It was difficult to decide what to write about this week.. It is easy look at the calendar and see that we are in for a busy spring. It will be unbelievable! Academics at the forefront; it is important to cherish every minute. There will be plenty of other events: baseball, softball, golf, tennis, academic UIL, track and field, tennis, band events, power-lifting, book fairs, OFYP. There will be much anxiety from teachers that have students involved in multiple events. It is the nature of spring. Starting March 28

th, the school day will end at 4:15pm until April 20th to provide the instruction missed during bad weather days. The challenge during spring will be to keep the focus on academics, the whole reason for school. With all the extracurricular activities occurring it becomes easy to forget how many academic tests occur in the last few months of school. Even teachers usually just worry about tests in their content. This is a little perspective of what students are scheduled to complete (academically) before school ends at the end of May.

K-2 Graders: TPRI testing, *AIMSWEB, TELPAS

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rd Graders: Math TAKS(April 26), Reading TAKS (April 27th), *AIMSWEB

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th Graders: Math TAKS (April 26), Reading TAKS (April 27th), *AIMSWEB

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th Graders: Math TAKS (April 4th), Reading TAKS (April 5th), Science TAKS, (April 28th), 4+ CSCOPE Assessments (each core class), *AIMSWEB, Possible Semester Final.

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th Graders: Math TAKS (April 26th), Reading TAKS (April 27), 4+CSCOPE Assessments (each core class), *AIMSWEB, Possible Semester Final.

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th Graders: Math TAKS (April 26th), Reading TAKS (April 27), 4+CSCOPE Assessments (each core class), *AIMSWEB, Possible Semester Final

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th Graders: TAKS Science (April 28th), TAKS Social Studies (April 29th), 4+CSCOPE Assessments (each core class), EOC Algebra I exam for students in Algebra, *AIMSWEB, Possible Semester Final

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th Graders: Math TAKS (April 28th), EOC Algebra I, EOC World Geography, EOC English I, EOC Biology, 4+CSCOPE Assessments in each core and Semester Final.

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th Graders: Math TAKS (April 26th), Science TAKS (April 28th), Social Studies TAKS (April 29th), EOC Geometry, EOC English II, EOC World History, EOC Chemistry, 4+CSCOPE Assessments in each core, Semester Final.

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th Graders: Math TAKS (April 27), Science TAKS (April 28), Social Studies TAKS (April 29), EOC Physics, EOC Algebra II, EOC American History, EOC English III, 4+CSCOPE Assessment in each core, Semester Final

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th Graders: Make up tests, CSCOPE, College Entrance exams. Dual Credit—

As you can see, it will be a busy April and May. Please understand that the tests marked "EOC" are End of Course exams and all but English II, Algebra II, and Physics are optional this year. We are working on a plan to make the other ones optional because our district will get an opportunity to see results on the other tests to see where our students score. This is a great opportunity but still a little stressful. We hope to do this the end of May.

*AIMSWEB testing is math and reading diagnostic completed three times a year in grades 1

st-8th.