For his parents and his brothers and his sisters – oh, and also his nieces and nephews and friends and teachers – Cesar is going to try.

He is going to try his best on his STAR tests.

"How cool is that?" said his interim principal, John Eick, as he looked at one of about 1,500 3-by-5 cards he had collected from Natomas High School students, vowing that they will try hard to succeed on the state standards test. "Cesar's got all these reasons to try."

That gives Eick hope that next week, when his students start two weeks of testing, they'll buck a widespread feeling of apathy among high school students when it comes to standardized testing.

These tests don't mean a whole lot for individual students. But they mean a whole lot for their schools.

So Eick fixed up a bit of a scheme to get his students hyped for the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program. He grabbed a video camera and a bunch of students and made one heck of a cheesy video with lots of hand gesturing and silly voices and corny comedy – and a poignant message.

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source: sacbee.com