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Eisenhower Elementary School kindergarten teachers told the Warsaw School Board about the screening kindergarten students go through Monday.
Aimee Lunsford, chief academic officer, said Eisenhower kindergarten teachers Yasmine Juarez, Jillian Boyer and Anne Schramm were at the meeting to talk to the board about the process Warsaw Community Schools goes through to make sure they’re collecting data and how the school corporation uses that data to make sure they put the students in the best possible scenario for success.
Juarez said there is a screening process and the assessment WCS does is short and age appropriate. Through the screening process, the student is observed and teachers try to discover their strengths and needs.
Boyer said Eisenhower administrative assistant Jenny Ransbottom coordinates each preassessment by contacting the preregistered incoming kindergarten families and each student is scheduled for a 20-minute time slot. They offer two days of testing. They hope to test the majority of students during those time slots so they know where students are.
During assessments, parents are asked to stay in the office, where the parents work with Ransbottom to fill out any additional registration information. During this time, teachers ask students to go with them to their classrooms.
The first thing tested is how students react when leaving their parents. During the assessment, teachers try to connect with the student. The students are first asked to write their name and draw a picture, then count as high as they can and identify upper case and lower case letters, among other things.
Students do get to leave the assesment with a couple books and a treat, Boyer said.
Schramm said the assessment is the first academic communication the school has with their parents to tell them what the teacher saw. Data is also collected if parents want twins kept together or separated.
Principal Jenna Moree then separates the students into classes as equitably as possible based on language, academic and behavior results and social and emotional needs, Schramm said. The information allows teachers to organize their first targeted skills groups where they can divide students up and get them identifying on lower and upper case letters and numbers.
Schramm said the teachers will then go back to the parents, hopefully with the growth that is seen from the first assessment.
In other business, the board:
• Approved giving permission to advertise for the school corporation’s 2027 budget.
• Approved a $500 Envirothon sponsorship from the Kiwanis Club of Warsaw for the Environmental Club; a $2,500 donation from The Dr. Dane & Mary Louise Miller Foundation Inc. to Jefferson Elementary School to support the In-School Store; and a $2,318 donation from Dr. James Thompson, of Summit Orthodontics, to Eisenhower for cross country and track shirts.
• Heard WCS started off the academic year fully staffed.
