{Gate} Middle School GATE Program Gifted students at LAMS have the opportunity to pursue additional challenge or enrichment in their specific areas of interest through development of IEPs that include a GATE objective. The activities pursued through the student’s GATE objective may be coordinated with a class in the school depending on the student’s interest and desire for enrichment. To provide an opportunity to interact with gifted peers in a learning environment, GATE cluster classes are available in three content areas at each grade level in addition to two GATE elective classes. There are two elective GATE classes (GATE Technology and Creative Development) and three content cluster classes per grade level. The content area classes are available in Language Arts, Social Studies, or Science. At the middle school, 26% of the population are served under IEPs for gifted. This constitutes approximately 80 students per grade level. Clearly they cannot all be in one class; therefore students indicate their preference for a content area cluster class at registration. The GATE classes are singletons and various factors affect each student’s schedule depending on other classes the student selects which may also be singletons, such as some foreign language classes, music, and 7th grade algebra or 8th grade geometry. It is also determined by the number of students who choose any GATE class. If the number of students is too low, that class will not be offered. GATE objectives should be based on each student’s individual strengths and need for challenge and enrichment. Many parents and students responded to the winter 2006 survey with the perception that GATE students were required to do more work to receive their grade in the GATE content area than peers who participated in non-GATE content classes. Students strongly indicated that they enjoyed participating in a GATE content area class because of the discussions with gifted peers. In an effort to keep what was working and also provide more individualized GATE objectives, the IEP development was separated from the GATE content class. A GATE case manager/IEP facilitator has been identified for each grade level. During the first weeks of school, they meet with GATE students to provide instruction for the students in preparation for their IEP meetings. The GATE case manager outlines some possible objectives the students might pursue through their IEPs and asks the students to come to the IEP prepared to propose a specific interest they would like to pursue for additional challenge or enrichment. It is not expected that the student will have a fully developed activity to present at the IEP meeting, just the general area of interest. The GATE case manager will work with the student throughout the year to select one or more assignments in a content or elective area related to the objective which may be differentiated to provide additional challenge in the student’s area of interest. These activities are evaluated by the GATE case manager to determine progress toward the student’s gifted objective. These activities may also serve as replacement assignments for a content or elective area class at the teacher’s discretion and graded as part of that class by the classroom teacher. Collaboration between the classroom teacher and the GATE case manager is necessary to assure that appropriate content standards are addressed in the replacement assignment. Throughout the year, the GATE case manager will work with students’ teachers to find times to meet with gifted students individually and in small groups to provide guidance and monitor progress toward their GATE objectives.   The GATE case manager is responsible for providing instruction, guidance, and support to the student in the GATE IEP objectives and for monitoring progress toward mastery of those objectives by evaluating the student’s products. Leanne Salazar is the case manager for 7th grade students. Donna Grim is the case manager for 8th grade students. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed for a child who has a need for support and instruction beyond what is offered in the general education program. A GATE IEP must include at least one objective describing the skill in which instruction will be provided and the IEP must also describe how mastery of this skill will be evaluated. There is a broad range of products that could be produced to demonstrate a skill. The student and the case manager should determine the product collaboratively. If a student doesn’t feel the need for additional challenge at this time, there is no objective and an IEP cannot be developed. The student would exit the program for this year but the student continues to be eligible as a gifted student. The parent or student may request that an IEP be developed at any time in the future. Since the GATE cluster class and the GATE IEP are separate activities, the student is not required to have an IEP to participate in the GATE cluster class. As long as the student wishes to participate in a GATE cluster class and has met gifted criteria, he/she may participate in a GATE cluster class. There is no priority for those students who have an IEP. The GATE elective classes were developed to provide additional opportunities for gifted students to participate with gifted peers in areas unrelated to content areas. These classes have their own curricula. Gifted students may pursue an IEP objective in one of these classes, but they are not required to have an IEP to participate. The GATE case manager will report the child’s progress on his/her IEP objective at the same time that your child receives report cards. The parent and the child will receive progress reports for the activities completed through an IEP GATE objective. The GATE case manager will determine how that progress is reported. It could be a grade or a level of mastery on a rubric but that grade will not appear on the student’s regular report card. It will be included only in the student’s special education record. If the activities are completed as part of assignments for a content area or elective class, they will be graded as part of that class in the same way that other assignments are graded and included in grades on the student’s report card. To enroll in a GATE class, students who have met gifted criteria at any time during their tenure in the district, may indicate their priorities for a GATE class at registration. Although, every effort is made to arrange the schedule to maximize each student’s opportunity to receive their requested classes, conflicts with other singletons as well as the number of students requesting a particular content area class can affect the classes the student actually receives. In a few cases, it may not be possible for a student to receive a GATE if the student has requested two or more additional singletons and scheduling conflicts prevent enrollment in all of the singletons requested.