As a teacher in a large district, I can share what my experience has been...
Our district as an IB and a Pre-IB program (for middle schools). The program is very rigorous, and students report having 2-3 hours of homework each night. IB is supposedly not set up for "gifted" students, but for bright and/or average students who are highly motivated. I know of high average kids who have REALLY struggled with the workload, and HG kids who breeze through it. Interestingly, at least with our program, I never hear kids talk about the "global" view they are getting or the special projects they do - just the sheer amount of homework involved!
AP has a reputation for being very rigorous as well, but keep in mind that the College Board has some new initiative out there proclaiming that ALL kids should take at least one AP class in order to graduate from high school. I just attended an inservice on this, and their contention is that the additional rigor is good for ALL students, not just advanced students. In my opinion, this is sort of like communism - nice in theory, but in practice is just not realistic. By placing every kid in an AP class, it effectively "dumbs down" the course - the teacher is forced to take the material down a notch (or simply slow down in general) and cater to the middle of the class. If the middle is full of average to below average kids, the result is a less rigorous course. The AP teachers are fighting this, but our district is buying in to the concept - sort of a "success for all" philosophy. I guess it looks good politically, and the College Board makes more $$. Everyone wins, except the kids the curriculum was actually designed for. So I'd check out what's happening with AP in your district, as I know this is becoming more common in many high schools across the country.
I can't speak to the Running Start program, but the CC's around here are a joke - I have a friend who teaches English Comp. at one of the local CC's, and she said it's like teaching 8th grade all over again. I also had a friend who (for financial reasons) attended CC for her first two years. She ended up having to take Intro Chem and Intro Physics over again in the 4-year university, since the CC didn't adequately prepare her and she was lost in upper level courses. However, there are some CC's out there with excellent programs, so I would evaluate your CC (and observe some classes) before making a decision along those lines.
Overall, I think your options are very location-specific, even though these programs are supposed to be standardized. It will help to ask a lot of questions and find out which programs fit best with your philosophy and goals. Definitely ask if DS can shadow in each program for a day - often, kids will get a feel for what will work best for them after being immersed for awhile.
Best of luck!
