As spring comes closer, the hopes of warm, sunny days and blooming, beautiful flowers are occupying most people’s minds. For the sophomores and juniors of Hays High, however, the only thought on their minds are the impending state assessments soon to come after spring break.

“The state assessments are designed to help schools evaluate their curriculum,” English teacher Kathy Wagoner said. “We see if there is an area that’s weak and make sure that certain standards in the subjects are met.”

The testing should take about two class periods for each of the following subjects: math, reading, social studies, and science. For this year, the sophomores will be taking the math and reading assessments while the juniors will be taking all four.

“I like doing state assessments because you don’t have any homework in those classes,” sophomore Raeleann Weigel said. “All you have to do is sit down and take the test instead of having to do all the stuff that you normally do in class.”

While the results of the assessments mainly depend on the students, a large portion of it has to do with the teachers.

“We, math teachers, are excited for the state assessments because in the past year, algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2 have used the common core curriculum,” Math teacher Lisa Colwell said. “The data from this test will give us results telling us whether we need to adjust what we are teaching in class.”

The results of the assessments won’t be coming in until August.

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” Colwell said. “ACT scores have mysteriously gone up. So maybe the common core curriculum is a good thing and the assessment results will show that.”