[1] The purpose is to cluster students of similar capabilities and needs with teachers who can challenge them with greater academic and intellectual rigor while meeting their social and emotional needs.
[3] HGM schools bring together specialized teachers and compatible peers to give these children the challenge and support they need to develop to their maximum potential.
Eligibility to most HGMs is restricted to students who test at least in the 99.5th percentile on an intellectual giftedness assessment conducted by an LAUSD psychologist (equivalent to IQ of 140+/-5).
If parents believe the OLSAT does not adequately reflect their child's intellectual capacity or that they need the higher challenge and social clustering of a Highly Gifted program, they can still request an IQ/intellectual assessment by contacting the GATE Coordinator at their school.
In all cases, families will need to justify why they believe their children may be highly gifted, above normal levels of giftedness that can be identified by the OLSAT test (see above paragraph).