Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District
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GATE
Gifted and Talented Education
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District recognizes the needs of high-achieving students and students with exceptional abilities through the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Plan. The purpose of the GATE Plan is to identify PVPUSD students from varying linguistic, economic, and cultural backgrounds with exceptional abilities and to support their instructional program by providing differentiated learning experiences within the classroom through a variety of instructional strategies. These supports are structured so that individual student experiences and activities can vary in acceleration, depth, complexity, or degree of novelty.
PVPUSD identifies gifted and talented students at the start of fourth grade and at the start of sixth grade. With parental consent, all students are assessed using the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT3). The NNAT3 measures verbal reasoning and comprehension, as well as nonverbal understanding of spatial and serial relationships among geometric shapes. Students who obtain a School Ability Index score of 130 or higher on the NNAT3 are invited to participate in the GATE program. GATE-identified students make up more than 12% of the overall PVPUSD student population.
The GATE Advisory Committee—consisting of parents, teachers, and administrators—meets yearly to advise and support the school district in administering all aspects of the GATE Plan, including ongoing planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Resources for parents:
California Association for the Gifted (CAG) (http://www.cagifted.org/)
National Association for Gifted Children NAGC (https://www.nagc.org/)
2024-2025 GATE Advisory Meetings (in person PVPUSD District Office)
- December 18, 2024 9:00-10:00 AM
- May 15, 2025 1:00-2:00 PM
Site Gate Leads
PVPUSD Site Leads will be planning events for each school.