The Culver Community Schools Corporation is looking to boost its school letter grades, following the latest round of ISTEP scores.
Last week, the school board received a report from Middle/High School Principal Brett Berndt and Elementary School Principal Erin Proskey, according to Interim Superintendent Chuck Kitchell. “Our ISTEP scores and our grades – we’d like them to be higher,” Kitchell says. “Our high school ended up with a B on the A-through-F grades, which we think is a pretty good grade, but the middle school ended up being a D and the elementary ended up being a C.” The corporation as a whole got a C.
Kitchell says dealing with a new ISTEP test, with new standards and a new publisher, has been a challenge for teachers and students. “We’re just not sure that it gives a fair picture of what we’re doing,” he says. “I mean, we have excellent teachers and our students work very, very hard. So to see some of the scores that come out, that we have to share with the public, it just doesn’t seem right that that happens that way. But it is what it is.”
He notes that there were also some highlights in Culver’s scores, and he’s confident that given time, teachers will be able to bring students’ scores back in line with expectations.
