TREND Spring 2015 | Page 13

of Education Candice McQueen A Q The General Assembly voted to support our administration’s efforts to ensure that Tennessee students graduate from high school ready for post-­ econdary education or the workforce. The vote compliments s the academic standards review and development process established by Gov. Haslam and the State Board of Education last October, and it will maintain the participation of Tennessee educators and parents in the process. At the conclusion of the review process, Tennessee’s new academic standards, which will include public input and are established by Tennessee educators, will replace the existing set of standards in English language arts and math. These standards will be fully implemented during the 2017-­ 8 school year. As I travel around 1 the state listening to teachers, I continue to hear teachers’ confidence in Tennessee’s higher standards and the positive impact they are having on students. In your opinion, what are the top 3 challenges facing education in Tennessee? A 1. As a state, we don’t have enough students going on to postsecondary. 2. We have too many students that need remedial coursework in postsecondary which contributes to too few of them staying past their first year of college. 3. We have too many students who don’t have the literacy skills to be successful. Less than