Interesting and probably true but I do wish that we'd be honest at least and not call them gifted programs if they are about high achievement, which really is the case where I live too. Part of what bugs me is that our schools widely state that the GT programs are about meeting the needs of gifted kids to have peers socially and write goals on things like the accelerated learning plans that include stuff like helping the child understand what being gifted means in regard to their overall socio-affective functioning. This is totally bogus IMHO when we're not talking about giftedness but rather high academic achievement.
In regard to what admission standards would be, I'd require an IQ score (98th?) on an individual test and not the types of things that our schools use that are much more about in the box thinkers and teacher pleasing. Our school district specifically states in their identification guidelines that high IQ doesn't necessarily mean that a child is gifted no matter how high and high IQ isn't necessary to be gifted. Requiring IQ scores would at least be a starting point for ensuring that there is some similarity in students' intelligence level although I do realize how diverse the gifted population itself is. Cost on that is also a factor I realize and I'd not want to require families to come up with money or have their kids excluded.
In terms of what the programming would look like, I've never seen a GT program with IQ entry requirements and how they work, but I'd imagine trying to see what programs like the Ricks Center and Davidson Academy do as well as programs geared toward 2e kids and see what could be done. I guess that I'd like to see differentiation within the program, deeper individual projects which allow for greater abstract thinking and exploration of passion areas or lateral instruction rather than more of the same faster, etc.
