GATE Plan l Useful Arcticles about GATE Progams l GATE Testing l AUSD GATE Program l GATE Staff l What is Giftedness?l GATE Program Philosophy l Identification l Funding l GATE Standards
Education: Gifted and Talented Student (KID SOURCE)
Cluster Grouping Of Gifted Students: How To Provide Full-Time Services On A Part-Time Budget (KID SOURCE)
Research-Based Best Practices and Recommendations for Talented and Gifted Services in Portland Public Schools
Compiled by the Portland Public Schools Talented and Gifted Advisory Council
The Best Practices Manual for GATE Students in Idaho: Differentiated Curriculum
Ability Grouping and Student Achievement in Elementary Schools (R.E. Slavand)
Ability Grouping in Schools (Mehann Hyland)
Closing the Achievement Gap (Burris and Welner)
Office of Civil Rights: Student Assignment in Elementary and Secondary Schools & Title VI
Ability Grouping, Tracking & Alternatives: Websites
Position Statement on Ability Grouping and Tracking (National Association of School Psychologists)
The DCAT, a tool used to determine eligibility for GATE, is usually given at the Auburn Union school District Office on a Saturday in March. Nomination packets can be obtained from your child’s teacher a month prior to the testing date if you are interested in your child being considered for GATE.
The Auburn Union School District is committed to helping
its gifted and talented students achieve academic and personal
growth. Students are encouraged to set growth targets, and
teachers, staff, administrators, parents, and community help
them achieve their goals. The gifted student is challenged
through classroom instruction that provides for depth and
complexity in expectations on the academic content standards
for the district and for the State of California. The expectation
for the advanced learner requires that a teacher provide
instructional activities that go to a greater depth and complexity.
The programs have been designed so that proficiency is the
expectation for all students.
The Board of Education of Auburn Union School District is
committed to the belief that all children benefit from a
quality, integrated learning experience. The GATE plan is
approved by the Board of Education annually.
The purpose of the Gifted and Talented Education program
is to:
Identify and serve students with special gifts and talents
in the areas of Intellectual/Cognitive Ability, High Academic
Achievement, Specific Academic Ability, Leadership Ability,
and Creative Ability.
Challenge students to reach performance levels commensurate
with their abilities and stages of development in the areas
of curriculum, cognition, positive self-concept, ethical
standards and responsible social development.
Provide differentiated opportunities for learning experiences
and opportunities for identified students which: *Are commensurate
with their more advanced and complex abilities *Challenge
and provoke an enthusiasm to gain knowledge and skills *Promote
understanding at advanced thinking and creative levels *Stimulate
an interest in a variety of subjects and *Enhance and act
as an extension of the class curriculum.
Provide settings which: *Develop effective independent learning
habits *Develop personal responsibility and accountability,
and *Stimulate individual understanding and acceptance, ethical
behavior, compassion, and a desire to contribute to others.
GATE services to identified GATE students are provided
primarily in the classroom through differentiated instruction.
GATE students will be able to interact with other GATE
students at key points during the school day, such as during
English-Language Arts instruction and/or Math. Elementary
schools “cluster” group
GATE students all day, where GATE students at each grade
level are in the same classroom all day, along with other
students. E.V. Cain Middle School offers two program choices
for GATE identified students. As well as cluster classes
(see description above), magnet classes are offered in grades
6, 7, and 8 where all students enrolled in the class are
GATE identified.
GATE Coordinator
Stacy Barsdale
Phone: (530) 745-8814
E-Mail: sbarsdale
Staff Secretary, Instructional Services
Jan Kapple Klein
Phone: (530) 745-8816
E-Mail: jkappleklein@auburn.k12.ca.us
As described by the U.S. Office of
Education in 1972, “Gifted
and talented children are those identified by professionally
qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities
are capable of high performance. These are children who require
differentiated educational programs and/or services beyond
those normally provided by the regular school program in
order to realize areas of their contribution to self and
society.”
In the Auburn Union School District, students
identified for the Gifted and Talented Program (GATE)
are whose who are exceptional due to their greater than
average cognitive potential or ability, and whose needs
are not likely to be adequately met through the regular
core curriculum. They require a modified, differentiated
curriculum in order to ensure their school growth and
success. These students make up five to ten percent of
the student population.
The Auburn Union School District is committed to an appropriate
educational experience for our highest ability students.
We believe that the innate abilities of gifted students must
be developed and nurtured through participation in an exciting
and challenging program of differentiated instruction centered
on the core curriculum and on the individual needs of each
student.
The responsibility for identifying
Gifted and Talented students is the collaborative effort
of the Auburn Union School District Curriculum Department,
parents and the school site staff. The administration solicits
GATE nominations annually. Students are first eligible
for nomination during their third grade year for GATE placement
in the fourth grade. Students may be nominated by teachers,
administrators, parents, or by the students themselves
and/or by virtue of the students’ STAR
test scores. Students achieving a predetermined scale score
in the Advanced level on the STAR tests in reading/language
arts and math are automatically referred for evaluation.
All nominated students take the Cognitive
De Cat Test once parental permission is granted. The Cognitive
De Cat is a test of thinking ability, as opposed to academic
knowledge. The test includes such items as recognizing
patterns, completing analogies, spatial reasoning, and
logic. Second language learners may take the Naglieri Nonverbal
Ability Test, which assesses ability without requiring
the student to read, write, or speak in English. In addition
to Cognitive De Cat or Naglieri scores, the GATE screening
committee considers each nominated student’s grade
point average, state standardized test scores, District
Benchmark Assessment scores, and a teacher evaluation form.
Other pertinent information is taken into account, including
cultural differences, primary language, socio-economic
factors, and specific learning disabilities. All of this
information is collected and organized on a Student Identification
Matrix, points are calculated, and a recommendation for
GATE placement is made. Parents and the school site are
notified if a student is identified as Gifted and Talented
and enrolled in the program, or not enrolled because he/she
does not qualify. Any nominated child who does not qualify
is eligible for reevaluation once a year.
If you find the program does not meet
your child’s
needs, you may choose to remove him or her from the GATE
program yourself, or your child’s teacher may meet
with you about modifying the program, but the district will
continue to identify the child as gifted. Placement in the
AUSD GATE program does NOT guarantee placement in GATE or
accelerated programs in other school districts. However qualifying
information will be placed in the student’s cum folder.
Students who transfer into Auburn Union School
District with documentation verifying GATE identification
may not automatically be placed in the program. Criteria
used to identify GATE students in the previous district will
be examined for compatibility with the Auburn Union School
District criteria. Student transferees who have not participated
in a gifted program may be nominated during the regularly
scheduled screening cycle.
GATE funds are generated based on the total AUSD student
population. The funds are used to design and deliver a differentiated
program for individuals for groups of gifted and talented
students. Examples of GATE fund expenditures are:
- To provide staff
development in Gifted and Talented Education.
- To provide teachers with strategies
to broaden and deepen their instruction relative to
differentiation.
- To purchase materials used for
the purpose of differentiation.
The Auburn Union School District provides a comprehensive
continuum of services and program aligned with objectives
responsive to the needs, interests, and abilities of gifted
students and based on philosophical, theoretical, and empirical
support.
To view the California Department of Education Recommended
Standards for Programs for GATE Students Click
here. The
standards were approved October 2001 and revised July 2005.
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