Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA®) is an individual cognitive test designed for children, pre-K through second grade. The BSRA assesses six basic skills:
- Colors — Student must identify common colors by name.
- Letters — Students must identify upper-case and lower-case letters.
- Numbers | Counting — Student must identify single- and double-digit numerals, and must count objects.
- Sizes — Student must demonstrate knowledge of words used to depict size (e.g., tall, wide, etc.)
- Comparisons — Student must match or differentiate objects based on a specific characteristic.
- Shapes — Student must identify basic shapes by name.
As Pearson Education Inc - publisher of the Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) says, "Basic concept knowledge is an integral part of a child’s cognitive development and provides the necessary fundamental framework for both a child’s academic success and for his/her overall communication development."
The BSRA is designed to assess children’s knowledge of the concepts that parents and preschool and kindergarten teachers traditionally teach children to prepare them for formal education.Your child has probably learned the six basic skills assessed by the BSRA through reading picture books and daily interactions. Any of the products we sell, at the appropriate grade level, integrate this knowledge into thinking skills activities.
If you are concerned about the test itself rest ssured that the test is individually administered, and the concepts are presented orally within the context of complete sentences and visually in a multiple-choice format. Your child will need to have good listening skills but they will not be required to either read or write.
The series we recommend most highly to ensure that your child is well prepared for the Bracken School Readiness Assessment are:
- The LUK Learning System. Young children learn through play. This award winning innovative set of workbooks, with self correcting controller, enable your child to independently build skills. Add some discussion so they've got words to associate with the pictures and you're set.
- Mathematical Reasoning. Most of the knowledge tested for in the BSRA is in the field of mathematics. Differentiating between objects based on size, color and shape is the starting point for geometry. Recognition of numbers and counting is the starting point for arithmetic.
- Can You Find Me? This series poses a selection of logic riddles in different subject areas. The BSRA will be administered to your child orally - the questions will be posed by the tester and your child will indicate their response by selecting the correct picture. Read the riddles in Can You Find Me? to your child to practice attentive listening and correct identification of a picture response.
- Building Thinking Skills. This series teaches core verbal and non-verbal analytical skills. If your child is taking a cognitive test in conjunction with the BSRA this will serve a double purpose.
Have a look at the sample pages (click on "more info" at the end of the brief description of any product then on the "samples" tab) and see what your child would enjoy doing. With young children they'll learn much more if they enjoy the process. Variety is important too. Like any school readiness assessment the Bracken test is designed to determine whether or not your child has grade level skills so as a starting point look at the level corresponding to your child's grade.
Many of the products above integrate alphabet knowledge into the activities. We also sell a range of alphabet books. For young children alphabet puzzles, magnetic letters, the ABC song and more can be easier, more effective, ways to learn the alphabet than books. Remember that your child will not be expected to reproduce characters (i.e. write), simply to recognize.
The Bracken School Readiness Assessment is used in New York with preschool and early elementary age children as part of their screening for gifted program entry. If you think your child is gifted then look at above grade level material. If your child will be taking the BSRA in conjunction with another test be sure to view our suggestions for that test too. You can either type in test name in the search box in the upper right of the screen or browse our Directory of Tests.
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NCS Pearson publishes the BSRA and the information above is sourced from their technical reports about the The Bracken School Readiness Assessment. Both Bracken School Readiness Assessment® and BSRA® are registered trademarks of NCS Pearson (previously Harcourt Assessment Services). The recommendations made here are those of Think Tonight and are not endorsed by NCS Pearson.
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