Highly Gifted Magnet

The Highly Gifted Magnet (HGM) is one of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Gifted and Talented programs, restricted to students who meet the criterion of 99.9% on an intellectual assessment that meets the eligibility requirements of the district which is an IQ of 145 or above. Admission to the schools is based on a point system where points are automatically assigned for 5 different rationales, outlined in the "Choices" brochure sent out to eligible LAUSD students yearly.

There are three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school out of the 162 magnet programs in the district that are part of the Highly Gifted Magnet. The three elementary schools are Eagle Rock Elementary, Multnomah Elementary and San Jose Elementary. (Carpenter Elementary School formerly offered a highly gifted program, though not a magnet, as well). The three schools have nearly 300 students from grades 2 through 5, and in one case grade 6. Many students from those three elementary schools go on to the Portola Highly Gifted Magnet Center, which serves students from grades 6 through 8. North Hollywood High School is the parent school for the HGM program at the high school level, serving almost 400 students from grades 9 through 12.

The HGM at North Hollywood High

The HGM at North Hollywood High is a community of students, their parents, and faculty. In many cases, the students have known and attended school with each other since elementary school due to the small number of "feeder" schools. HGM students and faculty take part in many school-wide activities, such as Ultimate Frisbee, Chess, Bridge, and VAMS clubs, but they also have separate activities, such as dances, "House" meetings in the style of Harry Potter, and their own literary journal, The Magnitude. Many such clubs are often sponsored by HGM faculty.

Many HGM students also participate in numerous service groups, such as the California Scholarship Federation, and Jewish Student Union, as well as in the school's Academic Decathlon, Science Bowl, Science Olympiad, Mock Trial, Duke Moot Court Competition and miscellaneous sports teams and music groups.

The HGM program rivals those at academically rigorous private and public schools, and as a result, North Hollywood High offers a number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes. Students are required to follow a rigid class schedule filled with mostly honors and AP classes that meet LAUSD's graduation requirements and University of California A-G requirements for prospective incoming freshmen. For most academic classes, students are restricted to those taught by HGM faculty, and only honors and AP classes, or equivalents, are available for English, Mathematics, Foreign Languages, Sciences and Social Sciences. Unlike many high schools in the nation, students are first exposed to AP classes during their freshmen year. For many juniors and seniors, the schedule often ends up being filled with 5, or even 6, AP classes for everything from Chemistry to English Language and US History.

The North Hollywood HGM consistently sends students to some of the most distinguished colleges and universities across the nation. Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, The College of William and Mary, New York University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Riverside and the University of Southern California are some destinations of HGM alumni.

The current HGM coordinator is Phyllis Spadafora.

Guest Speakers

One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the North Hollywood HS Highly Gifted Magnet is the events it arranges for notable people to speak to and with HGM students. Recent notable speakers include Little Rock Nine member Terrence Roberts, former Los Angeles Times national editor, World War II platoon leader, Robert Kennedy assistant, and third person on Nixon's enemies list Ed Guthman, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, and 42nd California District Assembly leader candidates Michael Feuer (whose son is a sophomore in the HGM), Abbe Land, and Clark Baker.

Separation from Resident School

While based on the campus of the much larger North Hollywood High School, a campus with a Concept Six inclusive size of more than 3,000 students, the 300-student HGM is considered for administrative purposes separate from the resident school.

While students for scheduling or elective reasons may take classes in among the course offerings of the resident school, most HGM teachers are dedicated full-time and only teach HGM classes containing HGM students. Class sizes in the HGM are often significantly smaller than those of the resident school.

Additionally, the program has its own administrative office and counselor. Some consider HGM students to be guests on the North Hollywood High School campus. There is some degree of overlap between the administrative responsibilities of the multi-function HGM office and its counterparts for the resident school, e.g. attendance and disciplinary issues.

HGM faculty

The HGM boasts a distinguished faculty, including 3 PhDs, and over 150 years of field experience. The three founding faculty members Iris Abrams, Gail Grande and Phyllis Spadafora, remain with the program.

HGM Controversy

In May 2004, The HGM was featured on a PBS television program, Brown v. Board of Education : 50 Years Later, and was in essence accused of being a segregationist program. There was significant student backlash to the accusatory program, and though a response was drafted and sent to PBS, it never aired.

Notable alumni

Morgan Webb, television star

External links

References

The 2005-2006 Choices Brochure, available from LAUSD's Gifted/Talented Programs office