GATE MAGNET

Vision Statement

Gifted students, like all students, deserve an educational program as closely adapted to their needs as possible.  We at Lawrence Gifted Magnet recognize our obligation to hold them to the highest standards they are capable of achieving and to recognize the unique talents and needs of each individual in a diverse gifted population.  We believe in striking a balance between the creative, open-ended learning activities from which gifted students benefit, and the more structured activities necessary to equip students with the skills essential for academic success.

Program Description

Lawrence Gifted Magnet serves 395 gifted, highly gifted, and high ability students on the campus of Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth, California.  The students at each grade level take honors level classes which meet their need for an accelerated curriculum. The program is a demanding one, designed to provide the differentiated instruction which allows each student to meet the challenge of fulfilling his own potential.  Students learn subjects with depth and complexity.  The goals of the program are to allow and encourage the gifted students to reach their potential and to prepare them for rigorous Honors and AP classes they will take when in high school. 

Lawrence Gifted Magnet meets the needs of gifted students for inquiry into subjects done at the higher levels of thinking of Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. Also addressed is the students’ wide range of talents and their various learning modalities.

All magnet academic classes are honors level classes, and high standards are set for the students. Teachers and staff work closely with the parents and students to educate as a team.  The social and emotional needs of the gifted students are taken into consideration as well.

In addition to the rigorous academic classes, the magnet students take elective classes that are intellectually stimulating.  These classes include marine biology, horticulture, anatomy, geography, art and museum studies, environmental studies, novels and film, journalism, and instrumental music.

In addition to these classes, students have the opportunity to be part of our Model United Nations program.  In this program, students study global issues and become conversant in the needs and concerns of countries around the world.  The students enhance their writing skills, and learn public speaking and diplomacy.

Our Hippocrates Circle program is for students who are interested in going into a medical career in the future.  The program is done in liaison with Kaiser Permanente Hospital and with the USC/Keck Medical School.  Students are certified in first aid, do a heart dissection with the lead cardiologist, have a pathology class with the lead pathologist, take a nutrition class, and get a “backstage” tour of the hospital.  The doctors in the program serve as mentors for these students as they go through their academic path through medical school.   

The success of our program can be seen in the number of siblings who apply for our program and in the feedback we get from students who return to share with us the success they have in high school and in college due to the preparation they received at Lawrence Gifted Magnet and the success they have in their acceptance to some of the finest colleges and universities.  Lawrence Gifted Magnet also has the highest percentage of students who met or exceeded the state standards on the SBAC test than any other middle school program in the Los Angeles Unified School District with the exception of Portola Highly Gifted Magnet, where all students have scored 99.5% or higher on an intellectual test.

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