Gifted in First

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Home : 2002 : December : 31

Gifted in First
By Amanda K

I, too, feel that we need to consider the whole child. In my district, we use a test for GATE beginning at the end of first grade that assesses only one kind of visual puzzle-solving. As a result, one of the brightest girls
in the school has failed to qualify for GATE three years in a row simply because she does not happen to do well on that kind of problem. Conversely, we've had students do well on the test who struggled in the regular ed program and who are now struggling even more in the GATE program. We need to lose that test and find a way of qualifying students in a way that considers the whole

child.

I think that it's okay to place a child in GATE as early as first, but more than just a test needs to be taken into consideration. I have probably six students in my first grade class right now who will qualify for GATE at some point, but I only have one who could benefit from it right now. The others are still developing skills they need to hone their intellects to the point that they can do the types of problem-solving required by our GATE program. For example, little Sarah reads at a second grade level (and her parents want her tested because they like that GATE label for their children), but she is just now learning strategies for independent higher-level thinking and would therefore struggle in our GATE program if she were placed this early. Many first graders, gifted or not, simply aren't capable of that kind of abstract thinking yet.

In my district, we don't test for GATE until the end of second (we used to do it at the end of first, but we found that many students who qualified for GATE in first were not truly prepared for the program and really struggled). The idea we have now is to examine our class, starting with the first few weeks of first grade, and pick the students whom we feel are ready to start preparing their mental skills for the GATE program. Of course, we don't just limit this kind of observation to the beginning of the year, since so many students blossom later. Then, first and second grade teachers should be working with these students to teach them the skills that they will need to succeed in the GATE program if they qualify.

I, too, am interested to see what others feel about first and second graders in GATE. We have quite a few vigilant parents at my school who want their children identified as early as possible, but I feel that most of these students would benefit from a year or so of extra preparation, at least with the way our GATE program is run right now. We have too many students struggle in GATE in the early years because of the nature of our test and because of the demands of our program.