LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB)--JCPS has a new tool to help spot potential learning problems before it's too late. "How old are you, Macey? I'm five."
The question sounds like a formality, but Lowe elementary kindergartner Macey is undergoing an important screening.
"She was a little tentative at first but she really came a long but she was laughing at the end," says Tymna Oberhausen, Lowe Elementary kindergarten teacher.
It's part of the Brigance screening, a statewide kindergarten readiness initiative.
Oberhausen says, "It lets us know right away where that child is and what we can do for them."
The screening involves a collection of quick assessments and data-gathering tools used with children entering kindergarten.
Some of the questions are as simple as ABC or 123, but provide crucial information for teachers...such as whether students are ahead or behind the curve.
Oberhausen says, "And so we provide enrichments for those children who have those strengths and then we provide interventions for children who have those areas that need growth."
Susan Thurman is a resource teacher with JCPS. She says, "It was designed to help us get information, not only about students so that teachers can make adjustments in their classroom instructions but also to help us look at early childhood programs to see how they're supporting kindergarten."
And unlike most tests, the Brigance screening looks and sounds a little unconventional.
"It screens for a variety of different things including cognitive skills, health and physical well being, social and emotional aspects," Thurman says.
The screening only takes about 10 to 15 minutes. But in that time teachers have a good idea of students' strengths and weaknesses. And Macey is testing ahead of the curve.
"She did very very well; I would say she scored very high," says Oberhausen.
Right now, about 107 districts in the state are participating in the screenings, however, next year everyone in Kentucky use the screenings.
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