Our kids (oldest is in 7th grade; youngest is 6) have always gone to private schools. This is because I did a survey of local public schools, and was told by two principals that no way would they let a kid skip a grade. Well. One of them said she'd never done it but might consider discussing it after six weeks "observation."

I called the district office three times and left messages asking about policies, and no one ever returned my calls.

I called a few schools in neighboring districts and got pretty much the same response. One principal accused me of "not letting my kid be a kid" even though I'd only asked "What's your acceleration policy? My 2nd grader seems to need a grade skip."

This was all in the Bay area of California. YMMV. The best thing is to call or write and ask, and make sure you get specific answers to specific questions.

That said, the eldest will be going to a charter next year because his current school is moving out of our commuting range. The charter ran an algebra class in 7th grade this year (1st year in this city, but many campuses around the state), so they won't be too far behind my son (starting geometry). They do the Math Olympiad, too.

From what we've seen/learned, private schools can go either way. Test scores are important, but there're no NCLB threats, no legally mandated standards, and no unions. The lack of these things can allow flexibility. In California, the school day at a private school is typically an hour longer than at a public school. This gives time for music, science, PE, and random stuff that doesn't get as much coverage in public schools here.

I know of one chain of private schools around here with a policy of anti-acceleration ("At xx, we believe that all children have gifts"). There are also a few schools claiming to aim at cognitively gifted kids; most of these schools seem to allow acceleration. One major prep school will send 6th graders to the high school for math or English or whatever. Another school doesn't use the word "gifted," but all the materials for the second graders are third grade materials, etc. etc. through every grade up to 8th.

The charter school people didn't react in the least when they saw that a ten-year-old was applying for 8th grade. That was nice.

My big points:

1. Because of NCLB, public schools MUST focus on low achievers. If they don't, they can end up in a world of trouble. This idea is a major philosophical driver.

2. A major driver at private schools is tuition. You are a customer. This means that private schools must, within reason and at least in part, address what the customers want.

3. Private schools often have a philosophical mission that underlies how they approach education. This can be a big help to a parent with a need that's addressed by the school's mission.

HTH,

Val