
“We’ve had a great day in Northeast Tennessee,” Dr. McQueen said. “In particular, we are working toward more visits through our Classroom Chronicles Tour. We’re spending the latter part of our spring going into districts who are part of our “Read to be Ready” coaching network that started this past year, as well as visiting schools that are receiving or have received one of our summer reading grants.”
Stressing the importance of reading at a young age is of the utmost importance, according to Elizabethton City Schools’ Reading Instructional Coach Anna Hurley.
Hurley recently told the Elizabethton Star that Read to be Ready was a breath of fresh air and was important for the development of children, whether in school or fast-approaching school age.
“With the lack of growth in Tennessee’s reading scores of the last several years, the DOE (Department of Education) has recognized that something must be done,” she said. “Dr. McQueen’s vision for early foundations and literacy growth, specifically in Read to be Ready, is a refreshing acknowledgement that laying a strong foundation of literacy for all students will increase the likelihood of their success throughout their education and on into the rest of their lives.”
First Lady Haslam and Dr. McQueen received a special tour of the school by elementary students. While making pit stops at different classrooms, the duo were joined by school system officials, faculty members for other schools, and the city Board of Education.
The experience was second to none, according to the First Lady – wife of Gov. Bill Haslam – who joined Dr. McQueen on the tour.
“For me, it has been very interesting because I don’t get a chance to get into the classrooms as much as Dr. McQueen does,” Haslam said. “To see how they’re teaching reading, interactive reading with the children, how they are learning more about writing … this has been wonderful. We’ve seen some pretty great engagement between teachers and students. “
Dr. McQueen also had the opportunity to hear students opinions about state testing. In one instance, inside Tammy Markland’s classroom, the commissioner spoke with students about how they prepared for the test. While praising the effort of their teacher, they made their opinions known about the test.
“Actually today, at this school, we had the opportunity to ask students how they felt about TNReady,” Dr. McQueen said. “We got the reaction I would have expected. That some parts were more challenging than others but that they felt competent and confident in what their teacher did for them as they prepared for the test.”
Following the tour of West Side, Dr. McQueen held a special roundtable discussion with school officials across the system to discuss various topics.
But as the day drew to a close, both visitors shared sentiments to educators in the region.
“My message for educators is pretty simple, keep doing the work to move all of our students to become readers,” Dr. McQueen said. “It is the predictor of whether students move farther into completing high school, it’s a predictor of postsecondary readiness and it’s a predictor of whether students go into a success career field. Reading is important, it starts very young, even before students get into school. We need to be building those foundations. Our other message is that what we do in the schools do matter. The rigorous reading methods do build great readers, but it also builds great thinkers.”
The Governor’s wife followed up Dr. McQueen’s words with sheer praise.
“I think I would just say thank you to all the teachers,” Haslam said. “They work very hard and we put a lot of demands on them. It is a very difficult job. We’re very encouraged to see Tennessee moving up in the (educational) rankings. We just want to keep up that momentum, and again I want to thank them for everything they do.”
