Putting in Extra Work Pays Off

EvelynAs an eighth grader at Lake Dallas Middle School, Evelyn is beginning to realize and understand the importance of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests.

Unfortunately, Evelyn has not been successful in previous tests, and with her Practice STAAR coming up in the beginning of March, she realized she had to focus more on school work.

Weeks before her practice STAAR, Evelyn began attending Math tutorials with her teacher. She attended tutorials during her lunch time and began asking for extra work so she could practice on problems she was having difficulty in. Because she was in off season athletics she also began coming to see me in the Communities In Schools office during her athletic period to get extra help on math.

Every time Evelyn came to work in the CIS office, she came prepared. She always had practice worksheets ready to go and was very eager to work on them and ask questions. Whenever Evelyn would start to feel defeated or frustrated by her work, I would encourage her to not give up.

As the day of the practice STAAR approached, I felt Evelyn was ready, but she was still worried. Thankfully, we did not have to wait long for the results! On the day the results were released, Evelyn came running to my office to tell us she passed her practice STAAR! The delight and excitement in her face was unforgettable.

Evelyn worked extremely hard and put in a lot of time and effort to be able to achieve her goal of passing her practice STAAR. This achievement has given her the confidence she needed to be successful for the real STAAR test. I know she will do great when that day comes!