Monday was Open House for each of the three District’s campuses. Wow, what a great crowd of parents and grand parents that we had to attend! THANKS to all who carved out the time in their busy schedules to take time to visit with teachers and other parents. As I walked the halls of each campus and looked in classrooms and down hallways, I was proud to see the display of student work. Those visiting the campuses had the opportunity to pick up items that students had made in class, all of which supports their learning process.

The curriculum that is used by SSISD is designed to be weighted heavily on student products. Students must be able to demonstrate that they can produce and apply what they are learning. CSCOPE, the District’s curriculum is rigorous, not only for students but for teachers as well. Teacher preparation is key when using the CSCOPE curriculum. It is the District’s belief that the aligned scope and sequence provided by CSCOPE will help us prepare our students for the rigorous assessments that are ahead of them. The testing program has changed dramatically and to meet the changes the District is using CSCOPE as it’s core strategy. Beginning this school year, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR™) will replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The STAAR includes the 12 end-of-course (EOC) assessments and the new grade 3–8 assessment.

At grades 3–8, students will be tested in mathematics and reading. Students will also be tested in writing at grades 4 and 7, science at grades 5 and 8, and social studies at grade 8. STAAR EOC assessments will be available for Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English I, English II, English III, World Geography, World History, and U.S. History.

Students first enrolled in grade 9 or below in the 2011–2012 school year will be required to take the STAAR EOC assessments for courses in which they are enrolled as part of their graduation requirements and will no longer take TAKS. Students enrolled in grade 10 or above in the 2011–2012 school year or who are repeating grade 9 in the 2011–2012 school year will graduate under TAKS requirements and do not have the option of taking STAAR assessments. The new STAAR assessments are designed to be more difficult than TAKS.

The difficulty level will be increased by having more questions per test, measuring a higher level of thinking in relation to content skills, having more items where students will have to write in responses rather than selecting a response from those provided, focusing more deeply on content taught during the current year rather than, testing knowledge and skills learned over multiple years, and measuring readiness for college and career success.

Parents, please keep in contact with your child’s teacher regarding their academic progress. Please sign up for the Parent Portal so that you can monitor grades and attendances. Working together with your child’s teacher will help make sure your child is making the progress that is needed.

Parents, let us know how we can help you the first day of school all the way until the last day of school!! If you have any question about this article or any other question about school happenings please contact me at 325/372-3144 or email me at lglaze@san-saba.net.