Dr. Candice McQueen is a Board Member of the State K12 Education Chiefs at RIDGE-LANE LP.
Dr. McQueen served as the Commissioner of Education for the State of Tennessee, where she developed and led a strategic plan called Tennessee Succeeds, becoming the department's plan for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which outlined goals and strategies to increase college and career readiness for Tennessee's 1 million students. During her time as Commissioner, Tennessee experienced its highest graduation rate, highest ACT scores, and largest increases in career and technical education enrollment in the state's history while also transitioning academic standards and the statewide assessment to higher expectations.
She has long advocated for focusing on human capital as the primary lever for change. Georgetown University pointed to Tennessee's teacher evaluation and professional development model as leading to substantial, career-long improvement in teachers and resulting gains in student achievement. Education Next noted that the quality of Tennessee's academic standards moved from an "F" to an "A" over the several years, with Tennessee also being the only state to both raise expectations and improve student performance simultaneously.
Dr. McQueen is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), where she led initiatives across 20 states to improve teaching and learning through a focus on human capital, with its signature TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement. She set a vision and established a strategic plan for the organization, called NIET Now, which has received more than $50 million in new multiyear federal and state grants, releasing new reports and communications strategies that promote teacher leadership, and increasing the size of NIET's team by nearly 50%.
NIET's collective efforts have impacted more than 275,000 educators, 30,000 teacher leaders, and 2.75 million students. As NIET celebrates 20 years of supporting effective teaching, it continues to lead the conversation about the next innovations in education, focusing on how to best support not only classroom teachers, but school leaders, district officials, and faculty in preparation programs.
Dr. McQueen was Senior Vice President and Dean of the College of Education at Lipscomb University. She serves on the Board for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), is a member of Chiefs for Change, serves on the Results for America state advisory committee, and was named a distinguished faculty member in education at Lipscomb University. She holds a master's degree from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas.
