New Tennessee K-12 Chief Chosen.

In the State EdWatch blog for Education Week (12/18), Andrew Ujifusa writes that Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has selected Lipscomb University dean and senior vice president Candice McQueen as the state’s next K-12 commissioner. During her six year tenure at Lipscomb she oversaw a tripling of its teacher-preparation program enrollment, which has been recognized by the National Council for Teacher Quality and the Tennessee in-state teacher-training program report card. She has emphasized teaching Common Core State Standards in the program. Governor Haslam said about her that “Lipscomb’s College of Education produces some of our state’s best teachers, and Candice gets a lot of credit for that. She has taught in a classroom, so she brings both the experience of being a teacher and of preparing teachers to teach.”

The AP (12/17, Johnson II) reports that Governor Haslam considered it important to choose a replacement for outgoing Kevin Huffman who was from Tennessee and already understood the education situation in the state.

The Nashville (TN) Post (12/17, Zelinski) reports that McQueen intends to visit superintendents, school leaders, and legislators to better understand their education needs and priorities. She said “My first priority is to listen. Second, we really do need to have conversations about how we’re going to ensure that our standards review process is the top of the line and we get feedback from Tennesseans that actually help us make the revisions that need to be made.” She begins working in the position January 20.