I am hoping that someone will be willing to share advice with us concerning our school choice for next year. Our DD6 will be entering 1st grade in the fall and we will definitely be changing schools. Her current school is not meeting her needs at all. We have two (hopefully) good choices and are having a difficult time deciding between the two of them. We are trying to decide between a GT center at a public school and a private school.
The GT center is a self contained class of GT kids that tested high enough to qualify for the GT center rather than pull out programs at their neighborhood school. (Stanines 8 & 9 on the CogAt and Naglieri). The GT center accelerates and compacts the math and language arts curriculum and generally works about a grade ahead. They mix with the non-GT classes for history and science but are "expected to work at a higher level and go into greater depth". I am having a difficult time determining if the school will truly keep her challenged. If she does not attend there this coming year, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get her back into the program later as they have a large wait list. A big con for this school is that the neighborhood that feeds into it is not great and so the school has a higher than average (for our area) incident rate for discipline problems - no violence or substance problems though.
The private school is very expensive, but we qualified for enough financial aid to barely make it possible. We will have to re-apply for aid each year, and the amount may change but they said that they wouldn't just 'cut us off' unless there is a big change in circumstances. It has extremely small class sizes and ability groups in each subject. Each child is frequently assessed and given individual learning plans. The private school always works a grade ahead on their curriculum, and some ability groups will go beyond that. They score an average of two grades ahead on the Stanford achievement tests. The school is not exclusively GT, but about 90% of each grade is GT and I know there are at least 5 other kids in her grade that are working around her level. I am concerned that we are buying into the hype too much and that we could get there and then be disappointed and then won't be able to get her back into the public GT program. I highly doubt that we would be offered such a good package, if any, if we turn them down this year and then try to reapply. We also have two other children who will be entering school in a few years, and we would either have to come up with more tuition money or take them to a different school.
Our DD scores at the low end of HG on the WPPSI, reads at a 4th grade level and loves math and science. She scores higher in math than verbal, but is not as far ahead there. She is very shy and sensitive and likes to do what the other kids are doing rather than work at her own level.
We'd greatly appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have!
