GAP vs. GATE

We are all too familiar with the achievement gap... but how many of us know anything about the gate? And by "the gate," I mean GATE: Baltimore City's Gifted And Talented Education program. We learned in our special education class that just as we are required to identify students with suspected disabilities for special education, we are legally required to identify students who are achieving at a significantly higher level as well. But how many of us have ever done that? And the better question might be, if we were to identify a student as gifted and talented, how many of our schools would have the means to accommodate that student in a meaningful way?

According to the Maryland State definition, a gifted and talented student is one who " (1) has outstanding talent, and performs or shows the potential for performing, at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with other students of a similar age, experience, or environment (2) exhibits high performance capability in intellectual, creative, or artistic areas (3) possesses an unusual leadership capacity and/or (4) excels in specific academic fields.

I can think of several students who fulfill all of those criteria, and I strive to differentiate assignments for them in order to make their work more challenging. Nevertheless, I feel like my school is doing them a disservice by not offering a formalized GATE program. At the same time, I have my suspicions about some of the GATE programs that are already in existence. For example, my husband is currently working at a Baltimore County middle school that offers two formal GATE classes in the 8th grade. 28% of the 8th grade class is African American. However, out of the approximately 50 students in those GATE classes, only 2 are African American. Is it really possible that the white kids are just that much more "gifted?" I don't think so.

I was in a program similar to GATE throughout my elementary and middle school years and I truly believe that those classes helped make me the "learning-lover" geeky person that I am today. I wish that more of our students had those some opportunities. If any of you have information about GATE programs at your school or how to start one at my school, I would love to hear from you!