This little girl has STAAR spunk

FERRIS – She recently received a perfect score on two out of three portions of the STAAR test.

In fact, her mother Tracie Mitchell said her daughter, Courtnie Jae Mitchell, an age 10 fifth grader actually mastered all three sections; Writing, Reading and Math, but she scored a perfect score on the last two sections.

Courtnie attends Lee Longino Elementary School in Ferris, and it doesn’t go unnoticed even when looking at her photos that she not only a little scholar, but also kind, charismatic, considerate, creative and a natural leader.

Her first year to take the STAAR test, Mitchell hails from Houston. The family has lived in Ferris since 2016 because her father, Jonathan Mitchell, wanted his daughter to be in a school district that was not only good, but smaller in size than the Houston ISD.

As for Courtnie’s first year to take the STAAR test she said, “The test was easier than what I thought it was going to be because everyone makes a big deal about the STAAR test – and it wasn’t really hard at all.”

She added her only thought while taking the test was doing well and achieving Masters on all the sections. 

The most challenging part of the test came in the writing section, which she felt was the hardest because she said the questions were asking about punctuation and conjunctions.

Of course, there was an easiest part too; the math section.

Overall, she said the STAAR test was a collection of things she learned all year “so there really wasn’t anything on the test that she had not seen or learned in class.

Mitchell’s mother said she attributes her daughter’s successful STAAR test score to her reading ability/level.

“She reads well above her grade level and she is very competitive within herself to where she wants to be, if not the best, but one of the best in school,” Tracie said. 

The school helped students prepare for the STAAR test by offering two practice tests after Christmas break and a STAAR review paper every morning when school started. 

As for her future goals, the young scholar said she wants to “help stop pollution.”

Her aspirations include wanting to be a scientist, environmentalist or inventor, and she loves reading, baking, coding games/apps and creating a variety of objects/projects around the house. 

She has already received “A Honor Roll” status since she started school, she is a member of the “Flight Program” (Ferris ISD Gifted & Talented Program), a member of the Robotics Club – and voted “Future President” by her classmates. In second grade she came in as 2nd place winner for her Creative Writing, in third grade she received 4th place in spelling, and in fourth grade she received 1st place in spelling and 4th place in Number Sense.

“I’m not surprised Courtnie did well on her STAAR test because of her academic achievements since she started school in kindergarten,” Courtnie’s mother concluded. “However, I was surprised that she didn’t miss any questions on the Math and Reading sections of the test. That, to me, is pretty remarkable especially considering this was her first time being exposed to a state assessment.”