Screening & Assessments

SCREENING

St. Peter Preschool Staff are trained to administer the Brigance Screening Tool.

Brigance is a screening tool widely used by schools for students in Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and First Grade. The BRIGANCE® Early Childhood Screen III (3–5 years) is a collection of quick, highly accurate assessments and data-gathering tools to use with children three through five years of age. All assessments in the Screen III have been nationally standardized, producing scores that are highly reliable, valid, and accurate. Assessment items in the age-specific screens are norm-referenced as well as criterion referenced and cover a broad sampling of a child’s skills and behaviors.

Key developmental areas include:

Physical Development
Language Development
Academic Skills/Cognitive Development (Literacy and Mathematics)

Screening results are used to:

Identify as early as possible children who may have developmental delays or disabilities as well as children who may have advanced development or giftedness so that any necessary referrals for further testing or special services can take place as soon as possible.
Determine school readiness by assessing a child’s mastery of those age-appropriate skills that prepare the child for the classroom and promote the child’s future success.
Guide instructional planning and monitor progress over time.

ASSESSMENTS

Assessment is the ongoing process we use to find out what every child knows and can do. It helps us discover each child’s strengths, skills, interests, and needs so we know how to help every child experience success. Our assessment system also enables us to share information with families so, together, we can ensure that your child is progressing.

The assessment system we use does not involve testing children. We learn about children by carefully observing what they do and say as they participate in everyday activities in the classroom. We know that each child is an individual, with different interests, skills, strengths, and needs. The more we learn about each child, the better we can plan experiences that are just right: sufficiently challenging and engaging.

The Early Learning Assessment (ELA) is a part of Ohio’s Ready for Kindergarten Assessment System, a joint project of Ohio’s Department of Education and Department of Job and Family Services.

The assessment is designed to aid teachers in determining where children are in their readiness for kindergarten. The Early Learning Assessment will provide information for teachers about children from early preschool to kindergarten. Our program uses the Early Learning Assessment to improve and support the growth and development of children.

Our program uses 38 Objectives for Development & Learning adapted from Teaching Strategies and is directly aligned with Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS). Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards (birth to kindergarten entry) are the basis for the Early Learning Assessment. The assessment focuses on seven areas of a child’s growth and development:

Social Foundations (including social and emotional development, and approaches toward learning)
Mathematics
Science
Social Studies
Language and Literacy
Physical Well-being and Motor Development
Fine Arts

Ohio’s Early Learning Assessment (ELA) is directly aligned to Ohio’s Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS) through 38 Objectives for Development & Learning adapted from Teaching Strategies and is required to be used for assessment and progress-monitoring twice annually for Preschool Special Education (PSE) and Early Childhood Education (ECE) grant funded children. The Ohio ELA is a comprehensive assessment and may be used in its entirety in any preschool program to meet the Step-up-to-Quality (SUTQ) assessment requirements.