Originally Posted by momoftwins
We may be moving to the Boston suburbs very soon. Does anyone have any suggestions for schools with gifted programs? I know it is not very common in that area, but one of children really NEEDS differentiation/acceleration.

Thanks!

There is the ACERA private school http://aceraschool.org/ . Most public schools in the Boston metro area, including those in our town, do not recognize giftedness. Arlington used to have a gifted program, but according to http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/administration/budget/fy12/fy12reducedresourcesthroughfy11.pdf it was eliminated due to budget cuts. What is mentioned for Cambridge at http://cambridgeadvanced.org/advanced-learning-in-the-cambridge-public-schools/ does not impress me.

There are lots of parents with bright kids who value education around here, so they send them to programs such as

The Math Club
http://www.themathclub.com/

IDEA Math
http://ideamath.org/Lexington.htm

Russian School of Math
http://www.russianschool.com/

and to programs at nearby universities such as

MIT HSSP
https://esp.mit.edu/learn/HSSP/index.html

I think the attitude of some of the well-known public school systems around here is "We're great -- look at out test scores. Who are you to ask for something more?".