Gilroy
– At their first meeting this school year, parents of advanced
students in the sixth grade and above voiced their frustration that
their children are not being challenged enough in Gilroy’s
accelerated classes.
Gilroy – At their first meeting this school year, parents of advanced students in the sixth grade and above voiced their frustration that their children are not being challenged enough in Gilroy’s accelerated classes.
Meanwhile, Gilroy Unified School District board members agree the Gifted and Talented Education program needs fixing. District officials remain firm that a plan to improve the program is in place.
OpenGATE, an independent parents’ organization working to grow the district’s GATE program, met Tuesday to discuss with district officials the progress or lack thereof of accelerated programs at the secondary level. Their main complaint is that the district needs to implement more quickly a better, more challenging accelerated program.
The recently formed GATE Identification Task Force is creating a plan to identify gifted students who could participate in GATE. Working with a consultant and parents who have voiced their frustration, the task force will present board members a GATE-identification process by Jan. 20, said Marcia Brown, the district’s coordinator for student services who manages GATE.
Among the criteria the task force has discussed is that GATE should be open to all students, there should be multiple criteria to evaluate the students and the measures should be “equitable and ongoing,” Brown said.
But some parents have about had it with the cumbersome planning stage.
“I understand there is a need for plans and proposals, but I’d like to see something tactical happen,” said GATE parent Sue Costa.
Newly-elected GUSD board member Pat Midtgaard said one possible reason the GATE program has, for now, stalled is because of the rightful focus that’s been placed on under-performing students.
“Almost every classroom in the district has an English language learner student, so every teacher does need to know the best strategies in working with those students,” she said. “Energy has to go into those students, so it’s possible energy has been taken away from high-performing students.”
Another component that should be examined, Midtgaard said, are students who are learning English but still could be considered for GATE.
“Those two things – being in the program and being an (English language learner) student – are not mutually exclusive,” she said.
Midtgaard also said the possibility of increasing the number of accelerated classes in the middle schools and high school should be explored.
Another GATE parent at Tuesday’s meeting, Natalie King, said she moved to Gilroy from a district in Southern California whose GATE program thrived. Moving to Gilroy has left her yearning for the challenges her children received there.
“(GATE) is a ghost here,” she said. “Teachers don’t talk about it, and parents don’t talk about it … What I want to know is, are the students getting the challenge in the classroom?”
Dovetailing with King’s concern was another question raised by Costa that her children no longer harbor enthusiasm for school.
“I think my problem is that my son is demotivated,” she said.
Another parent at the meeting asked why the district’s program has been “floundering,” as the district has yet to see an established and all-encompassing GATE program. But Jacki Horejs, assistant superintendent of educational services, disagreed, insisting the district has a clear direction.
“I really take exception to the word ‘floundering,'” she said. “We have a plan, we have a timeline, we know where we’re going and we are making progress.”
Horejs said the first step for parents who want to see more immediate action is to identify their concerns – exactly which class is problematic and who teaches it – then talk to that teacher or the school’s principal. Parents within one school or class could organize such a meeting, Horejs said.
Rhoda Bress, another newly-elected board member and a GATE parent, said she intends to work with the board to get at the root of the issue.
“We have a mandate – a legal obligation – to provide an education that meets the needs of GATE students, and we need to take a very close look at what’s going on and that what we’re doing is appropriate and meeting the needs of the students,” she said.
Bress said she has also heard positive reports from other parents about the district’s accelerated program.
“It’s been a mixed report,” she said. “I think we need to do a lot of outreach to parents, teachers and students, and it definitely needs to be on the board’s agenda to find out whether what we’re doing is working.”
Brown said she realizes work needs to be done to improve the program. But she also said the district is working hard and is confident progress can be made.
“This is our year to really make some changes,” she said. “We are working on staff development and implementing more training to get our kids what they need. We need to work on how do we recognize (giftedness), and how do we encourage it.”
