By Bobbie Washburn Ruhnow Correspondent
CULVER — The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report has been released, Brad Schuldt, Culver Community School superintendent, announced to the board of trustees at their regularly scheduled meeting on April 9. “Overall, the corporation made the AYP required of a Title 1 school. Schuldt announced. However, the Culver Elementary School’s ISTEP testing did not make the percentage required in math and English to meet the standards.
According to the press release from the Indiana Board of Education, to make AYP, all student groups within a school must pass the tests or show significant improvement. If any one area fails or does not improve, the entire school is labeled as failing to meet AYP.
Schools that did not make AYP most frequently fell short in special education, minority and low-income student categories.
Suellen Reed, superintendent of public education, noted that research has shown that full-day kindergarten results in better academic achievement.

Culver Community Schools is a forerunner in instituting the full-day kindergarten concept with the 2007-08 school year.
This is a first step in beginning the process of Culver Elementary’s program to reach AYP, Chuck Kitchell, principal, told the board.
This is the second year in a row that Culver Elementary did not make AYP, Schuldt announced, which has resulted in Culver Elementary being designated for School Improvement Status.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, consequences for not making AYP extend only to Title 1 schools. These are schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families that receive additional federal funding.
The designation means that a series of interventions must be done that become more extensive for each year the school fails to achieve AYP. They include school choice, supplemental services, corrective action, restructuring planning and restructuring implementation.
Kitchell told board members that plans are ready to be implemented to address each of the requirements.
A letter will be sent to each elementary school patron advising them of their right to send their child to another school that includes a charter school, but must be in the school district.
Schuldt noted that the directive did not take into consideration that Monterey Elementary, which qualified for AYP, would not have room for a large influx of students from Culver Elementary.
The school will implement an improvement plan and use 10 percent of its Title 1 funds toward professional development.
Culver received approximately $130,000 in federal funding. Technical assistance must also be provided, Kitchell noted.
He also reported that Culver Elementary had a high percentage of special education students and low-income students that added to the difficulty of making AYP under the No Child Left Behind legislation.
Culver Middle School and Culver High School also fell short in the English and math testing scores, but Monterey Elementary had a 70 percent rating, Schuldt said.