Thanks for your replies, @HowlerKarma, @Bostonian, and @Amy.
To answer your questions:
AmyThe two biggest questions I'd have - do the kids WANT to go to this language immersion school? Are they truly excited about it?
My four-year-old loves school and loves learning, but she is mainly excited about the bus. She wants to sit on the bus. There is no bus to the immersion school at this point. She wants to learn the second language, though. She said "Yes, I want to learn [second language], because I already know English, right? And I know [first foreign language]. So I can start something else." My older daughter wants to stay with friends, and the gifted program is accommodated in her existing school. She is interested in taking classes in [second language] before school, which might be a better fit for her, since it expands her social circles rather than circumscribes them. You can't circumscribe a circle, can you... or at least, that doesn't mean making it smaller. You get the point, I hope.
Second question - does the immersion school have any sort of program for gifted kids? Do they do any sort of accommodations, if necessary?
Children from the immersion school may transfer out if necessary. However, it is clear from the set-up of the school that it is a concept school which is already attracting highly motivated children and families. They will follow the state curriculum and possibly have pull-out for math programs. On the other hand, based on preliminary test scores, they'd be pulling out the whole class. The district average is 68%ile nationally, and the children in this school are from the pool of motivated, knowledgeable parents... so you can imagine that it's already moving at a decent pace. But as a lottery school they have to make sure that every child is accommodated to passing, so if you're already passing... you get the point.
HowlerKarma"They always have these "tells" that give you brief glimpses into an intellect that doesn't match the surroundings. It's hard to say what those look like, but they are definitely moments that give adults double-takes."
Sure, but it's very hard to tell the truly remarkable insights from the usual three and four-year-old "insights" which mainly result from the child's having a lack of context. I once saw on reddit a guy who thought a child's observation, "Why isn't it called an "entrance" when you use it to enter the world?" was ingenious. Could that child be a genius? Yes. Is that kind of "amazing insight" common among three to five-year-olds? Yes. They lack so much context! My older daughter once asked if a shape was the same shape if you turned it upside down. This could be taken either as an incredibly deep philosophical question about the relative nature of spatial relations. It could also be considered a simple vocabulary question, or a really stupid question, depending on how you think about it.
particularly one which is in any way lackluster or more about TigerParenting/high-achievement rather than gifted needs
It is just so hard to tell. The term "lackluster" wouldn't apply, but more about high achievement... the justification is very special-needs based (i.e. this is supposedly for children who literally cannot function and would suffer to the point of not succeeding in school, if forced to sit in a regular classroom) but since such children make up a tiny percentage of any population, like one in ten thousand or something, that is not the population in the gifted program. Obviously. Otherwise my kids would not be in there, because it's clear they can function in a normal classroom, even if they find the tasks boring and they aren't challenged.
Our district definitely has a lot of social strivers and I'm probably one of them! We have a lot of parents who go to Asia regularly and frankly, when you see the competition, you tend to feel like your kids are doing nothing at all, and are grade levels behind. I'm not saying I agree with a full-on "tiger-mom" response but I think that exists at every level here. They advertise IQ test prep / COGAT test prep on the after-school program buses that pick up children from school. That is a service that apparently is sought after by some, though the district claims that if they catch you, you will be banned from the gifted program forever (i.e. even in high school AP!).
Since I haven't gotten my own daughter's results yet, it would be hard to ask for special accommodation in observing the classroom.
The school district itself is very into providing each child with an excellent education for their talents and needs and people are very involved and care a lot about the children.
That would be nice! You cannot re-apply. Immersion programs work in such a way that the children need to be in from the beginning in order to attain the necessary fluency to do increasingly complex bilingual work throughout school. There are other lottery opportunities later on, including lotteries for the top schools in the state, even the nation. But it goes without saying that the chances of getting in are low.
The only reason my older daughter can enter immersion in 2nd grade is that it's a very new school. This is her last chance.
Are you open to having one child in EACH program? I ask because a "high achiever" gifted program sounds like it may NOT be a good fit for your younger child.
Great question.
I thought my kids would enjoy being in the same school, but maybe I should consider more putting only the little one in the immersion school. She is really good at explaining language concepts to the children in her immersion program now.
Bostonian, thank you. I did see that thread. I don't believe that it applies to my question, because I'm aware of the benefits of immersion and that it works for my own children (my first child's transition to a public school in English was nearly seamless) and I am more interested in comparing these benefits to the benefits of a gifted program. I'm not interested in debating the merits of learning a foreign language, because where we live, if you want to be top in your field, whatever that is, you're going to use a language--the only question is when you learn it and how well you do it.
