some wealthy districts have amazing public schools.
From the viewpoint of parents of gifted children, I've not heard this to be true.
School statistics may give a rosy picture. ...
Meanwhile gifted students may be thriving
in spite of the school/district/teachers/policies/practices, not
because of them. For example, a child who is bored in school may then spend time after-schooling in an area of interest. The knowledge gained in this endeavor, utilizing personal time, may then result in a high standardized test score, or ACT/SAT score, or other academic award/accomplishment for which the school/district/teacher will be glad to usurp credit for the child's performance.
Couldn't agree more with all of the above. This has been our experience. Spent 4 years in a large public school district on the east coast that was not wealthy but had many specialized programs to meet the differing student needs including magnet gifted schools, IB program, specialized academies, etc. Spent two years at a small, award winning, very wealthy school district (and what the school budget doesn't cover in extras, the nonprofit supporting the schools does!) and it was a year and half too long in a district that does nothing to try to meet gifted student needs, at least at the MS level. It was not my first choice, but my kids are at (different) private schools meeting their needs now.
I'm sorry perhaps I was unclear, but this was the exact point I was trying to make with my post. A school is good or bad for a high LOG child because of the people there who are willing to make it good. Not because it's public or private or rich or poor or has this elective or that student profile. Some people have better experiences with private (we did!) but others with public.
Very well-stated.
My mom was a lifetime primary educator-- it was her passion, and she was very good at what she did-- particularly with LD students or those with ADHD/ADD or ASD. Simultaneous with that set of salient facts, however, was the additional fact that she would have been one of the LAST elementary teachers that I'd have wanted for my own DD, because at higher LOG, she was
not a good match.
Anyway.
I'll also add that she was (IMO)
very wise when offering us advice re: schools and public v. private, etc. She had taught at both, and in situations both wonderful and awful (b/c of local cultural norms or administrators, ususally). Her advice was that there
is no rule about which is "better."
It simply depends upon too many different factors. The child, the parents, the local prevailing attitudes about education, the local administration, the board, etc. etc. etc.
