Advancing GATE December 16, 2025

Thank you all for your authentic engagement in yesterday’s Professional Development. We were truly inspired by your participation, thoughtful feedback, and unwavering commitment to our students. The energy and collaboration yesterday gave us great hope for the future.

A special thank-you to Jennifer and Nova for planning such fun festivities, and to Ashley and Kim for creating and sharing our second-semester elementary curriculum. Your efforts made the day both impactful and energizing.

• December 15 PD Resources, updated with the SSMV and Middle School Presentation.
• Please enter Family and Student Recommendations for our Family Advisory Council. Each teacher should submit a form, even if it is a shared school!
• The Padlet for the Mission & Vision work we did... I promised to leave open this week so you can read or add any additional comments (totally optional!)
• Just for Fun! Nova's Winter Puzzles

These were the most common one-word check outs from our survey. Thank you for encouraging us!

Happy Winter Break! Thank you for everything you do for students. We hope the break brings you rest, renewal, and moments that feel just for you.

Repeat Information (this information is repeated from prior Advancing GATE Newsletters)

Please see important testing dates below. *Please note that this procedure is different from years past. You can train your teachers now, but they cannot submit any UCTs until January 5 as the list of 90th percentile and above students will be provided on December 12. Please emphasize this during your training.

In Progress

• Dec 2–Jan 16 GATE teachers train teachers on the UCT to recommend students for testing. *No submissions will be accepted prior to January 5.

Up Next in Testing

• Dec 19 (Updated!) August 90th %tile lists are uploaded to Teams (download these lists for distribution to your teachers)
• Jan 5–16 UCT submission is open for grades K-7. Teachers recommend students for GATE testing who were not already qualified through FastBridge scores.
• Jan 16 Teachers provide draft testing schedules to principals for approval using the Testing Schedule Template.
• Feb 2–Mar 5 GATE Teachers test K–G7 students. Grades 3 and 4 will be prioritized earlier in the window. See Spring Testing Guidelines for details.
• Mar 16–27 Early Learning Center (ELC) CogAT Testing for PreK.
• ~May 18 PK–7 decision letters will be sent to families.

Links to support your work

• Spring Testing Guidelines
• UCT Power Point for Training Teachers
• Testing Schedule Template to complete with your schedule

Teacher Absence Form

GATE Shared Folders

December 5 - January 16: GATE Teachers train school staff on UCT

January 16: Teachers submit testing schedules to principals and GATE office

January 16: Last day for teachers to submit UCTs

January 21-22: Professional Development @ Robertson

February 2 - March 5: K-7 CogAT Testing
February 10-11: Professional Development CANCELLED

March 16: Professional Development @ Martin

March 16-27: PreK CogAT Testing

May 11: Professional Development @ Martin

December 2, 2025
November 19, 2025