The mission of Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD) Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program is to provide appropriate, differentiated educational opportunities and auxiliary services for our K-12 students. Thee opportunities are designed to be commensurate with the students' unique capabilities, individual talents, and creative abilities. Our program will nurture each student's sense of personal worth, encourage students to develop and use their gifts and talents responsibility, and stimulate a love of learning, in an atmosphere of cooperation among students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

The CA Association for the Gifted in the Position Paper, Characteristics of Gifted Children (2005), describes the high levels of functioning exhibited by gifted children in the cognitive, intuitive, affective, and physical areas. A gifted student may exhibit some but not all of these characteristics in varying degrees. COGNITIVE AREA: involves logical and rational thought processes:

• processes an extraordinary quantity of information
• has a capacity for processing information at an accelerated pace
• is persistent, goal-oriented
• demonstrates flexibility
• rapidly acquires a new language

• demonstrates creative and inventive approaches
• insightfulness leads to leaps of understanding
• is curious
• sensitive to aesthetic qualities
• shows an interest in the future
• has the ability to predict

• demonstrates unusual sensitivity to the environment
• has empathy and awareness of the expectations and feelings of others
• develops idealism and a sense of justice
• displays emotional intensity
• has high expectations of self and others

• has heightened sensitivity to light, sound, touch, small, taste
• demonstrates high energy that may be misdiagnosed as a hyperactivity disorder
• displays asynchrony between physical and emotional development
• avoids physical activity in favor of the intellectual

• lack of organization
• daydreaming
• failure to complete work
• argumentative
• challenges authority
• challenges assignments that seem repetitive and pointless
• sense of humor
• perfectionism
• inability to prioritize
• emotional intensity
• assorted learning disabilities
• English language learner