by Riley S.

Here at Alamo Heights, starting in 3rd grade, students take the STAAR test. At the Junior School, all grades take the reading and math STAAR tests, but 8th graders also have to take science and social studies.

It’s not just the students who do the preparing—teachers and staff do a lot of preparation as well. “We have a lot of meetings throughout the year where we discuss best practices,” said Mrs. Alexander, our academic dean here at the Junior School. Some of the practices they use come from the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills), which guide most of their work.

However, they do more than just have meetings to discuss practices. Mrs. Alexander explained, “Because it ends up being a measure of how our kids have progressed over the year, and we’re measured as a school based on that, as well as a district.” They analyze the previous year’s scores to identify areas they need to focus on for the current year.

On the other hand, students do a lot of reviewing. “We’re doing STAAR-related activities from the first day of school,” said Mr. Sheppard, an 8th-grade English teacher. In his classes, students complete STAAR passages, answer questions, and much more to avoid stressing about it at the last minute.

Moving on from English, now it’s U.S. History’s turn. “We offer a Saturday review session, which will be on April 12th,” says Ms. Mendoza, an 8th-grade U.S. History teacher. History doesn’t just have a review day; they also do a week-long review packet rotation with some of the history teachers. The packet covers everything they’ve learned since day one.

Math starts the review two weeks in advance. “Some of the advanced classes will do STAAR Bingo,” said Ms. Melle, an 8th-grade Algebra teacher and a 7th-grade Pre-Algebra teacher. In math, they try to make reviewing fun by using games to keep the students entertained while they review.

When science starts to review, it’s about a week and a half before the test. The STEM and regular science teachers incorporate fun school games like Blooket and Kahoot, which help students refresh their memory on the material they’ve learned.

In conclusion, this shows that not only do the students do the reviewing, but the teachers and staff also review the previous year’s progress. It also demonstrates that refreshing your memory for the STAAR test is important.