Preparing students for college and the workforce is core to Gov. Bill Haslam’s education agenda, and Tennessee is now turning to one of its go-to district leaders to oversee part of that work.
Kingsport City Schools Superintendent Lyle Ailshie will be the state’s new deputy education commissioner over college, career and technical education, Commissioner Candice McQueen announced Wednesday.
He’ll also oversee the State Department of Education’s work over teacher preparation, licensure and effectiveness at a time when Tennessee is stepping up efforts to improve and align teacher training programs with the state’s needs.
A 35-year educator, Ailshie has led districts in Kingsport and Greeneville for 17 years. He is a past president of the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents and was named Tennessee’s Superintendent of the Year in 2005.
Ailshie (pronounced Al-SHYE’) most recently served as chairman of a key state committee helping to revise Common Core standards for math and English language arts to make them more Tennessee-centric. Those standards will reach classrooms this fall.
He also served on the working group of education stakeholders who helped state education leaders develop Tennessee’s school accountability plan under the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Ailshie is a frequent participant on state panels hosted by the department and by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, a Nashville-based research and advocacy group founded by former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist.
Beginning in mid-August, he will oversee the state division that includes school counselors, career and technical education, student readiness, work-based learning, student leadership programs and Pathways Tennessee, an industry partnership to link education to labor market needs and trends. In addition, he’ll run the division that oversees teachers and leaders.
The appointment is part of a reorganization that moves both divisions from the oversight of Chief Academic Officer Vicki Kirk, who will serve with Ailshie on the commissioner’s leadership team. The changes follow the departure earlier this year of Danielle Mezera, who served as assistant commissioner of college, career and technical education. She’ll be replaced by Casey Haugner Wrenn, who has been with the division since 2012.
College and career readiness has been an education focus under Haslam’s administration and McQueen’s strategic plan.
In 2013, the governor announced his Drive to 55 initiative to get 55 percent of Tennesseans equipped with a college degree or certificate by 2025. Two years later, McQueen unveiled a five-year strategic plan for K-12 education with goals that include getting the majority of high school graduates from the Class of 2020 to earn a postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree. Currently, about a fourth of the state’s graduates complete postsecondary programs, while almost 60 percent enroll in them.
Other components of the strategic plan include revamping teacher preparation and focusing the role of high school counselors, both of which will come under Ailshie’s purview in his new job.