For the seventh time in the past eight school years, Blooming Grove Elementary has earned the "Recognized" rating from the Texas Education Agency. The only year that we missed was 2003, and TEA did not award any ratings that year due to changes in the TAKS tests! What a record for our campus and our district! We have a great staff that works diligently in preparing our students for these rigorous tests, a great student body that works hard in preparing for and taking the tests, and a great group of parents that encourage their children to always work hard and do their best! I am so proud to be a part of this great organization and community. In addition to our achievements at the elementary, our entire district received the "Recognized" rating this year for the first time. While all of these accomplishments are really something to boast about and be proud of, what they really say is that we have a great learning environment that is effective in helping our children experience academic success and excellence.

Our district is constantly striving to improve academically and stay up with current research and trends in education. This includes keeping up with the most current instructional strategies and research, keeping up with curriculum changes and technology improvements. This year alone, we have replaced all the computers in our primary grade computer lab and by Christmas will have installed "write-board" units and projectors in every homeroom classroom! This technology will allow teachers to use "interactive" software in their daily lessons and have a way to "save" everything put on the board during instruction for those students that happen to be absent. This new technology is on the "cutting edge" of current computer applications for the classroom. I would estimate that there are only a few schools of our size and "wealth", or I should say "lack of wealth", that have this type technology in the classroom. We are fortunate to have an administration and school board that see to it that teachers have this type of resource to use for their daily lessons.

We have moved to a "nine-week" grading period this year. Parents will only receive four "formal" report cards this year to be sent home at the end of each of the four nine-week grading periods. Parents will receive a "progress report" at three-week intervals during each nine-week grading period. The days that progress reports and report cards will be sent home are listed in the student handbook.

There will be many changes taking place with regards to required "testing" and curriculum at the state level. During the last legislative session there were several bills past that requires sweeping changes in our current testing system. The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, TAKS, will be "phased" out by 2011 and replaced with another system. What the new system for 2011-2012 will be is anybody’s guess. We do know that at the High School level there will be no TAKS tests as they will be replaced by numerous End-Of-Course Exams. We have heard that at the Elementary and Junior High level, that changes will be minimal at best. I have been around since state testing began in the middle 80’s and have seen us move from TABS to TEAMS and from TEAMS to TAAS and from TAAS to TAKS, so another move to another test is nothing new. Hopefully, we will get more information regarding the new tests way before the students are required to take them.

As always, you are welcome to come visit the school at any time, especially to see our new technology. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

David Brewer,

Elementary Principal