I didn't respond at first because although there are parts of your situation that are familiar there are a lot of parts that I think are quite different. But since there doesn't seem to be anyone to compare their apples to your apples maybe apples to oranges is better than nothing because we're at least talking about fruit
Hopefully something is of use.
My 2e DS is finishing up grade 4 in a full time gifted program. Admission is based on WISC (must have a GAI or FSIQ or VCI over 140). I mention this because I think the criteria really changes who is in the class and what type of program is actually run. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have had success in a program that was selecting for high achievers (he probably wouldn't have qualified to begin with anyway). The board has 70,000+ students and about 30 grade 4's in this program. It is only run in two schools so kids often bus in from far away (I say this because the amount of hassle can discourage people - it tends to end up being those where school was going really, really badly before).
Up until this year he was in a regular class and things weren't really going well. He didn't like school, had one (maybe 2) friends (the one solid friend was also identified GT), the teachers constantly complained about his behavior and his marks were mostly B's, occasionally C's for writing and occasionally A's for science/math (not that I really care about marks but it shows his level of engagement and their level of accommodations). He's had an IEP since grade 1 - mostly LD related but only occasionally followed. They eventually (after 2 years of advocating) conceded to doing something for the gifted side, giving him grade 4 math in grade 3 but with no instruction and no attention to the fact that it was clearly too easy and the pace was too slow.
This year in the gifted program he has a chromebook full time for writing instead of waiting for the teacher to occasionally scribe. He is still learning how to be most effective with it but it is improving. Our schools are all on the google cloud and use all of the google apps for things like speech to text and word processing. His teacher often allows power point slides and presentations to show what they know. I don't know exactly how many kids are 2e but he definitely isn't alone. He now has straight A's and nice comments in his report card. This is a kid who's report card comments were almost all negative and occasionally hilariously passive aggressive in the past.
For DS the switch to the gifted program has been an amazing success. They are accommodating his LD far better than his previous school did but then again his level of accommodations is on the milder side of things. Our schools will not accelerate the curriculum. They do compact and then do "breadth and depth" but TBH I still have no clue exactly what that means. I can say that DS has come home excitedly babbling about things he's learned for the first time ever. Everything from politics, Greek mythology, civil rights, transgender issues, math contests, etc. The level of discussion that these kids get into is MUCH deeper than his previous class. He has a new best bud and according to the teacher is universally liked, respectful and well behaved (all of which would never have been said in his previous environment).
I really think it depends on a number of things
- LD stuff - are they willing/able to accommodate - in our case they were better than his old school but that might not apply for you
- gifted stuff - your current school is doing WAY more than I could ever imagine, for us it was easy to improve on basically nothing
- peers - in our case DS was having issues. He's pretty, I don't know how to say it, obvious?? and geeky and even compared to the one other gifted kid in his old school he was still sticking out. His new school has been a much better fit but some of that might stem from the fact that most of these kids were having issues before moving so they all kind of get it. All of the kids that I've met in his class ooze gifted from every cell of their being and are very accepting of others (this is also emphasized by the teacher).
- teacher - I think we hit the teacher lottery jackpot this year. Not sure if we would have had the same experience with a mere mortal instead of her. She's my hero.
Not sure if any of that remotely helps but didn't want you to feel alone. Good luck!
