GATE still alive and well in OC public schools? (San Diego: home, school districts)

[baloney]

I was reading the earlier post on charter schools and it made me wonder about funding for GATE programs... Does anyone know if OC school districts (Irvine Unified in particular) offer GATE - I think they also go by "Rapid Learner" program in other parts of the state. Down here in San Diego, most of those great "extras" have been cut out...

[Charles]

"All schools in Capistrano Unified offer the Gifted and Talented Education Program (GATE) for eligible gifted students in Grades 4-8"

from

Capistrano Unified School District: Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Program

"Students have the opportunity each year to be recommended to participate in the Gifted and Talented Education Program (GATE)."

from

SVUSD: TEACHER PORTAL - HOMEPAGE G.A.T.E.

"GATE Information, To become GATE identified, a student must meet one of the following three requirements..."

from

IUSD.org - gifted and Talented Education

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Charles

"All schools in Capistrano Unified offer the Gifted and Talented Education Program (GATE) for eligible gifted students in Grades 4-8"

I hope it's improved since I was in school. It was a joke back in the 60s and 70s.

[kwong7]

I had a blast in Newport-Mesa's GATE program. However, I've seen a number of studies showing that GATE programs do not promote gifted and talented adults. The correlation was pretty weak, but I guess the program continues.

[mrwumpus]

Forget what the websites say. You have to reach out to the principals and be diligent. We even found the GATE office a bit on the defensive. The districts are hurting from the budget crisis and the loss of staff and programs. There's a lot of outdated or misleading information on the websites.

Currently in SVUSD, the best you can hope for a GATE-identified student in the lower grades is to get a good teacher with lots of GATE experience. They have to place GATE-identified children with GATE-experienced teachers. Basically your child is in a normal class (now numbering like 30 kids) but there is a GATE cluster consisting of your child and maybe one or two other GATE children. At some point the teacher figures out what level your child is at and tries to make things deeper and more challenging for them.

Even though the district does have a regional school that specializes in GATE programs, it turns out that for the lower grades the only difference is that the GATE cluster numbers five or six. This is the fact despite contrary statements on that school's website. But when we visited our regional school we found the teacher there was not as experienced as the one at our home school. Apparently in the upper grades the GATE cluster sizes can grow to half the classroom and it might make sense to elect to send your child to the regional school in the upper grades.

We got a great teacher this year, one with 20-years of experience and a lot of GATE experience, but even she had gotten her pink slip.

[CAVA1990]

Your districts would do well to look at the GT program in Fairfax County, VA which goes from grades 3 to 8. It's excellent.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Your districts would do well to look at the GT program in Fairfax County, VA which goes from grades 3 to 8. It's excellent.

Do you think our local districts' employees have time to analyze other school districts' GATE programs?

Besides, GreatSchools rates the Capistrano School Distract a 9 out of 10, Saddleback a 9 out of 10, and Irvine a 10 out of 10.


GreatSchools rates the Fairfax County schools only 7 out of 10.

FCPS - Fairfax County Public Schools Overview | GreatSchools

[mrwumpus]

Not sure that Great Schools is comparing apples to apples. Both districts appear to feature different test standards. I have, however, heard recently from an Orange County, California teacher who came from Virginia that VA schools were far better overall especially for gifted children.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by mrwumpus

Not sure that Great Schools is comparing apples to apples. Both districts appear to feature different test standards. I have, however, heard recently from an Orange County, California teacher who came from Virginia that VA schools were far better overall especially for gifted children.

Actually comparing school districts is kind of ridiculous because of differences in demographics. I guess my question would be since CUSD schools are so good is a gifted program all that necessary?

[ZhugeLiang]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I hope it's improved since I was in school. It was a joke back in the 60s and 70s.

Apparently it was a joke back in the 80s too. I remember that I was going to be placed in the program until my parents saw what it was all about, how it was going to be run, and decided to pull me out of it.