Dear Mguinta,
My kids were in a self-contained gifted program. A lot of parents and teachers continue to "bad-mouth" the program for reasons I cannot understand. Part of it may be jealousy. Classes are small and regular-ed teachers with classes of 20-25 are resentful of a teacher who only has 8 or 9; we had legislative money to buy computer and science equipment. The kids in the class with high IQs tend to stick together on the playground so people think they're socially maladjusted. Some are strange kids (people would say that about most asynchronous populations) who have different interests that their agemates.
Anyway, I re-iterate st pauli girl & grinity's advice to check out the program for yourself instead of listening to others. We ask that a qualified student spend a day in the class to see for themselves how they'd fit in. Most everyone finds that one day is enough to understand that it is precisely where they belong--and an enormous breath of fresh air. We have had kids who left because there was too much work or because they opted to homeschool, but at least 95% feel the self-contained class is fantastic (and as good as you make it if you're an involved parent).
