• Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) – OLSAT Testing 2024-2025

    Fall GATE Testing for 3rd – 8th Grade: Week of October 21st

    Spring GATE Testing for 2nd – 7th Grade: April - TBD

    There are three ways to qualify for GATE in Jefferson Elementary School District:

    1. Earn a qualifying score on the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT),
    2. Meet the district CAASPP Score criteria,
    3. Or through the teacher recommendation / portfolio process.

    Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) testing is open to 2nd through 8th graders who have not taken the OLSAT 8 in the past three years. Please note, 2nd grade students are only eligible to test in the spring in preparation for eligibility moving into third grade. 

    Jefferson Elementary School District provides 2nd – 8th grade students the opportunity to participate in an assessment used for identifying Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) students. Currently, the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition (OLSAT-8) is available two times each school year: Fall and Spring. The testing schedule can be found below for each school site.

    Parents are responsible for student transportation if participating in the after school test.  If you would like your child to participate in the upcoming GATE testing, please click the link below for the application or contact the school office and ask for a GATE application. 

    The application can be found under Academic Programs, Gifted and Talented, GATE student application or click:  http://www.jeffersonschooldistrict.com/site/default.aspx?pageid=53

    Fall Testing Schedule: The application must be completed and returned to the school office by: Tuesday, October 15th.  

    • Jefferson - October 24, 2024
    • Monticello - October 24, 2024
    • Tom Hawkins - October 24, 2024
    • Anthony Traina - October 24, 2024
    • Corral Hollow - October 24, 2024

    Spring Testing Schedule: The application must be completed and returned to the school office by: March - TBD

    • Jefferson - TBD
    • Tom Hawkins - TBD
    • Anthony Traina - TBD
    • Corral Hollow - TBD

    Once all applications are received, parents/guardians will be contacted and provided the time of testing and the classroom to report to. Please contact Student Services if you need additional information: Scott Andrews (209) 836-3388  or  sandrews@jsdtracy.com

     2nd Grade Testing (spring only): 

    The OLSAT-8 is a nationally standardized, norm-referenced, group administered, measure of verbal and non-verbal school abilities. It is a multiple choice test that lasts approximately 60 minutes. The areas measured include:

    • Verbal Comprehension: understanding of language; similarities and differences among words
    • Verbal Reasoning: using language to infer, apply, and classify
    • Pictorial Reasoning: inferring from and evaluating pictures
    • Figural Reasoning: reasoning involving geometric shapes

    Students identified for GATE services are provided with educational opportunities to realize their full potential. The district philosophy and plan is to make program services an integral part of the school day, every day. The district believes that all students must be provided a challenging curriculum that is aligned with state standards and frameworks and allows students to meet and exceed the state academic content standards. The district’s program design centers around the principles of differentiated instruction and are imperative to meet the intellectual, academic, social and emotional needs of all students. Teachers strive for depth, complexity, novelty and acceleration in all of their daily instruction. Teachers ensure that students are able to understand, apply and extend beyond the standard(s), and they use the instructional strategies needed to meet the individual needs of each student.

    Click on the link below for the California Association of the Gifted website: http://www.cagifted.org/