Dear Upper Grade Families,
As you ponder the future for your soon-to-be middle schooler and wonder what school would be the best fit for your family, feel free to refer to The Walgrove Experience rubric, which lists the various attributes of a school in a way that hopefully helps you ponder any potential school's alignment with your own family's values.
Further, to help you in your quest, please know the following:
- LAUSD has an interest in parent choice. LAUSD has Unified Enrollment and Open Enrollment and a variety of schools to select from. LAUSD encourages principals to sign off on permit requests, as desired, so that families may choose the school that is the best fit for them.
- LAUSD schools include magnet schools, charter schools, SAS schools, neighborhood schools and more. For information on these models, please visit https://apply.lausd.net/
- Regarding one of those models, SAS schools, or Schools for Advanced Studies, please know that SAS schools are schools that have applied for and have been accepted into a five-year cycle of being an SAS school, during which time they are committed to:
- Composing classes so that certain classes have clusters of GATE students
- Training teachers of GATE clusters a minimum # of hours per year
Is Walgrove an SAS school?
No. While Walgrove boasts a GATE population of approximately 34% (yes, 1 in 3 students is either GATE-designated or GATE-referred), has an official "GATE cluster" in nearly every general education class, and is home to several GATE certified teachers, we have not yet applied for SAS status. The next opportunity to apply for SAS status will be in 2024, and we are definitely considering applying. In the meantime, we are committed to providing for all our students a robust and well-rounded education that is ever-increasing in potency.
Does my child qualify for an SAS (or magnet) school?
If your child has already been officially designated GATE (and it says so in MiSIS), then they automatically qualify.
If they have not yet been officially designated GATE, then they qualify if the current principal has determined that they have done EITHER of the following:
- Earned a score in the top 15% on a recent standardized test
- Demonstrated prowess in critical thinking and problem-solving AND are two years above grade level in academic subjects
Once you apply for a spot in an SAS or magnet school, your child's name appears in a verification system. In January, principals log into that system and place a check mark next to each child who has applied for an SAS or magnet school and has demonstrably met the criteria, thereby verifying their qualification.
For more information, please visit https://apply.lausd.net or email Walgrove's GATE Coordinator: andrea.kittelson1@lausd.net.
