GATE approved in Oak Park Unified for three years

By Stephanie Bertholdo Acorn staff writer

Oak Park Unified School District (OPUSD) was recently notified by the California Department of Education (CDE) that its Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) application was approved for three years.

The CDE’s approval has validated the district’s long term commitment to overhaul the curriculum to provide gifted learners with what the district’s GATE Website calls "qualitatively differentiated curriculum experiences" within the school day.

According to Anthony Knight, OPUSD assistant superintendent of educational services, the district "had to go back to the drawing board and reinvent everything."

From classroom placement, which puts GATE students in cluster groups (according to their ability), to extensive training that’s required a shift by teachers both philosophically and practically, the new GATE program is more far- reaching, inclusive and subjective than ever before.

The former straightforward, albeit rigid system of identifying gifted and talented students has given way to a more holistic approach. It now considers the whole child.

Gifted and talented no longer equates to scoring at the 95 percentile or above for two consecutive years in two of three subjects on standardized tests or even meeting an intellectual benchmark (130 on a district-administered IQ test was the previous minimum standard), although this information will still be used. But those criteria are just two pieces of a multi-faceted puzzle.

Many experts in gifted education prefer a portfolio system of identifying gifted students. And OPUSD will use this method starting this year.

The portfolio process includes an extensive review of student work, achievement data, teacher observations and parent input. The process can begin during any grade and be initiated by either a teacher or parent.

By the time the child is in third grade, enough information has been collected for the GATE Identification Team to recommend the program by fourth grade. The team consists of the district director of curriculum and instruction, the principal, the school’s GATE coordinator, the teacher, and may include former teachers and/or counselors. The portfolio follows the student from grade to grade and becomes part of a student’s cumulative folder.

A feature of the new program is that it extends to all students regardless of formal GATE identification. All students benefit from the program through differentiation, which, according to district officials, adapts the curriculum to meet the unique needs of students by making modifications in complexity, depth and pacing through cluster grouping, fluid grouping, curriculum compacting (a process that allows students to move more quickly through curriculum that they already know), acceleration and other methods.

Some students can demonstrate giftedness in math, and therefore be grouped with other advanced math students during a math unit. The same would be true for advanced readers.

The proposed 2003/04 budget for the new GATE program was more than $34,000. But it was reduced with the rest of the budget due to California’s budget problems.

Much of the money this year will be spent on teacher training through workshops, teacher-to-teacher coaching and hiring experts to conduct seminars. A 45-hour certification program is being developed for teachers with GATE clusters.

What prompted

OPUSD to change?

Oak Park’s GATE program previously focused on after-school enrichment courses at the three elementary schools (Brookside, Oak Hills and Red Oak), and at Medea Creek Middle School, although these courses and other enrichment activities differed from school to school and morphed into honors and advanced placement courses at the high school level.

Two events provided the impetus for change at OPUSD. Teri Lane, a parent of two former Brookside students, said she remembers talking with parents while waiting for their children at after-school GATE classes. Many parents, said Lane, wished that their children could be presented with extra challenges during the school day instead of extending their day.

Lane agreed with the other parents and started gathering information, discovering "what the law says, what kind of money was the district getting, and how were the needs of kids with diverse needs being met in the classroom," she said. She then talked to board members, parents, and presented a comprehensive list of questions to former superintendent Marilyn Lippiatt.

Eventually Lane formed a GATE district advisory committee with Millie Andress, principal at Oak View High School, who was in charge of the GATE program at the time. A related event occurred with the passage of AB-2313. It stipulated that primary GATE services must be integrated into the regular school day as differentiated learning experiences, based on the core curriculum.

"It was incredible timing for us," Lane said, adding that Andress was a "great advocate." Since the GATE program involved changes in curriculum, the task was given to the then new director of curriculum and instruction Tony Knight.

Knight expanded the GATE district advisory committee to include parents from each school, board members, GATE coordinators and principals. Under Knight’s supervision, the OPUSD GATE program created dramatic curriculum changes, which yielded a one-year GATE application approval in 2002/03, and a three-year approval in 2003/04. Lane served as co-chair of the committee until she moved in July.

As well as the GATE program is going, there’s much work to be done, Knight said. The district advisory committee’s "to do" list is lengthy and includes suggestions in every category of GATE. It calls for more training of teachers, counselors and administrators. It emphasizes greater assurances at the high school level that underachieving gifted students and those who aren’t taking honors or advanced placement courses are still being challenged.

For further information, check the OPUSD Website, which offers a link to GATE. The application will also soon be available at the district office.