A Word from Wayne

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It’s a great day to be a Dillo! Last Friday night proved that the Dillos can hang with the big dawgs. Llano had more points at the end of the game, but we scored a victory in many ways. Llano had more athletes to keep fresh players on the field. Most of our boys play offense and defense almost every down. Coach Aguirre and the team made us proud by rising above the level of expectation that many had for this game. They played up against a very challenging team and showed them that they were not intimidated to play at a higher level. We lost on the score board but not in the level of play. I think playing up makes our team better. It is often easy to blame a referee for a loss. Blame has never increased a score or made a team play better. There are usually opinions about the calls and accusations of bias for the other side, but sometimes human error happens.

Expectations, opinions, and disappointments are not just for athletics; it is real in the academic world, too. In the last 40 years of student testing, the game has changed quite a bit. There is a history and cycle to the change. Here is a list of names the current tests have undergone: In 1980 it was called TABS, 1986 it was TEAMS, 1996 TAAS, 2005 TAKS, and in 2012 STAAR made it on the scene. When the tests were first administered, student performance was low. As teachers and students learned the expectations and the curriculum, they began to score better until almost all students were passing. There are factions of politicians that do not want public schools to succeed, and it makes legislators look bad when our kids keep proving them wrong. The tests have been revised time and time again and have become harder and harder. What kids use to learn in 2nd and 3rd grade, now they are learning in kinder and first. Our students are resilient like our athletes and rise to the challenge again and again to beat the odds. The current expectations for our youngest learners are to be better critical thinkers and problem solvers. They must learn to read at a level of understanding far beyond what most of us had to do when we were in school. Over the years as an administrator, I have had parents and teachers come to me and say the curriculum is too hard, and the expectations are too high. Forty years of testing history shows us that our children can rise to the expectations. The alternative is to not participate if we think the other team is too good or the test is too hard. We will not do that on the football field or in the classroom.

Recently, social media has been the voice of consternations of inappropriate curriculum and learning expectations at SSISD. The Texas Education Agency has determined that our children struggle with reading and writing across subject areas, and our scores confirm it. The new English language arts curriculum has combined social studies, science, reading and writing in an attempt to raise the academic bar for our elementary students. As our students study different empires, they also study about the people, their culture, and the faith of those in other countries and time periods. It turns out that not everybody believes the same thing. The current San Saba church registry lists 25 churches in our community all with a slightly different perspectives of their faith. The current curriculum lists five faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. For the first time in my memory Jesus was given a three-week lesson in public school curriculum. Nothing was hidden, and no secret agendas exist to convert anybody to Christianity or Islam. Parents are encouraged to talk to their children about what they are learning. Your kids comprehend more than you think. Please do not fear what is being taught but look forward to the conversations you will have with your children. Go Dillos!