In 1961, the California State Legislature established the mentally gifted minor (MGM) program for students scoring in the 98th percentile or above on standardized intellectual abilities tests. Then in 1980, the state legislature enacted AB 1040, which established the GATE program and allowed districts to set their own criteria for entrance. The numbers tripled from 106,000 students statewide participating in the program in 1980 to approximately 360,000 identified students in 1999. Currently, GATE program are operated in 802 districts in California located in 58 counties. Individual districts may elect to apply for GATE funding and their applications are reviewed and approved by the State Board of Education for up to three years, the State Budget include $55.5 millions for the GATE program.

California Department of Education web site provides a good overview on the history and facts of the GATE program in California. GATE funds are used to design and deliver a supplemental differentiated program for individuals or groups of gifted and talented students with special needs. 

For details about GATE funding please go to Gifted and Talented Education Funding. State also clearly defines how the fund can be used on or not used on. See Notes On The Use Of Funds

To qualify for funding, districts must have an approved GATE plan. State Law (AB 2313, effective January 1, 2001) requires that primary services for gifted and talented students be integrated into the regular school day. 

State recommended standard for GATE program can be found in pdf format.
 

"The United States is squandering one of its most precious resources--the gifts, talents, and high interests of many of its students. In a broad range of intellectual and artistic endeavors, these youngsters are not challenged to do their best work. This problem is especially severe among economically disadvantaged and minority students, who have access to fewer advanced educational opportunities and whose talents often go unnoticed." 

These are some of the stern warnings from a government report about the situation of gifted and talented education in US. The news is not very encouraging. To know about this, read the report. National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent - October 1993

Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program is the most important federal legislation in the area. Since 1989, the program awards grants to State and local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and other public and private agencies and organizations. These grants help talented students in elementary and secondary schools develop their abilities and reach high levels of achievement. 

The Ukiah Unified School District offers a GATE program for qualified students in grades 3-6. The districts pays for one full-time and one half-time teacher for those students. In addition, all teacher are currently taking training in differentiated instructional strategies. Differentiated instruction means that students with greater ability are given more challenging assignments, while remaining in the classroom. The Ukiah Unified begins assessing students for the GATE program in the second grade, but students may be identified in later grades. Referrals are made by teachers or parents, and students are then tested to see if they qualify. Student who are in the GATE program at the elementary level then go on to honors classes in middle school.

The Anderson Valley Unified School District has a GATE program in the elementary school, for grade 3-6. 50 out of a total of 300 students are in the GATE program. There is a resource teacher who works with classroom teachers to develop an enriching curriculum which draws on materials already being taught. Instructions is both through differentiated instruction within the classroom and through pullout programs. Focus here is on math, especially geometry. GATE placement is by testing and teacher/parent recommendation.

The Winsor Unified School District has full-time designated GATE classes in the 4th and 5th grades. Students are taught at accelerated levels, and creativity is encouraged. The district also tries to address the needs of gifted children who do not qualify for the GATE program. Differentiated instructions are used even in the regular class. GATE assessment is based on several criteria, including standardized testing, teacher recommendation, and the RAVEN test, which looks at creative reasoning skills.

The philosophy of the GATE program is integrally connected to the District vision statement, core values, and strategic plan. The district's instructional program is based on the principles that all students receive an education appropriate to their individual capabilities, interests, and needs; and that students have learning opportunites that develop their abilities to the highes level.

The federal government and state of California definition of giftedness follow:

Students who are identified as gifted and talent exhibit "excellence" or a capacity for excellence far beyond that of their chronological peers. Their require differentiated educational program and/or services beyond those normally provided by regular school program in order to realize their ability to contribute to self and society. (AB 1040)

Gifted students are often capable of work beyond the academic standards. These students need continuous progress and intellectual growth. The goal of the GATE program is to meet student' intellectual needs, motivate students to reach their highest potential, increase the application of critical thinking skills, support positive social and emotional growth, and promote responsibility for their own learning and development.

The basis of the GATE program includes grade level standards and advanced and complex differentiated study. The GATE program provides challenging differentiated curriculum and instruction. Differentiation of course content is achieved through added depth, complexity, acceleration, and student choice.

How do you know that a child is really a gifted child?  This question is often asked, and the answer is not as straightforward as you would hope. However, there are signs about that. You know you're the parent of a gifted child when...

Identification of gifted children takes many forms.  Some kids are obvious - the child who teaches himself to read at 2 or 3, not just words, but entire books written for much older children!  Or the child who teaches herself arithmetic by 3, and insists you quiz her, but give her wrong answers mixed in, so she can correct your addition an subtraction.
But not all gifted children are that easy to spot, and even these children start to blend in as they reach school age, and realize that they are different from the other children in their classes.

Identification gives you many resources and suggestions for identification of gifted children. From the moderately gifted, to the profoundly gifted, to the twice exceptional gifted who may also contend with learning disabilities at the same time.

Testing offers advice and research on the various methods used to test our children, to determine if they fit someone's (the school, the district, the state) definition of a gifted child.

The common way to get into Cotati-Rohnet Park GATE program is through OLSAT. Click here to know more about Otis-Lennon School Ability Test. Students are asked such tasks as detecting likenesses and differences, following directions, classifying, and establishing sequence, 
completing analogies, and solving matrixes.

Try to make sense of the SAT-9 and OLSAT report card? Click here to get some answers.

Parent's Guide to Raising a Gifted Child
by James Alvino

How Jane Won : 55 Successful Women Share How They Grew from Ordinary Girls to Extraordinary Women
by Sylvia B. Rimm

Some of My Best Friends Are Books : Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School
by Judith Wynn Halsted

The Survival Guide for Parents of Gifted Kids
by Sally Yahnke Walker, Susan K. Perry

Smart Girls: A New Psychology of Girls, Women, and Giftedness
Barbara A. Kerr

Gifted Grownups: The Mixed Blessings of Extraordinary Potential
by Marylou Kelly Streznewski

Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life
by Carla Fine

"Parents of highly gifted offspring must face - in addition to the usual struggle of raising children - a number of demands that exert unusual stress, but also offer opportunities for  intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual development." Ann Boyer, "Surviving The Blessing," Understanding Our Gifted, January 1989.

This wonderful web page provides a lot information about raising a Highly Gifted Child.

The 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions About Highly Gifted Children

• Gifted Child Quarterly Geared for educators, recent research and developments in the field of gifted education. NAGC journal, available with NAGC membership only.
• Highly Gifted Children Quarterly newsletter of The Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children.
• Parenting for High Potential Designed for parents but written by educators, discusses issues with gifted children at home, in the community, and at school. NAGC quarterly magazine, available with NAGC membership.
• Understanding Our Gifted For parents, educators and counselors, includes practical advice, social and emotional concerns.

Know more about the Cotai-Rohnert Park Unified School District.

Is the school doing well? Check the following reports on SAT-9 scores and latest API number.
 

• California STAR Program (SAT-9 reports for school and district) (2002)
• 2000-2001 Academic Performance Index (API) Growth Report
• 2001-2002 Academic Performance Index (API) Growth Report
• School Accountability Report Card

How does your school stack up against others? Check out the Bay Area Education Performance Profile in PDF format.

Electronic versions of the content standards adopted by the California State Board of Education are available here. To read the PDF files, you will need Acrobat Reader.

English-Language ArtsPDF 92 pp. | HTML

Mathematics PDF 73 pp. | HTML 

History-Social Science PDF 72 pp. | HTML

Science PDF 61 pp. | HTML

Standards Matrix - Easy Access to Grade Level Standards

The Internet offers a worldwide network of information for educational, business, and entertainment uses. As with anything else, however, parental guidance ensures the most appropriate use for your child. While many children may be more comfortable with computers than their parents, the following suggestions can assist you in teaching your child to be "street smart" on the Information Highway and make sure that their experience is a positive one
 

Spend time with your child on the Internet.

If you do not know how to use it, have your child teach you.

Spend time on the Internet by yourself. Educate yourself to what is out there.

Be aware of the risks involved with using the Internet: inappropriate material, people with bad manners, computer viruses, harassment, advertising scams, etc.

Understand that there is no real control on the Internet, and no real way for you to completely control your child's access.

Be aware of the major role marketing and advertising play in funding the information available.

Teach your child how to be safe on the Internet.

To learn more tips for child safety on Internet, visit this wonderful web site.

What to do if your kid encounter inappropriate material in Internet?You need a  plan against Inappropriate Material.

Filtering software may also help to increase the safety on the Internet for your child. Followings are just two of many products available:

 
Cyber Snoop - Internet monitoring and control software that lets you create a log of URLs, file transfers, news groups, chat, and email. Also allows blocking sites.
Cybersitter - gives parents the ability to limit their children's access to objectionable material on the Internet. Parents can choose to put up blocks to certain material or can be alerted when it is accessed.

Assertiveness and Effective Parent Advocacy by Marie Sherrett

How to Make Parent-Teacher Conferences Worthwhile and Productive by Arlene DeVries

National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent October 1993

Promoting Gifted Education in Your Community by Kristen Stephens

Important Lessons for Advocacy by Leslie E. Packer

Testimony of the National Association for Gifted Children Sally Reis

The Eight Habits of Involved Parents

How Can I Support My Gifted Child? by ERIC

Even though girls are as talented as boys in math and science, and even though most girls are excited about science in childhood, by the age of 12 these same girls begin to lose interest in math and science. Their scores on science and mathematic assessments continue to fall and they drop out of math and science classes, often forever closing the door on a vast and diverse array of career opportunities.
 
• Women with solid math backgrounds earn more than women without the math skills.
• A strong background in mathematics, science, and technology are required for the fastest growing occupations: computer, technology, engineering, and math and science-related fields.
• Over the past few years women were awarded fewer than 25% of the degrees in chemistry, less than 20% of the degrees in physics and math, and less than 1 of every 10 degrees in engineering.
• One of the highest paying and fastest growing occupations over the next decade will be engineering.


Here are some tips to help your girls to learn Math, Science and Technology. Yes, Science and Math are for Girls.

How much money is in this for me? Check out the salary comparison between professions. The data is a bit old, but the you get the idea.

Every body knows that sending a kid through college is expensive, but just how expensive it is? It is largely depended on which school and where it is. You can find it out with this tool by CNN/Money.

Have you saved enough money, yet? If you are not sure, you might want to use this planning tool to see how much you need to save every year.

Money is just one of the many challenges. It takes more than plenty of money and straight A to get into a university, especially the one you dream of. Do your kids have the right suff to get in?

A prime on the college selection process.