Schools...Gifted and Talented Programs (Salem, Keizer: transfer to, middle schools, education)

[Ametrine]

I'm wondering what the policy of Salem schools is for kids who are identified as GATE, or Gifted/Talented.

From what I've been able to find so far, Oregon has a gifted mandate, but no funding. How do parents of g/t kids find appropriate education in Salem area?

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Ametrine

I'm wondering what the policy of Salem schools is for kids who are identified as GATE, or Gifted/Talented.

From what I've been able to find so far, Oregon has a gifted mandate, but no funding. How do parents of g/t kids find appropriate education in Salem area?

They are called TAG here. What grade is your child?

[leastprime]

This is dated information:

Our son was Salem-Keizer Sch 1990-2002 (k-12). I think he was identified as TAG in 1st grade. He was set aside for most of 1st grade in a corner to do independent work, except for art and manual work. By second grade he was crying at Turkey Day, with teacher in hand- He apparently decided that school was not for him; Counselor took us aside and told us that they were already prepared for him to jump to third or fourth grade (skip 1 or 2 grades) our choice- We allowed 1 grade skip and started on the next Monday in a mixed 3/4 grade class. He repeated that same class as 4 grader, which was a mistake on our part. He did full IB and EC in speech, orchestra with private lessons, business leadership, science olympiads, but no sports. Graduated 1/400 in HS (South). NMF. He went to Carnegie-Mellon, double major in ME and HCI, graduated with very high honors.

We let him and system work with little interference. Our impression is the school system will jump him to a higher grade level. ECs will add considerable challenges.

IIRC, the HS's have gravitated to focusing on areas of expertise. North HS has the math and language arts; South HS the IB and AP. Sprague HS the music and arts. West HS the Sciences. Any will be adequate for a general HS program. You can pick your school.

[Ametrine]

He's third, in a charter that has allowed him to take fifth math and fourth reading and fifth spelling. (He's capable of fifth reading as shown by tests, but is not up to the writing.)

[Ametrine]

Thank you for such detail. Our DS is definitely math-oriented and interested in the sciences. West Salem for him?

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by leastprime

IIRC, the HS's have gravitated to focusing on areas of expertise. North HS has the math and language arts; South HS the IB and AP. Sprague HS the music and arts. West HS the Sciences. Any will be adequate for a general HS program. You can pick your school.

Not so much anymore. There are certain programs at different high schools and kids can do an in district transfer to that schools if they want to do the early education curriculum that is at Sprague, for example. South still has the IB program, but both Sprague and West have plenty of Honors/AP options. There is ample science at all of the schools.

Originally Posted by Ametrine

He's third, in a charter that has allowed him to take fifth math and fourth reading and fifth spelling. (He's capable of fifth reading as shown by tests, but is not up to the writing.)

There is accelerated math at the middle schools where they do three years of math in two years. That sounds like it would be a good option when he gets there. As for elementary, it really depends on the teacher. Some can handle challenging kids while others aren't so good at it. There is no funding for TAG and there really isn't anything they do differently in the schools. I wish I could tell you it was awesome for TAG kids, but it just depends on the teacher.