Closing the GATE on our children
By Ann Murray Paige
My child recently did not get accepted into what’s called the GATE program here in Davis.
GATE stands for “Gifted And Talented Education” and it’s a way for the public school to offer “higher learning” to kids who want it. What “higher learning” is I’m unclear, but it involves a lot of homework. Which is why my child didn’t want to do it anyway, and so I’m lucky that my little one didn’t get accepted.
I wasn’t sure about GATE any way, but not for that reason — in fact, I like the sound of higher learning. But I don’t like how the program separates the GATE kids from the rest of the class. That’s a by-product of the program — the school literally keeps the kids in GATE away from their non-GATE peers.
They don’t share science, computer or library time. If they sit next to each other in the lunch room I’ve never seen it. They’re set apart —literally and figuratively — from the other “typical” kids. And I think it’s that figuratively part that’s getting me down.
When something is separated from something else it’s noticeable. Take oil and water — you can see they don’t mix. You’d never put tigers and deer in the same pen. And I’d never wear heels with a mini-dress — not only am I 46 but I’d probably look like someone who’s looking for a good time, if you know what I mean.
Assumptions are awful things, of course, because they’re not well-founded and they never show up on an action plan at a school board meeting. But whoever decided that separating a class based on its “gifted” and “talented-ness” must have been denying their inner child — the one who didn’t get picked for kick ball in third grade. Because one of the worst things I think any child can be told at any age is that they are not gifted nor talented.
Yet I wish my child had tested into GATE — I wish I could say “in the public school system’s eye, this little person is gifted and talented” because the assumption now is … you follow me? I know that’s not what the program intends to do, but it’s a sad repercussion of the testing process — indeed, of the program as a whole.
I don’t want to sound like sour grapes. I don’t want to say “get rid of GATE” just because my child didn’t make the cut. All my child’s peers seem to have gotten into the program — another stab at my motherly ego. And I know this isn’t supposed to be about my ego — but I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t hurt, insulted and a whole lot confused. I think my child is smart — so the public school system doesn’t?
And here people whose children tested into GATE will say, “no, it’s not that. Your child is wonderful. My Johnny just learns on a higher level.” That’s fine, I’m happy for Johnny. But what about Susie, who doesn’t test well but loves to learn? Can we label her and put her in, say, the STAR class? Because “She Tests Average Really” — but she’s a STAR just the same.
When my child found out about the denied acceptance into this “smart club” there were no tears — in fact, there was joy. My kid made it clear that extra homework on nights and weekends was not my child’s idea of a good time. I was relieved at the reaction and my husband and I both gave each other the “phew” look because we sure weren’t prepared to properly handle a bruised third-grade ego — those can be hard to fix.
But it was the day or two after when I realized the real bruised ego was my own. I was and still am fighting a feeling of resentment, hostility and anger toward this program that based on one test labels 9-year-olds “gifted” and “not-gifted.” Whose idea was this anyway?
Don’t get me wrong — if there are children who need more in a class, if they learn on a different level, I want them to get what they need. In fact I hope they do.
I just wish is wasn’t on the back of my child and all the other kids who, for some reason that may have nothing to do with being”gifted” or “talented,” didn’t make the cut on a divisive and polarizing program like GATE.
— Ann Murray Paige is a Davis resident. Reach her at amurraypaige@gmail.com
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It does sound like sour grapes. Not every child is gifted, well, except in Davis where everyone thinks their child is gifted. In sports, we all accept that there are better and weaker athletes. Early on, children who are athletic or bigger, etc. are singled out for extra practices, more lessons, being able to play on elite teams. Why shouldn’t it be the same for education? Some kids are able to perform at a higher level sooner than other kids. Gifted children need special attention just like kids below grade level do. We definitely need the GATE program in Davis for our children!
Ann, you are perceptive, and have put your finger on several of the core issues with the isolation version of instruction that is GATE. Neither gifted nor talented individuals usually need a GATE program. What the GATE is great writer above misses is the fact that the mission of GATE – read the ed code if you want more – is to be special education.
What the district should have done long ago before this program became its own solar system was to restrict admission to truly needy kids, who needed specific SPED attention. What should have been done was to provide a focused differentiated, inclusive program throughout. Ann, may you be blessed with teachers in the regular program who are able to continue to challenge all kids at all their levels.
The horse is out of the barn. Let’s make the barn better so some of the horses return.
Do you feel that gifted children are not needy also? My child, who did qualify for the GATE program, told me that his third grade class spent quite a bit of time this year in third grade going over the sound the different letters of the alphabet make! In third grade. (He reads at a 5th-6th grade level). Gifted children are as different from “the norm” as special ed students are. With the No Child Left Behind Act, the teachers teach to the lowest common level in the class. You cannot provide any differentiation in class for higher-achieving kids, who frequently become bored and frustrated in a regular class.
Wow…This thread of comments only reinforces that I made the correct decision in keeping my gate qualified child out of the gate program. They are elementary students for heaven’s sake. Your child is learning at a higher level because you are educated, put a value on education, and educate in the home to reinforce what happens in school. Instead of acting like your child has special needs that everyone else should be expected to fund, be glad that you are in the sector of society that values education and instills those values in your child. Stop acting like everyone needs to be in a separate program. They will all be reading at the same level in a few years, and we are doing a huge disservice to all children by separating them and telling them that some are better than the others. Not just to the students in the regular class who start to feel inferior, but also those in the gate program who are being told they are better than everyone else. I for one am glad that my child understands that she is going to go to class and learn just like everyone else. And if she gets bored in class and does extra projects, or heaven forbid, has to help others, then she is learning a far better life lesson than being told that she is better than everyone else and having people cater to her every need. The fact that this town is full of people who need to private test their students who didn’t make the gate cut the first test so that they can make it to that “needy” class, makes me want to vote against any special taxes to fund public education. With public education in the dire straits that it is in, its sad that all of Davis wants to send their kids to the extra special class of elite elementary kids rather than keep money in the central school system. Get over yourselves.
The teacher of a classroom of GATE-identified students is paid a standard salary, just like the teachers in the Montessori program and the Spanish Immersion program here in Davis. I assume you have no beef with those programs? Are they taking money away from the “central school system”? You’re absolutely right that nobody should be labeling any student as “inferior” or “superior” because stereotypes in any form are harmful. Just like when you refer to the “extra special class of elite elementary kids.” That is a stereotype, and it is harmful. The GATE program is about providing appropriate education to students who would benefit from a different style of teaching. That’s all.
I’m sorry if my comments were offensive to gate students, as that is not what I meant. However, I have to take issue with your classification of GATE as a program tat is providing “appropriate education”. State funds for GATE are meant for kids who don’t learn in the normal classroom setting. The percentage of GATE students in Davis, due to private testing, is so high as to make the distinction meaningless. If you are suggesting that every student needs to be provided state funded education that matches their learning style, then please start with low income and low performing students who are unable to leave the public school system because they can’t afford a private school that would match their needs, rather than concentrating on the students who would do just fine in the public system without the help of enhanced learning. It only seems fair that if the public system is going to provide individualized education, that it do it for all, particularly the most vulnerable in our community.
There are many, many benefits to having your child in a GATE-program. Not every child WILL be reading at the same level in a few years, as you allude. Unfortunately, some kids will never reach the level that your GATE-identified child is already at. My GATE-identified son told me how the teacher spent quite a bit of time this year IN THE THIRD GRADE going over the sounds that the different letters make! He didn’t learn any life lessons with that; he sat their patiently relearning things he learned in kindergarten.
Have you ever taken an IQ test yourself? If so, then you would realize that “private testing” with an IQ test would be the absolute best way to ID children for the GATE program. Such testing takes 3-4 hours and can only be given by a PhD in psychology. The OLSAT screening test is cheap and easy to give; it takes maybe 30 minutes to take. That is the only reason our school district uses it. There is nothing magical about the OLSAT, and, frankly, it probably isn’t the most accurate way to find gifted children. You can’t “game the system” by doing private testing, as your letter alleges.
The GATE program has the kids by 7th grade doing the general 8th grade math. They do 4 years of math in 3 years, or they effectively skip a year. To me, that is why it’s worth it to be in the GATE program. If you child can do more, why not allow them to do more? We don’t tell our GATE-identified child he is “better” than other kids, and he doesn’t think that.
It’s something that had to be said – many of us agree with the valid points that are made here. True – it’s an unnecessary label to tell a child they didn’t “pass” the GATE test. That’s truly what happens! So parents test their kids in another country or pay for a private repeat test to ensure their kids get all this extra homework and the GATE stamp of approval. It happens, and it happens in Davis, yet no one talks about it. Why don’t we take a different perspective and let the 98% know that they tested into the current school system – call it the STAR program or some other acronym. The message should be a positive one…..
While everyone is entitled to their opinion, it’s a shame when that opinion is not based on facts. What is even worse is when that opinion actually widely spreads incorrect and misleading information, as is the case here. Ann Murray Paige’s opinion piece is just that: an opinion. And unfortunately, it is a rambling op-ed essay that presents as fact a great deal of information that, in fact, is not. One such example is her assertion that the GATE program is a public school’s way of offering “higher learning to kids who want it.” Nowhere on the GATE program page of the school district’s website do they refer to “higher learning” in describing the GATE program. Ann’s statement that the GATE program gives kids “extra homework on nights and weekends”—again, presented as fact—is utterly false. The Davis school district has a very clear-cut homework policy, and the GATE program is not an exception to that policy. To my knowledge, the only exception to the homework policy are AP classes at the High School level, and parents and students are warned of that fact beforehand.
There are many different ways that parents can learn the facts about the GATE program: by visiting the district website, by attending meetings of the GATE Advisory Committee, by consulting with teachers, and by searching out parents of GATE students and asking them questions. Ann’s contention that GATE students are deliberately isolated from other students is amusing as well, considering that I can recall my children going to the library WITH THEIR OWN CLASS, being assigned a specific table to sit at during lunch WITH THEIR CLASS, and all of this is before the 4th grade. But I don’t hear anyone complaining that those children are “being isolated” from the other students. As always, kids have a chance to mingle during recesses, during special programs (such as Walker Creek) and other field trips. How students and classes are handled in this respect also varies from site to site, since at least one site mixes grade-level classes to create squads for non-core subjects, such as computer, art, science, etc. And yes, those squads include GATE students.
I’ve heard many complaints from parents about children either being made to feel inferior (if they are not GATE identified) or superior (if they are), and what this makes clear to me is one thing specifically: PARENTS need to carefully consider what they say to their children about GATE testing and how they describe the program in general. Ultimately, the GATE program is about providing appropriate education. It is not about finding children who are “better” or “smarter”… it’s about identifying children who have a different learning style and who could benefit from a different style of teaching: more accelerated in some ways, more in-depth in others. If parents tell their children that the GATE test identifies the “smart kids” then they are doing their child a disservice—regardless of whether or not their child is identified.
I wish Ann Murray Paige had spent a little time—either during the week, in the evenings, or even on the weekends—doing her homework on the GATE program before writing an inflammatory opinion piece when, as she admits herself, she’s basically writing about her own bruised ego. As it stands, this is a difficult time of year when many parents of 3rd graders understandably have a great deal of questions and anxiety over what the GATE program means. Unfortunately, they won’t find any answers or facts in the commentary written by Ms. Paige.
I would hardly categorize the above op-ed as an inflammatory piece. It simply points out the feelings of many parents whose kids don’t test into the Gifted And Talented program, in a humble and somewhat self deprecating way. If this innocuous piece offends one’s perceptions of the gate program, then it’s no wonder people aren’t willing to engage in any real debate about it. I wonder, if the program’s title was more appropriately named, as your writing suggests, “In need of special classes because I don’t learn well in the mainstream,” whether so many parents would want to privately test their kids to get into it. I highly doubt it. Define it however you want, but it remains a sought after, elite label for elementary age kids.
OK, first, I want to apologize, because looking back at my post, it seems a bit offensive, and despite my feelings on this subject, I didn’t mean to offend anyone and only want to engage in a conversation that no one in this town seems willing to engage in. However, my point remains. I didn’t say that your child derives no value out of the gate program. Of course they do, or you wouldn’t be placing them in the program. My point is that you are missing the inherent value of teaching your kids simple life lessons by leaving them in the “regular” student program. I know its scary because it seems like you would be denying your child the advantages that gate may offer, and clearly our community as a whole seems to tell us that we need to pursue every perceived advantage, real or imaginary, for our kids. Yes, your child may be exposed to a slightly different curriculum in the gate program than in the regular program…but at what expense…and what if we tried to enhance everyone’s learning rather than a few (or more than a few in Davis’ case) I bet that the average kid would rise to the occasion despite their test scores. Curriculum and perceived advantages aside, there is an inherent, and arguably higher, value in kids learning to socialize with other kids at school. If you self select some kids away from the average kids at school, and tell them that they are better than the other kids because they are smarter, then aren’t you taking away their opportunity to learn about how life really works. Life doesn’t step up and meet your “specialized” needs the way that gate segregation does. Many of your socialization skills are learned when you are young, and life doesn’t cater to you because you are slightly smarter than average. You have to learn to navigate your way, and being self segregated from average population in elementary school, and catered to, doesn’t teach you any coping skills. And, while you may not tell your student that they are better than the others, it doesn’t take a psychologist to know that students identified as “gifted and talented” are going to feel superior to the regular students. If you believe otherwise, then I suggest you re-evaluate what school is really like. Sure, in gate, you’ll learn your basic skills at a slightly earlier age than the “average” students, but at what cost…both to your student and to the community as a whole. I suspect, that your student, like mine, will learn those skills ahead of the rest of the students without being in gate because those skills are enhanced in the home. Most parents of GATE kids are able to do elementary school level math and reading, and are able to supplement school learning with relatively little time spent in the home, particularly if your student is as keen as the testing would have us believe. However, not all skills can be learned at home. One of the primary functions of school is to teach socialization. Not only does keeping your child in the regular class enhance their socialization and coping skills, it provides a more diverse class and enhanced learning experience for those who would not have been placed into the gate program, and that helps the community and public education as a whole. If that is something that we can’t come to recognize as a community, then public education turns into something that looks more like publicly funded private education, and that is something that I cannot support. We should really only be providing publicly funded education to the mainstream, and those who cannot learn in the mainstream. If others want to choose to “enhance” their child’s education by voluntarily separating them from the mainstream, then they can always send their kids to private school. I do not mean to get into a debate about funding streams here, because whether the state is paying for the separation, or the local district is, is irrelevant. Last I checked, I payed taxes to both. And please don’t confuse my post as a cry for taxpayer rights, I am a proud liberal and fully behind a well funded public school system. I just believe that GATE is contrary to the core philosophy of public, equal education for all.
My third grader, who just got into the GATE program, doesn’t feel superior to kids who haven’t gotten in. Unfortunately, what do you do with kids who are more advanced than the norm at this early age? He took the exam for CTY (the Center for Talented Youth) through Johns Hopkins and qualified for those courses. We pay alot of money out of pocket to have him, on the weekend or at night, in his “free time,” take accelerated online courses with them because there is nothing in the school. His Davis public school teacher has 26 kids in the class, and there is no way she can provide any differentiation for him in the classroom.
Sure, school provides socialization. Obviously. That is why we keep him there in our local public school. Roughly 1/3 of his third grade class is below grade level- every week, we volunteer in the classroom, and we help those kids (not him). We provide accelerated workbooks for him at home to do, to stimulate him so he isn’t bored out of his skull daily. The workbooks are two grade levels ahead, at the 5th grade level. In some ways, that makes it worse since he still has to plod along in his regular third grade class. He does Nature Bowl- and that’s it. His school has absolutely no math clubs or anything academically challenging like a quiz bowl, etc. The grade school can’t offer him anything that is remotely academically challenging.
In a year, he can take accelerated classes in the summer at Sac State through ATS. There is absolutely nothing for him right now. Thank god for the GATE program for next year.
The junior and senior high schools obviously offfer honors classes. Do you object to having those classes available to abler kids? At what point do you allow abler kids to excel and get the resources they need?
Starting in first grade, for whatever the reason, some of the kids in our wonderful Davis schools move ahead, and some fall behind. Each year this divide grows wider. Quickly, the abler kids are so far ahead, that the kids behind will never catch up. And frankly, is it fair to hold back such kids, who may work harder in class or at home, or simply be brighter, to try and let the others “catch up?”
We love Davis and want our child to go to our public schools. Without the GATE program, it would force us to look to Sacramento for private schools, which is completely not want we want.
On our son’s sports team, there are kids who are obviously gifted athletes. They are more agile, bigger physically, more motivated than our son. These kids have early on been singled out for better coaching and more intense workouts. We can’t get our son into that track. Everyone accepts that this is right and so for sports; why should it not be so for academics?
Your explanation as to why you would like to keep gate only seems to prove my point. Thankfully, your child does not have a problem. Despite being in the average classes, your child is doing just fine and performing above average, and is apparently college bound soon. Being bored in class is not a problem that the state needs to step in and adjust for. If a child has a learning disability that does not allow him to perform in a normal classroom setting, then we should take measures to step in and fix it. That is clearly not the case with your child, or most if not all students in the GATE program. Public school is not meant to address every individual need. There will be some students on one side of the curve and some on the other and some in the middle. The fact that your child is on the high side of the curve, but performing at or above grade level, does not justify a special program. I notice that every response that you’ve made to any of these posts is very much centered around your child, and that is great for what you would like to see. I would like to see every child matched with a teacher in the classroom and have their every need met. However, that isn’t going to happen, and there is no logical reason that the community as a whole should get behind providing your child special care when he/she clearly doesn’t need it. I understand your argument from a self interested standpoint, but it doesn’t make good policy sense.
Again and again, in these comments, I see that the GATE program is necessary for students who are academically so high that they need to be removed from the average population. In my non-GATE classroom there are many high-performing students as well as students that struggle. So, how much more separation do you want? Should the average students be required to stay with the below average students. Is it fair for the average students to learn alongside students who are clearly below their learning levels?
The beautiful thing about our school district is that we are able to offer so many different learning environments to meet the needs of students: Spanish Immersion, Montessori, DSIS, DaVinci, King, AVID, ELD, Special Eduction/resource, and yes, even GATE. Why is GATE the only one being questioned/criticized? As the parent of 4 in this district, I have four very different children with very different learning styles, including one in GATE (even though others tested into the program). This is why I will be voting for Measure C, to make sure that all of these options remain. But I truly don’ t understand why this community is always so quick to put down one program in order to make a case in support of the one they prefer (AYSO vs. DYSL, Hoops vs. Hotshots vs. City Basketball, Aquadarts vs. Aquamonsters, DaVinci vs. Davis High, and GATE vs. general education classroom). Why can’t we just celebrate all of these wonderful options, instead of always criticizing those that don’t meet the needs of our own children.
Some people criticize rather than celebrate because not everyone celebrates the same ideals.
What bothers me most about the GATE program is not the unwillingness of the Davis school district to make GATE students part of the regular classroom the way it is committed to mainstreaming the developmentally delayed children, or the divisiveness the program brings into the school community, or the fraudulent billing of the program as a place for “children who need to learn differently” when it is in truth a program for kids who get high scores on a specific intelligence test. Rather, it is the arrogant attitude that I fear is endemic among some of the biggest supporters of the program. I am sure some of you are reading this thinking, “But Davis kids are special. That is why so many test into GATE. We deserve a program that meets the needs of these exceptional children.” And it is that line of thought, in of itself, which not only drives the wheels behind the GATE program, but is also part of the larger problem.
We live in a culture in which many parents believe that their child’s individualized needs should be met and that if they are not, it is an inconvenience that their child might not be able to tolerate. I have observed this attitude in the academic setting and the youth sports world, and in the way parents blindly come to their child’s defense anytime he or she has been disciplined by a teacher or an administrator. When did it become the public school’s duty to carve out a perfect reality for every child? When did it turn into a horrible thing to have your child wait for another child to catch up to them? There are school districts in this state that can’t provide children with adequate learning supplies, decent facilities or even heated classrooms in the winter. Having your child listen to another child sound out letters when he or she already knows how to read seems insignificant in comparison. I think children would be better served if they were taught to adapt to imperfect circumstances, and to be part of group of children that celebrates differences.
I just hope that one of my kids end up in Ron Johnson’s or Ann Murray Paige’s kids’ classroom.
This is the preceding entry in its entire form
Let me start with a disclaimer that there are a lot of decent people and good parents who choose to put their children in the GATE program. Their children test into the program and they decide to take advantage of a school program that is offered, thinking it will enhance their child’s educational experience. I have friends whose children are in GATE. I do feel, however, that there are a lot of problems with the GATE program. I am a clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. who can administer and score intelligence tests such as the ones used to test GATE students. I have never understood how such a large portion of the Davis student body (I have heard 20-30%) tests into a program that requires getting 97% score. That means 3% of the student body should be testing into this program. The fact that Davis numbers are so far off makes one wonder. If these tests are given more than once the validity of the test is compromised. Obviously only a certain portion of the population has the means and initiative to make retesting a possibility.
What bothers me most about the GATE program is not the unwillingness of the Davis school district to make GATE students part of the regular classroom the way it is committed to mainstreaming the developmentally delayed children, or the divisiveness the program brings into the school community, or the fraudulent billing of the program as a place for “children who need to learn differently” when it is in truth a program for kids who get high scores on a specific intelligence test. Rather, it is the arrogant attitude that I fear is endemic among some of the biggest supporters of the program. I am sure some of you are reading this thinking, “But Davis kids are special. That is why so many test into GATE. We deserve a program that meets the needs of these exceptional children.” And it is that line of thought, in of itself, which not only drives the wheels behind the GATE program, but is also part of the larger problem.
We live in a culture in which many parents believe that their child’s individualized needs should be met and that if they are not, it is an inconvenience that their child might not be able to tolerate. I have observed this attitude in the academic setting and the youth sports world, and in the way parents blindly come to their child’s defense anytime he or she has been disciplined by a teacher or an administrator. When did it become the public school’s duty to carve out a perfect reality for every child? When did it turn into a horrible thing to have your child wait for another child to catch up to them? There are school districts in this state that can’t provide children with adequate learning supplies, decent facilities or even heated classrooms in the winter. Having your child listen to another child sound out letters when he or she already knows how to read seems insignificant in comparison. I think children would be better served if they were taught to adapt to imperfect circumstances, and to be part of group of children that celebrates differences.
I just hope that one of my kids end up in Ron Johnson’s or Ann Murray Paige’s kids’ classroom.
As a former GATE student id like to clear things up.
The only “separation” is that they are in different classes and that’s with all classes. Each class has their own assigned tables for lunch. The recesses are separated by grade not GATE/non GATE.
GATE students don’t get more homework the get a different learning experience. This could mean having homework instead of projects or projects instead of homework.
The reason why they have different teachers for GATE is because GATE students are taught differently. Also, a lot of the teachers at elementary schools and jr. high schools teach both GATE and non GATE students.
To take away this program could hurt a a lot of students who need that type of learning experience to understand what the are trying to learn.
If you need anything to get upset about, get upset about the name not the program.