Poway to Revamp GATE Program

Poway school district officials plan to revamp their program for gifted and talented middle-school students in response to parents’ complaints that their high-achieving children find the classes boring, unenriching and a waste of time.

“We have to find a way of doing a better job, and we have to do it right away,” school board Trustee Stan Rodkin said.

At a meeting Monday night at Bernardo Heights Middle School, Rodkin and his fellow trustees directed the district’s staff to return June 29 with a recommendation for changing the Gifted and Talented Education, or GATE, program for middle-school students.

Parents of GATE children have been imploring the Poway Unified School District for six months to change the way its middle schools deal with students in the top 2% of academic achievement.

On Monday night, Romeo Camozzi, the district’s GATE coordinator, recommended that the board maintain the current program and appoint a committee to conduct a one-year study of alternatives. But about 40 parents, armed with a petition carrying 170 names, demanded changes before the start of a new school year in September.

“We do not need more staff studies,” said parent Bob Witt, whose seventh-grade son attends Twin Peaks Middle School. “What we need is action.”

The parents also announced that they have sent a letter to the state Department of Education, requesting that it conduct a review to determine whether the Poway program is in compliance with the state education code.

At the heart of the issue is a longstanding and unresolved debate among educators over whether gifted and talented students are better served in classrooms mixed with children of all learning abilities or in settings surrounded by fellow, high-achieving students.

Poway middle schools have been grouping GATE students within regular classes. The practice, called “clustering,” is intended to help gifted students develop social skills in a mixed classroom while utilizing their advanced abilities to improve the learning environment of their peers.

In addition, the program tries to offer high achievers additional challenges through supplemental lessons from their teachers. Poway also offers GATE students “pullout” courses, which take them out of their regular classes and allow them to explore particular fields of interest.

But parents and a GATE student told the school board that the program isn’t working. They described it as a haphazard approach that varies from school to school, puts unrealistic demands on teachers and often leaves gifted students loaded down with extra work that doesn’t deepen or broaden their knowledge or skills.

“My son has come home and said to me, ‘Why are they punishing me for being smart?’ ” said Elma Maury, whose seventh-grade son attends Bernardo Heights Middle School.

Parents said they prefer a GATE program that would allow a choice between enrolling their children in courses of in-depth study tied to the core curriculum and keeping their children in the mixed classrooms.

Poway’s current program, the parents said, fails to meet state education code requirements that GATE students receive a minimum of 200 minutes a week of “qualitatively differentiated instruction” with academic components in all program offerings.

Some parents said there is little difference between what their children are being taught and what non-GATE classmates are taught. Also, some of the 200 minutes that Poway counts as GATE instruction, they said, include homework and unsupervised independent study, which is not consistent with state requirements.

Jennifer DeVicariis, an eighth-grade GATE student at Bernardo Heights, told trustees that, because her teacher did not have extra time to spend with advanced students, they were often sent to the library to study on their own. With only cursory supervision from the librarian, Jennifer said, she and her fellow GATE students ended up wasting time reading magazines.

“I received little qualitatively different instruction this year,” she said.

The clustering of GATE students in mixed classes also contributed to their being singled out by classmates who considered them teacher’s pets, Jennifer said.

Parents also criticized the pullout courses offered at some of the middle schools, which, according to the GATE program, are intended to offer high achievers opportunities to expand their exploration of the curriculum. But the courses have included such topics as crocheting, knitting, quilting, ceramics and fencing, the parents said.

Camozzi, Poway’s GATE coordinator, said state education officials have not reviewed the district’s program in four years, even though state law requires a check every three. He said such reviews have been limited by a lack of state funding.

A survey of GATE parents, provided to trustees Monday night, showed that about 80% of respondents think favorably of the program, although only about 180 of 1,200 parents responded. Parents at the meeting said many did not receive the survey. Others who were critical of the program did not respond, they said, because they were not confident they could do so anonymously.

“When I look at the program reviews,” Trustee Sharon Purviance said, “parents seem to be pleased with what’s going on.”

But Purviance, noting that Poway has had a history of problems with its middle-school GATE programs, said the outpouring from parents persuaded her that changes are needed.

“I’m really dismayed that we haven’t come further,” she said.