GATE students will use higher level thinking skills, building on the skills mastered in their homeroom classes as well as on individual interests.  Students will demonstrate their ability to use these skills by doing a variety of self-checking thinking skills activities as well as by incorporating application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation skills in their individual projects.  Students may often evaluate their progress jointly with the instructor.  Success is not viewed as a set numerical goal but as a demonstration of continued progress.  Rather than striving to earn a grade, GATE students in K-6 are encouraged to evaluate their efforts and to judge their own products as more or less satisfactory than they are capable of doing.   Students in GATE 7-12 will earn a traditional letter grade that is figured into their grade point average.

GATE students will become increasingly literate about developments in the field of technology and be able to use equipment suitable to their age level.

GATE students will use a variety of research methods, the difficulty of which will increase as they work on their individual projects.  Research skills will include the use of library, dictionary, thesaurus, almanacs, encyclopedias and other reference books, electronic dictionaries, computers and CD-ROM and on-line resources; and interviewing resource
personnel.

GATE students will be encouraged to be creative in their approaches to thinking, designing, and problem solving.  They will demonstrate their creativity by making products which show fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality.  They will value the individuality of their work and that of their classmates.  (Creative problem solving will be learned through brainstorming, small group simulation activities, inventing, etc.)

GATE students will develop some understanding of their affective needs as well as learn some strategies for coping with possible problem areas.  Students will demonstrate knowledge of their affective needs by coping with their problems in increasingly positive ways.

GATE students will improve communication skills through oral, written,
interpersonal, group, and/or seminar processes.