Gilroy
– A group of parents in the school district is asking for help
in designing a comprehensive plan for accelerated students, which
parents say is the next step in growing the district’s Gifted and
Talented Education program.
Gilroy – A group of parents in the school district is asking for help in designing a comprehensive plan for accelerated students, which parents say is the next step in growing the district’s Gifted and Talented Education program.
By reading and filling out a series of worksheets, parents can give their input on a variety of aspects involved in GATE, including program design, curriculum and instruction, parent and community involvement, and budget. The district will use the input to help complete its GATE plan before submitting the plan to the state in June, said GATE parent Bill Hudson.
The input is being solicited by OpenGATE, a non-profit organization of about 30 parents working to grow and bring in outside funding for the district’s GATE program.
Interested parents can fill out a series of worksheets asking three questions about each aspect of the program: where things stand now, what needs to be done and what plans could be developed to help achieve those goals.
The more worksheets the district receives the better, Hudson said, as a broader spectrum of parents will be represented as the GATE plan is being formed.
“One of the things the district looks for is parent involvement and parent interest. The more parents we have fill out these forms, the more interest the district sees we have in this,” he said.
OpenGATE also is in the process of organizing a curriculum and instruction committee that will deal specifically with those areas of the GATE program at the elementary level outside of Rucker Elementary, which is the only school in the district with full-time GATE instruction. In the future, the committee also might make similar recommendations for the GATE program in the district’s middle schools.
The GATE Identification and Referral Committee recently completed a new method of identifying students for the GATE program. The process begins with all second-graders taking a non-reading, non-language-based test that measures cognitive processing skills rather than achievement levels, testing students’ ability to reason and process information and make judgments. The test will be administered to all second-graders for the first time in March.
GATE students who are in the third grade or above this year will not retest using the new assessment. Students in grades other than second will be considered for testing on an individual basis this year, according to a clearly defined criteria.
How to participate:
Worksheets can be obtained on OpenGATE’s Web site, www.gilroyopengate.org. Click the links button. Or call 681-3880.
Bring completed worksheets to the next GATE Parent Advisory Committee meeting, scheduled for March 8 at the district office, or send to:
Gilroy Unified School District
Attn: Marcia Brown
7810 Arroyo Circle
Gilroy, CA 95020
