The Home-School Compact
for Teachers / Students / Parents
Read here.
Title I Parent Involvement Policy
Read here.
Parents' "Right to Know" Letter
Read here.
Culverdale Elementary is a PK-6th grade school with an enrollment of 550-580 students. Our campus is located in the city of Irvine in Orange County, California. Locally, we have several universities that partner with Irvine schools in regards to student teachers and university-sponsored programs for schools. The non-profit organization Irvine Public Schools Foundation (IPSF) has supported all schools in IUSD since 1996 and continues to provide after-school programs and grant funding at Culverdale. Student enrichment & family engagement are both enhanced by the Culverdale Parent Teacher Association (PTA). Family members can serve on many PTA Board positions, as event volunteers, doing off-campus remote tasks, and by helping with fundraising efforts. PTA members get to vote on initiatives and activities that are proposed during PTA monthly meetings. Our school receives Federal and State funding to ensure that each student receives a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
Culverdale's campus also hosts two special programs: English Language Development "Newcomers" for grades K-6, for students new to the English language; and Specialized Academic Instruction Mild-Moderate (SAI-2) for students in grades K-6 who receive full-day self-contained Special Education with mainstreaming as appropriate. Diversity and inclusion are celebrated on campus, and our students in these special programs have frequent opportunities to interact and learn with their peers in mainstream classes.
- The 2023 California Dashboard website reports that 43.8% of Culverdale's students qualified as Title 1 due to Free/Reduced Price meal plans.
- The 2023 California Dashboard website reports that 37.7% of our students were classified as English Learners - collectively speaking more than 30 different languages as their home language.
Title I: Learning Supports
Being a “School-wide Title 1" school since 2017, our Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) goals and strategies focus on supporting all students & families at Culverdale. All students can receive additional services and assistance. No student identification is made that renders them eligible or ineligible for services/assistance. Students who are identified as most at-risk are given additional assistance.
A significant portion of Title 1 and Supplemental funding is used to provide additional funding of instructional and counseling staff. This includes staffing of our Learning Lab program for grades 1-6, which provides Tier 2 reading interventions for students 5 days per week and math interventions for students 3 days per week. At each grade level, teachers have instructional assistants providing small group enrichment and targeted skill instruction. Universal screeners are used strategically throughout the school year to measure student progress and specific areas of need in math and ELA.
This funding also allows Culverdale to staff a resource counselor (ERC) five days each week for 8 hours per day. Our ERC and Title I coordinator assemble parent engagement opportunities throughout the school year, focused on Active Positive Parenting, How to Provide Academic Support at Home, Social-Emotional Learning, and other topics on request. Each event is provided free of charge for attendees, with childcare and snacks offered.
Title III: English Learner Supports
A large portion of funding is used for instructional assistant staffing to provide small-group, differentiated learning opportunities such as English acquisition for ELLs. Instructional materials are provided to accommodate ELLs' individual English vocabulary knowledge, in an effort to scaffold instruction appropriately. Additionally, funding is used to purchase online software and devices that focus on English acquisition through technology to monitor progress for English and math development. As needed, staff translation services are provided for families to ensure parents are partnering in their child's educational progress.
Each spring, all students who are identified as "Limited English Proficient" (LEP) participate in the English Language Proficiency Assessment of California (ELPAC). This test measures the students' English progress in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students who are new enrollees will take the I-ELPAC (initial ELPAC) upon completion of the enrollment process if the student's family speaks additional languages at home. More details can be found at this link.
Including All Partners in Education
The Culverdale staff, the School Site Council, the English Learner Advisory Committee, and the PTA are included in each school year's planning. Each winter, a survey is communicated to all IUSD parents for feedback. Students in grades 3-12 also have an opportunity to complete the survey at school. This collective feedback is used by school sites to best use our funding, resources, and to revise school goals.