GATE programs
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive November 2004:
GATE programs
Our elementary school has money designated for a GATE program. For the time we have been at the school, however, it has not had a true GATE program. I have now volunteered to be on the Site Council, which oversees this program.
My question to you is what does the GATE program at your school consist of? Have any of you been involved in the process of setting up a GATE program? The way ours is worded is that it will not be a pull-out type program. The philosophy behind that is that all kids are gifted in different ways and therefore all should benefit from such a program. Do any of your schools have a program that operates in this way?
TIA!
No. Our gifted program is called REACH and it's a 1 day a week pull out program that involves A LOT of homework.
Oh, I meant to add, I agree with your school's theory that the gifted program should be inclusive. I think it's absurd for the gifted kids to get to go to a play or a museum, but not the regular ed kids because they are not identified as gifted. I think *all* kids would benefit from a trip to the museum or wherever. I think *all* kids would benefit from hands on science experiments and 3D art projects and do powerpoint presentations and all that other stuff my district thinks only gifted kids should be able to do. The only thing I don't agree with is all the HW. No child needs more HW at the elementary level. Studies show HW at this level is pointless.
Well, I don't even know what a GATE program is, so obviously our school doesn't have it! LOL! If it's a gifted program, our school (K-3) doesn't have one at all. I was told our district gifted program doesn't begin until the Intermediate school (4-6).
Gate stands for Gifted and Talented Education. I have been in schools that do both. Ultimately gifted services should be offered to all kids, but truely gifted children need so much more than what is provided for them in a regular classroom. The way our school does it here is they do a class to class program, little mini lessons. But gifted kids are pulled out an hour a couple of times a week. One semeseter they go to the local college for classes, for example one class is robot building, so it is no homework, jsut lots of higher level thinking skills.
I taught gifted in our district last year. Gifted kids (and I mean gifted, not moderately gifted) need a pull-out program IMHO. They need a chance to be with their intellectual peers. Gifted actually falls under special education. They need a program because they can not be taught in a regular classroom appropriately (I'm talking about kids who are at least 2 years beyond their peers cognitively). Differentiation should be going on in the classroom, but the children need a chance to explore concepts deeply and do critical thinking. The statement that all children are gifted is absurd. Why is it that we are so afraid to give gifted kids what they need (a special program), but we would give a struggling student a program in a heartbeat, or we'd give an athlete a chance to soar on the soccer field (and give him a trophy as well!) I'll get off my pedestal now....
BTW- My seven year old most likely will be labeled gifted this year. Raising him is no picnic. He is functioning at about a 12 year old level cognitively and a 5 year old level socially/emotionally. Gifted kids have social/emotional needs as well (there is lots of literature on this!)
My kids are at a private school so we don't have any special ed services. However, I was in gifted ed as a child so I can give you my experiences---good, bad, and otherwise. I was in a poor gifted ed experience in Alabama in middle school. Pulled out and bussed to another MS one day a week and we basically did those old SRA-type reading kits (does anyone remember those?) where you read a story and answered comprehension questions. Same with math and science activities. It was soooo boring!! No hands-on and no interaction. I had come from "Program Challenge" in 5th and 6th grade in Georgia and it was awesome. Again, we were bussed to another school one day a week. We had 2 teachers and about 10-12 students. We never knew what to expect when we walked into the classroom so it was always very exciting. One day we walked in to "blood" spots on the floor and we had to solve a murder mystery and went all over school collecting clues, interviewing teachers, etc. as a means to learn about investigation techniques, forensic science, predicting events, drawing reasonable conclusions, etc. One time we spent the whole day having a mock stock market where we planned a portfolio, bought stocks (some "gut" picks and some with careful research), and had hourly stock updates and had to make decisions about buying and selling. We learned about the stock market, probability and chance, money mgmt., etc. Those are two that stick out in my mind, but every week was like that. We also went on a big weekend long fieldtrip to a marshland and learned a lot about aquatic critters including taking samples and studying them with a microscope at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. It was an incredible experience and I have very fond memories of it.
Fast forward to highschool...gifted ed had never been in highschool until I was in 11th grade. We got to be in a mentorship program where we had to write a professional proposal about a profession we were interested in (5 students--1 teacher, 1 day a week at same school). We were then interviewed by professionals and critiqued on our interviewing skills, then we had to call around and present our proposals and get someone in the community to agree to mentor us. I actually had 2 mentors, each for about a month. The first was a pediatrician and I spent time in the lab, with him during well and sick baby appts, debriding a burn wound (during which the mom fainted) and I got a call in the wee hours of the morning to be present at a high-risk C-section. Got to scrub in and be in the OR and the nursery. Next I was with the ped.'s wife who was also a ped., but the county health officer. I spent time in the Health Dept learning more than I ever wanted to know about STDs, immunizations, all of the free clinics, and I got to go on restuarant inspections as well. It was an awesome experience! I learned a lot and made a great babysitting contact, since I started babysitting regular for the docs and getting to know them through my mentoring experience. 
I'm inclined to agree with Laura though. I think pull-out works best in this situation because the kids can explore other things waaay in depth that a regular ed setting wouldn't allow.
Thank you all for your thoughts so far. Let me try to respond individually to some of the comments.
Laura, I do agree with you that the philosophy of all kids being gifted in various areas is a good one. I completely agree this is true. The challenge, I think, is how to develop a program that works with all those talents appropriately. So far the only gauge we are using to identify gifted and talented students is how they perform on the state test. Scoring "advanced" earns them the label. From what I have read, it looks like we have approximately 20 students fitting that criteria (146 students in the school, with only the 2-6 graders taking the test). So the program is supposed to be based on the needs of those 20 kids. But all are to benefit from the program. See where this gets tough? We have some students who are highly gifted in art or music who would not (necessarily) be included in this number because the test was on reading, math, etc. So a gifted program based on the areas the test focused on would not necessarily be appropriate for someone who struggles in that area, but is highly gifted, say, in soccer. So if the program has to be taught more moderately because only 20 of 146 kids are capable of being taught at the higher level, how does that benefit the very kids the program is supposed to target??
LOL, my brain is starting to hurt now.
Trina, according to the application, the GATE program at our school is to benefit both primary and upper elementary students. (Of course, as I stated above, the majority of the primary students do not take the state test and therefore, according to our current system, are not labeled as gifted and talented.)
Laura and Pam, I do agree that a pull-out program would work best. However, as I stated, this is not an option, at least at this time. It would go against what the money was approved for. This money is for two years, so perhaps after that time it can change, but for now, this is what we have to work with.
So far, I have come up with one possibility for how to reach all the kids in an individualized way. However, I don't know if it can work because of the wording for the funding. I can envision a large variety of before/during/after school clubs ranging from art and drama to sports to chess, Spanish, computers, robotics, gardening, etc. (During school hours I am thinking of an organized sports program to run during lunch recess). We have a University very close to us and I would be interested in seeing if we can hook up with them to have internships where students could come up and teach a couple times per week for credit, which would help keep our costs down. The benefits would be that the kids who are gifted in sports have an opportunity to expand on that, kids that are gifted in science, would have opportunities, etc. Again, I don't know if this would go against the rules of the funding. I just can't see how one program will fit the needs of so many.
Thanks again for the input so far. I will be attending my first meeting in a couple of weeks and it will be interesting to talk to the others and find out where they are at with this.
Pam, With the exception of the Alabama program- that sounds awesome! Very progressive, too!
Oh, and I meant to say that the programs you described from 5th grade on sound just amazing! I am going to keep those in mind for my meeting as it may be a direction the group may want to go in.
I'm following you. I think part of our REACH program's problem is in the identification of the kids. It is not a coincidence that every school employee with a child in the school has them in REACH. The criteria is subjective enough that anyone vocal enough and with the right connections can get their kid in. I don't think these are truly gifted kids. Bright perhaps. Awake and well-behaved perhaps. But 140+ IQ? No.
It sounds like GATE programs work very differently here than they do in your schools. Here, a student has to have a reccomendation from the last two years' teachers in order to be tested. They are then tested in 2nd grade (usually 3-5 students per class) and assigned to a GATE class for 3rd grade with the parent's approval. Only 2 students from each class usually qualifies and these students are in a class apart from the rest of the school except for lunch and recess. This is the way it was done when I was in GATE and the way it is done now that we are looking into it for my dd. While I agree that most students should have the opportunity to go to museums and plays, many children need that time in the classroom to learn the basics.
One major cause for concern for me is that each teacher is responsible for how the children are challenged. So one teacher may just assign more difficult homework while another may go the extra mile and provide programs such as Pam described.
I am totally at a loss as to how to provide all students with a chance to explore where they may be gifted. In our school district, after school activities are not included as curriculum and the great idea of a variety of extra-curricular activities wouldn't be acceptable. I hope that your school district is different because I think that is an excellent idea and would be able to reach a group of students that aren't typically considered gifted. Good luck and I hope you continue to get some other great ideas here.
Laura, I completely understand your POV on this!! It sounds like your program is catering to the wrong group for the wrong reasons!
Tink, we are a one-school district. This gives us a lot of freedom other schools do not enjoy. However, that also means we are kind of on our own when setting up this kind of thing, which is certainly difficult! I don't know if the extra-curricular suggestion I threw out will be accepted here, either, but it's all I have come up with thus far to reach all the kids talents, which seem to be a high priority with this program. I have been thinking a lot tonight about Pam's experience as well and hope to use that model as a possibility when discussing the issue with the council.
Thank you all for your thoughts. It's been very helpful!
Very interesting post. Melanie, I've been thinking a little about this and totally missed the fact that pull-out wasn't an option in your first post. I think you could still take 1/2-1 whole day once a week or every other week and do a big active learning experience that benefits all of the kids, but really focuses in on the needs of the identified gifted kids. Such as...have the gifted kids do some independent research on photography before the designated class day, for example. How are pictures made? Who invented the camera? Who are some famous photographers and what are characteristics of their photographs? Is photography art? If so, then what makes it art? Then teams of 2-4 kids could get together and make real cameras out of cigar boxes. Then they could practice different photography techniques as they take several pictures. This taps into the scientific mind (optics, engineering), the artistic mind (photography, composition), the mathematical mind (perspective), the literary mind (research). I think small group projects with a cluster of different kids with different abilities would be a good way to accomplish this and the "gifted" kids could perhaps be a team leader. You could even do something along the lines of this with a sport too, to give natural athletes a way to express and enhance their talents and study physics, social dynamics of team play, math, etc. all from a team sport.
BTW, I didn't mention the criteria, but waaay back when we were identified for the gifted program solely by IQ test, based on teacher referral and/or parent request, then there was a preset standard of what IQ you had to demonstrate to qualify.
Lauram, I think the program I was in was very progressive too! Esp., when you consider that we are talking about the late 1970s
There are two problems with the GATE program where we are:
1)The parents of the GATE kids don't want to have it mean that their kids just do extra homework. E.g., if the students are assigned problems 1-20 in math, the GATE kids do 1-30. The parents complain about this.
2)The parents of the non-GATE kids get mad if the GATE kids get to do something that the other kids don't (e.g. a field trip).
These restrictions completely erase the possibility of having a meaningful program in our district. Good luck.
Pam, thank you!! I really love the direction you have gone with this. You are right about all the different areas this type of program could potentially cover, giving all the kids the opportunities at different times to feel like their interests and talents have been met. I will definitely be presenting a case for this model at the meeting. Thank you so much!!!
Irene, thank you for your well wishes. It's so hard to put something together that will please the majority of the people.
Here's another idea that my son's current school does in 3rd grade that can perhaps work for an inclusive gifted program.
They made a box town using small boxes, like the individual cereal boxes and other smaller and slightly larger boxes. They got lots of them - 100 or more. They wrapped them in white paper. Then they created a town with them. It took a lot of floor space. They discussed planning - what a town needs, the city services and the shops. Each child was assigned certain ones to decorate to fit their theme. Gifted kids could be assigned more complex ones, like city hall and go into more detail about them, than say a non-high IQ kid who has some services like pet store or Starbucks or police station. Gifted kids could also be assigned the town's layout or budget or education system or form of government. It's sortof a real life Sims City. My son's class spent an entire 6 weeks on this during social studies. It was a huge hit.
I didn't read all of the above posts, but you should dig a little deeer into the funding and a pull out program, it should be funded under special ed.
My dd is in the GATE program in our area and I love love love it, she gets to use her brain in areas not available in the classroom, hers is a pull out program, she is in sixth grade and was tested in in 1st grade, I notice a little more work for her this year in keeping up in math but it's worth it in her opinion to do it because she loves the GATE program so much.
Her program: Each year they do a year long project, this year it is on HAM radio, they will learn every aspect of them and be operators by the end of the year. They are also doing year long "collections" on a topic of their choosing, my dd chose US presidents so each week she researches a president and does a report. The 7th and 8th graders participate in "Future City" much like SIMS on the computer, but they build a model for a city, tackle socioeconomic problems, envioronmental issues, schooling, transportation etc, it's great and acknowledged and the local and state level in AZ.
If you are unable to do a pull out program another school in my area offers Discovery, which is a subject based gifted program, but I have not spoken with any parents that like it, they all think it's another honors class, that their kids would be in anyway. Each year it's a different subject. So in our area the GATE program is liked much better by children and parents.
One last thing, the teacher is extremely important, you need someone that not only recognizes the gifted qualities but truly undersands and loves the gifted children. As stated by someone earlier it's not always easy to raise and understand these kids. But they do need a place of their own. In my opinion it's just as important as it is for the LD kids.
Good luck and have fun with this adventure!!
I didn't have much time to post before, but I wanted to add some more thoughts. I currently am teaching .2 (which is one day a week) math enrichment for grades 3 and 4. (The other .8 I'm a math support teacher). The model I am currently using is a co-teaching model. I go into all classes in grades 3+4 one time a week for 45 min. Once a month, I preassess a group of students (usually 1/2 the class) by giving them the end of unit test before they've been taught it. If they do well, they are in my group for the next 3 weeks. We do all sorts of problem-solving using the concepts from the unit. The idea is that the teacher will continue this the other 4 days on her own, but we aren't quite there yet. This serves the children who are gifted mathematically. Keep in mind, there is also a pull-out program for kids identified as being gifted in multiple domains and needing teaching outside the classroom. They meet 2 hrs a week and have homework.
IMHO, your district needs to think about how they are identifying these kids. A simple test score is not going to do it. The most gifted child I ever taught scored 141 on her OLSAT. When she was given an IQ test 3 years later, she scored overall 164. She had a subtest score in story recall that was 186- a number I'd never seen before. BIG DIFFERENCE. I had another gifted student when I taught second grade who argued with me during the adminstration of the OLSAT and had to take it in the principal's office. He scored 121. When he had an IQ test done, it was 159.
Our district spends a great deal of time on identification. It is based on teacher or parent refferal, a parent questionnaire, three best work samples from the classroom, math exemplars administered by the teacher of the gifted, a language arts perfomance based assessment (research) given by two teachers of the gifted, an OLSAT score and any other documentation submitted by the teacher, parent, teacher of the gifted or anyone else in the building. A PPT is held (but no parents attend) and the child is either identified as gifted, not identified or referred for further assessment (usually an individual IQ test and more math exemplars or interviews). Like I said, it's very extensive!
When I taught gifted, it was a .5 position. When it was full time, .5 was devoted to pull-out and identification and .5 was for school enrichment. The .5 enrichment position was for working with teachers to do differentiation in the classroom, working with individual students identified as having strengths in a particular area (for example writing), and helping him/her with a project (e.g. writing a play). Other students did research projects on areas of interest. Other students did what I now do with math enrichment.
In my opinion, your school is looking at forming an enrichment program. Kind of the cart before the horse, if you ask me! I would strongly encourage you to suggest the focus being on differentiation and teacher training. That would be highly effective and would reach a lot of learners. There is currently a lot of research about differentiation. Tomlinson is a big name in this field (I think I spelled that correctly) if you want to do some research to see what I am talking about.
I wouldn't let that "no pull-out" program go without a fight, though. Go to board mtgs, rally some supporters. Truly gifted kids need programming (and it doesn't need to be about field trips!)
Here is a link to learn more...
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/
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