Yes, our school has a gifted program but it consists of grouping the gifted kids in "clusters" of 4 to 8 kids within regular classes. This only applies to grades 4-6. For K-3, the kids are not formally identified, but are supposed to receive differentiated instruction. I have seen no evidence of that with my daughter's reading instruction, by the way. Hopefully, she will be identified next year during 3rd grade. The school does not accept any outside testing even though they will not evaluate the kids until 3rd grade.
Last year, they also offered Odyssey of the Mind as an after school activity. This was paid for using GATE money and was open to all students. GATE is very underfunded here. Our school receives $10 per GATE student per year. All $200 of last year's money was used to fund OM. I know it's a paltry amount and maybe that's how they could get the most for the money they had. Still, it bothers me that the money was not used for instruction of GATE students during school hours. What if some of the GATE kids couldn't participate in an after school activity due to scheduling issues?
Cathy
