Here's a related thread.
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....s_in_San_Francisco_for_g.html#Post213137 Note that the default filter need to be reset if you want to go back more than 3 months.
I'm going to offer some subjective thoughts about these schools. The bigger schools are Nueva and Harker which go K-12. Nueva recently expanded to add high school. The mid-size schools are Helios, Synapse, and AltSchool. Helios recently moved to a new leased campus and is over the next year or two filling out by adding years up to K-8 (adding 7th grade in 2015) and filling up each grade up to 18 students.
With all schools the most students are admitted with the new kindergarten class. The process of applying is often difficult and heartbreaking.
Harker is actually a large school and it does discuss gifted, has some teachers with gifted background, and an IQ test is part of the admissions. I think of them more as a prep school that encourages competition, than a school that nurtures tender tall poppies. More of a focus on achievement than on seeking or coddling raw cognitive talent. But I did not attend; for all these schools we should get feedback from people who were actually there. Some of this is available on greatschools, yelp, glassdoor, etc. though rarely from the gifted point of view. Some gifted children may have the right personality to thrive at Harker. With all of this, it depends on the child. Anyway they are said to be 1/3 asian, 1/3 south-asian, and something of a "tiger (mom) sanctuary". They do get kids into top colleges.
I'll be similarly unfair to Nueva, which requires a WISC IQ test. I think I can fairly say though that they have developed a reputation for requiring a 130 IQ but avoiding 145 and up. And instead catering to parents with high net worth.
Helios is fine, but people sometimes wonder where is the olympic swimming pool for the market rate tuition they charge. They don't mind quantitative IQ tests but their philosophy is a qualitative assessment. They aim to support the EQ needs of those with high IQ. But here again IQ is not their main selection criteria. They'll admit a kid with a lower IQ over a sibling applicant if he seems easier to manage or is more extroverted. Any school that is fairly new and growing this rapidly would have some growing pains. The parent community is not as strong as it should be, partly due to their transition to a new obscure (if larger) location in Sunnyvale. However once you get there, they do have a generally strong staff. This year they have a new admissions director. They provide subject matter acceleration and relatively gifted peers.
AltSchool does not use the word gifted on their website, nor ask any IQ test. However they customize each and every kids education. Certainly, their marketing staff did their homework: rather than a product that can appeal to 1% of the customers, they have one that can appeal to 100%. They are extremely selective about hiring teachers. Many parents who were shut out by the above schools are considering them for gifted. I have also met more than a few local parents who are not happy with the vaunted Palo Alto schools and trying out AltSchool's new Palo Alto campus. AltSchool recently received $100 million in investment to launch more micro-campuses.
Synapse is also a popular option. They take an IQ test but I'm not sure they do much with it. My concern was whether their focus was diluted by their corporate training arm. That said with all these schools, we have to remember that they are more than fully booked with presumably happy enough parents and children. And that by and large these schools have many more applicants than seats.
I am sure there are some new schools I missed if anyone can add them to the thread.
