To qualify for entrance into the Crowley GATE Program, a student must have a preponderance of evidence showing performance with the top two to ten percent of the school population. All students must have a parent nomination granting permission to test.

The criteria are:
Otis Lennon Mental Abilities Test (OLSAT)
Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT)
Iowa Test of Basic Skills
Science
Math Concepts
Math Program Solving
Social Studies
Reading
Planned Experiences (PLEX)
Teacher Rating Scale
Portfolio Product
STAAR Testing Results

Explanation of Gate
Otis Lennon School Abilities Test (OLSAT)
The Otis Lennon School Abilities Test (OLSAT) is designed to measure those verbal, quantitative and figural reasoning skills that are most closely related to scholastic achievement.  The OLSAT is based on the notion that to learn new things, students must be able to perceive accurately, to recognize and recall what has been perceived, to think logically, to understand relationships, to abstract from a set of particulars, and to apply generalizations to new and different contexts.  This complex of abilities is assessed through performance on such tasks as detecting similarities and differences, solving analogies, matrixes, classifying and determining sequence.

Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
The CogAT measures reasoning and problem-solving skills in three different areas: verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal. Reasoning skills develop gradually throughout a person’s lifetime and at different rates for different individuals. Reasoning abilities are good predictors of success in school and are important outcomes of good schooling.

The verbal section measures a child’s ability to remember and transform sequences of English words, to understand them and to make inferences and judgments about them. The quantitative section measures a child’s understanding of basic quantitative concepts and relationships. The non-verbal section measures reasoning using pictures and geometric shapes. This section reduces the impact of language on the student’s score.

Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT)
The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test is a measure of nonverbal reasoning and general problem solving ability.  This is a fair measure for students whose English Skills may be poor.

Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
The Iowa Test of Basic Skills is a group administered test designed to measure skills and standards important to growth across the curriculum.

Testing Times
Testing for students new to Crowley ISD will be done on an as needed basis. All kindergarten, second and fifth grade students will be screened for the GATE Program using the CogAT screener beginning in February and continuing through April. All other nominated Crowley ISD students will be tested in May.