INDIANAPOLIS | State Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed announced Friday she will retire rather that seek an unprecedented fifth term.

"Working over the past 16 years to advance the aspirations and achievements of our students has been among the most rewarding experiences of my life," Reed said Friday. "However, I am ready to embrace new challenges and explore new opportunities."

Reed, a Republican, is Indiana's longest-serving and first female state schools chief. She said she is weighing various job offers from the business and higher education communities but joked that she hasn't decided "what I want to be when I grow up."

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' efforts to link teacher pay to student performance and to move ISTEP student achievement tests from the fall to the spring have led to clashes with Reed. Daniels released a statement Friday praising the longtime public servant.

"Suellen Reed has lived out a lifelong commitment to the future of Indiana's children," Daniels wrote. "She's a special person with a huge heart for kids and a genuine passion for ensuring that Indiana's children have every opportunity to become whoever they want to be. To meet her is to have one's day brightened by her enthusiasm for learning and her unfailing personal graciousness."

Republicans will nominate a fall candidate for state schools superintendent at their state party convention in June. Greater Clark County Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett looks to be the front-runner.