Seminar Program in SD school district

[UCGal]

As mentioned SDUSD had Gate Cluster and Seminar. Gate is for kids who score 98% or better on the Raven Matrices test. Seminar is for those who score 99.9 percent on the test. In other words – the genious kids.

In the cluster model – 1/3 of the children in a GATE cluster class are identified GATE. In theory, the teachers are trained in differentiation – so that they can offer extended subject matter to kids who excel in a specific topic. Going further or deeper into a subject matter. In practice – this is only as good as the teacher and their demands. Class sizes have gotten bigger so the teachers have more students to try to offer differentiation to. A good teacher, GATE or not, will offer differentiation based on ability levels… this, unfortunately, does not happen as much as it should.

In some schools, all of the classes are GATE cluster. Scripps ranch elementaries probably fit this model. I know it’s true at Curie (where my kids go) since about 1/2 of the enrolled kids, 3rd grade and up, are identified GATE. Demographics skews the number of GATE kids.

Doyle elementary used to offer homogenous GATE classes (not seminar)… but they were pressured to move to the cluster model. I believe all schools with GATE programs are now on the cluster model.

Not all Seminar programs are the same. Different Seminar programs have different approaches. Some emphasize Academic Olympics, others emphasize independant learning plans. I have friends with kids in the Spreckel’s seminar program, and other friends who felt that wasn’t for them – so they send their kids to Hawthorn’s seminar program. I had long talks with one of the Seminar teachers at Erickson, in Mira Mesa. He worked very hard to offer rigor and differentiation.

Seminar does offer smaller class size. But even Seminar is having to increase the class size. It’s still less than non-seminar, but getting bigger than it was going forward in the 2011/2012 school year.

The funding was never that great for GATE – $35/kid/year. 2 years ago, because of the budget crisis, they allowed schools governance teams to divert the money if they want to. It’s done on a school by school basis. In other words – the GATE funds are still there – but can be dumped into the general funding for that school if the SGT decides to do so.

General information about San Diego Unified’s GATE program:
http://www.sandi.net/20451072011453310/site/default.asp
Info specific for Seminar:
http://www.sandi.net/20451072011453310/lib/20451072011453310/Forms%20and%20PDFs/SeminarProgramDesBooklet1011.pdf
Info for the SDUSD GATE cluster program:
http://www.sandi.net/20451072011453310/lib/20451072011453310/Forms%20and%20PDFs/GATEProgramBrochure1011.pdf

[Anonymous]

There is no gate program. And, although the seminar kids are all together in one class, I would say there is no seminar program either. At our elementary school in La Jolla the seminar children are forced to the core curriculum, and as a result are somewhat badly behaved and considered difficult to teach. It is a total travesty. And yet most of the parents just sit around congratulating themselves on their kids being in the program without wondering why the work isn’t any different. As far as I can see, the only difference for the kids in the seminar program is that they are socially excluded by the other children. I tried so hard to get the bar raised for my son and met with incredible resistance from the teacher. And don’t even get me started on the so called GATE program. The children are all put together, the slowest in the class sets the pace for all of them, and nothing else. I had a long conversation once with the VP of the middle school asking if they had GATE classes for the advanced children, and she happily told me that every class was a GATE class. “Surely,” I said, “if every class is a GATE class, then no class is a GATE class,” but she just could not see that. They spend so much money “training” the GATE teachers, but in all the years my children have been in the program, I have seen not more than one or two logic problem sheets sent home in a full school year as the difference. An incredible waste of money, and of time. My kids have been beyond bored at school.

[Anonymous]

There is no gate program. And, although the seminar kids are all together in one class, I would say there is no seminar program either. At our elementary school in La Jolla the seminar children are forced to the core curriculum, and as a result are somewhat badly behaved and considered difficult to teach. It is a total travesty. And yet most of the parents just sit around congratulating themselves on their kids being in the program without wondering why the work isn’t any different. As far as I can see, the only difference for the kids in the seminar program is that they are socially excluded by the other children. I tried so hard to get the bar raised for my son and met with incredible resistance from the teacher. And don’t even get me started on the so called GATE program. The children are all put together, the slowest in the class sets the pace for all of them, and nothing else. I had a long conversation once with the VP of the middle school asking if they had GATE classes for the advanced children, and she happily told me that every class was a GATE class. “Surely,” I said, “if every class is a GATE class, then no class is a GATE class,” but she just could not see that. They spend so much money “training” the GATE teachers, but in all the years my children have been in the program, I have seen not more than one or two logic problem sheets sent home in a full school year as the difference. An incredible waste of money, and of time. My kids have been beyond bored at school.

[Anonymous]

There is no gate program. And, although the seminar kids are all together in one class, I would say there is no seminar program either. At our elementary school in La Jolla the seminar children are forced to the core curriculum, and as a result are somewhat badly behaved and considered difficult to teach. It is a total travesty. And yet most of the parents just sit around congratulating themselves on their kids being in the program without wondering why the work isn’t any different. As far as I can see, the only difference for the kids in the seminar program is that they are socially excluded by the other children. I tried so hard to get the bar raised for my son and met with incredible resistance from the teacher. And don’t even get me started on the so called GATE program. The children are all put together, the slowest in the class sets the pace for all of them, and nothing else. I had a long conversation once with the VP of the middle school asking if they had GATE classes for the advanced children, and she happily told me that every class was a GATE class. “Surely,” I said, “if every class is a GATE class, then no class is a GATE class,” but she just could not see that. They spend so much money “training” the GATE teachers, but in all the years my children have been in the program, I have seen not more than one or two logic problem sheets sent home in a full school year as the difference. An incredible waste of money, and of time. My kids have been beyond bored at school.

[Anonymous]

There is no gate program. And, although the seminar kids are all together in one class, I would say there is no seminar program either. At our elementary school in La Jolla the seminar children are forced to the core curriculum, and as a result are somewhat badly behaved and considered difficult to teach. It is a total travesty. And yet most of the parents just sit around congratulating themselves on their kids being in the program without wondering why the work isn’t any different. As far as I can see, the only difference for the kids in the seminar program is that they are socially excluded by the other children. I tried so hard to get the bar raised for my son and met with incredible resistance from the teacher. And don’t even get me started on the so called GATE program. The children are all put together, the slowest in the class sets the pace for all of them, and nothing else. I had a long conversation once with the VP of the middle school asking if they had GATE classes for the advanced children, and she happily told me that every class was a GATE class. “Surely,” I said, “if every class is a GATE class, then no class is a GATE class,” but she just could not see that. They spend so much money “training” the GATE teachers, but in all the years my children have been in the program, I have seen not more than one or two logic problem sheets sent home in a full school year as the difference. An incredible waste of money, and of time. My kids have been beyond bored at school.

[Anonymous]

There is no gate program. And, although the seminar kids are all together in one class, I would say there is no seminar program either. At our elementary school in La Jolla the seminar children are forced to the core curriculum, and as a result are somewhat badly behaved and considered difficult to teach. It is a total travesty. And yet most of the parents just sit around congratulating themselves on their kids being in the program without wondering why the work isn’t any different. As far as I can see, the only difference for the kids in the seminar program is that they are socially excluded by the other children. I tried so hard to get the bar raised for my son and met with incredible resistance from the teacher. And don’t even get me started on the so called GATE program. The children are all put together, the slowest in the class sets the pace for all of them, and nothing else. I had a long conversation once with the VP of the middle school asking if they had GATE classes for the advanced children, and she happily told me that every class was a GATE class. “Surely,” I said, “if every class is a GATE class, then no class is a GATE class,” but she just could not see that. They spend so much money “training” the GATE teachers, but in all the years my children have been in the program, I have seen not more than one or two logic problem sheets sent home in a full school year as the difference. An incredible waste of money, and of time. My kids have been beyond bored at school.

[an]

Thanks disappointed mom for that assessment. Are you sure the curriculum is the same for seminar student as regular student? That would be a big surprise to me (in a bad way).

[an]

Thanks disappointed mom for that assessment. Are you sure the curriculum is the same for seminar student as regular student? That would be a big surprise to me (in a bad way).

[an]

Thanks disappointed mom for that assessment. Are you sure the curriculum is the same for seminar student as regular student? That would be a big surprise to me (in a bad way).

[an]

Thanks disappointed mom for that assessment. Are you sure the curriculum is the same for seminar student as regular student? That would be a big surprise to me (in a bad way).

[an]

Thanks disappointed mom for that assessment. Are you sure the curriculum is the same for seminar student as regular student? That would be a big surprise to me (in a bad way).

[Anonymous]

They told me the same thing at Sequoia elementary, that the GATE program was gone. I called the District and found out it is NOT gone. There were some cutbacks, but there are GATE reps for iep’S AVAIL (I was told there were none). The person who wrote the initial topic thread sounds angry or hurt. There are going to be 31 students in the hawthorne GS class next year. These kids are not taught competition, rather advanced curriculia. They are NOT isolated. The seminar teachers are some of the most caring, nuturing teachers. My 3rd grader told me that she felt this way about school (regular public school) “I just have given up- I don’t care”. She is underachieving, sliding by.
When she found out about what is taught at the seminar program and met the teacher, she became interested in learning again. We each have a place in this world. Don’t knock others for trying to find it. My other daughter is twicw exceptional highly gifted. She had a horrible time at school. One teacher told me that she would talk in concepts that the other kids did’nt get “She talks circles above their heads”. She was bullied, isolated, picked on. She was told she must “show her work”, even though she could do 987 x 20 in her head. Her teacher humiliated her. IEPs were a joke. I asked over and over for GATE rep for IEPs, but never. No help. She had two breakdowns, refused to write, refused t go to school. I pulled her out.

[Anonymous]

They told me the same thing at Sequoia elementary, that the GATE program was gone. I called the District and found out it is NOT gone. There were some cutbacks, but there are GATE reps for iep’S AVAIL (I was told there were none). The person who wrote the initial topic thread sounds angry or hurt. There are going to be 31 students in the hawthorne GS class next year. These kids are not taught competition, rather advanced curriculia. They are NOT isolated. The seminar teachers are some of the most caring, nuturing teachers. My 3rd grader told me that she felt this way about school (regular public school) “I just have given up- I don’t care”. She is underachieving, sliding by.
When she found out about what is taught at the seminar program and met the teacher, she became interested in learning again. We each have a place in this world. Don’t knock others for trying to find it. My other daughter is twicw exceptional highly gifted. She had a horrible time at school. One teacher told me that she would talk in concepts that the other kids did’nt get “She talks circles above their heads”. She was bullied, isolated, picked on. She was told she must “show her work”, even though she could do 987 x 20 in her head. Her teacher humiliated her. IEPs were a joke. I asked over and over for GATE rep for IEPs, but never. No help. She had two breakdowns, refused to write, refused t go to school. I pulled her out.

[Anonymous]

They told me the same thing at Sequoia elementary, that the GATE program was gone. I called the District and found out it is NOT gone. There were some cutbacks, but there are GATE reps for iep’S AVAIL (I was told there were none). The person who wrote the initial topic thread sounds angry or hurt. There are going to be 31 students in the hawthorne GS class next year. These kids are not taught competition, rather advanced curriculia. They are NOT isolated. The seminar teachers are some of the most caring, nuturing teachers. My 3rd grader told me that she felt this way about school (regular public school) “I just have given up- I don’t care”. She is underachieving, sliding by.
When she found out about what is taught at the seminar program and met the teacher, she became interested in learning again. We each have a place in this world. Don’t knock others for trying to find it. My other daughter is twicw exceptional highly gifted. She had a horrible time at school. One teacher told me that she would talk in concepts that the other kids did’nt get “She talks circles above their heads”. She was bullied, isolated, picked on. She was told she must “show her work”, even though she could do 987 x 20 in her head. Her teacher humiliated her. IEPs were a joke. I asked over and over for GATE rep for IEPs, but never. No help. She had two breakdowns, refused to write, refused t go to school. I pulled her out.

[Anonymous]

They told me the same thing at Sequoia elementary, that the GATE program was gone. I called the District and found out it is NOT gone. There were some cutbacks, but there are GATE reps for iep’S AVAIL (I was told there were none). The person who wrote the initial topic thread sounds angry or hurt. There are going to be 31 students in the hawthorne GS class next year. These kids are not taught competition, rather advanced curriculia. They are NOT isolated. The seminar teachers are some of the most caring, nuturing teachers. My 3rd grader told me that she felt this way about school (regular public school) “I just have given up- I don’t care”. She is underachieving, sliding by.
When she found out about what is taught at the seminar program and met the teacher, she became interested in learning again. We each have a place in this world. Don’t knock others for trying to find it. My other daughter is twicw exceptional highly gifted. She had a horrible time at school. One teacher told me that she would talk in concepts that the other kids did’nt get “She talks circles above their heads”. She was bullied, isolated, picked on. She was told she must “show her work”, even though she could do 987 x 20 in her head. Her teacher humiliated her. IEPs were a joke. I asked over and over for GATE rep for IEPs, but never. No help. She had two breakdowns, refused to write, refused t go to school. I pulled her out.

[Author]

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