Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions Boston area schools advice?

Hi,

We may be moving to the Boston area just in time for DS5 to start K. Probably not Boston precisely, but Cambridge, Newton, Quincey, Lexington? Three major concerns in choosing where to live are: schools, minimizing commute to Cambridge area since that's where major job opportunities are focused for us, and cost of house/rent.

Can anyone help with how to think about schools and schools for a gifted kid in schools in this general area? I see MA is not "gifted-friendly" via info at the Davidson link on the left of this page... I understand that some of the area schools deal with enrollment on a lottery basis, which sounds alarming. I'd like to stay in the public system for financial reasons.

Not sure what DS may need, and I know that's a big factor. He may be fine in a regular public school classroom, although he'd be the quiet, wallflower type probably, no matter how unengaged he was. he is very happy in his 24 kid+2 teacher preK/K mixed class currently. I'm now wishing we had some testing as guidance for whether he may need something beyond a regular classroom with his age peers.

Do we go for the best overall school district we can afford, hope for the best with the lottery system (if that's how it works) and see how things go? In the vein of, do the best you can for schooling now, and adjust as necessary?

Thanks for reading the ramble, appreciate any thoughts or direction towards reading material!

Beak

That particular area has lots and lots of gifted kids in it, and the schools sort of expect OG to HG kids. I have friends in Newton who have been quite happy.

I think Aimee Yermish is quite familiar with these areas -- worth a call to her to ask if she is. Long term she is an excellent resource.Check out:

da Vinci Learning Center blog � Aimee Yermish. Thoughts on intelligence, creativity, psychology, education, and whatever else comes to mind ...
davincilearning.wordpress.com/

Other nice thing about this area is that there are a fair number of gifted 'events' throughout the year.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Brookline and Arlington have gifted programs, although Brookline has changed its name to a "Enrichment and Challenge Support Program".

Of the school districts you mentioned, ignoring issues such as commute and house prices, I would recommend consideration of Lexington. It does not have a gifted program but does have many gifted children and participates (and does well) in many academic competitions, such as math leagues.

Lexington is quite liberal and has for example a diversity curriculum in elementary school http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/news/lifestyle/columnists/x125181726#axzz1Mjd0DBcm . You can decide if it is a good fit.

We moved back to MA from NYC last March; I'm from MA. We initially moved west of Boston before moving again in Dec and enrolling our son (5 1/2) in a gifted school on the North Shore.

I had towns such as Arlington, Newton, Winchester, Lexington, Concord, Belmont, Lincoln and others under consideration - all of which have highly esteemed public school systems. However, these towns are expensive; and I soon discovered that my son was eg/pg and the public schools would not be able to accommodate him. If you have a mg/hg, you might be ok in Lexington and the other towns listed. I'm not familiar with Quincy's school system, except I know it's not as highly regarded as any of the public school systems west of Boston.

From what I understand, Brookline's program is a pull-out situation for a couple of hours a day or week. Brookline is an expensive community and this may not be an option as a result.

Cambridge schools operate on a lottery basis. If you live across the street from a school, it does not necessarily mean your child will attend. I've heard mixed things about the Cambridge schools. You might want to post a question on http://www.city-data.com/forum/massachusetts/ to get more details about Cambridge.

MA has some excellent school districts, but much of the challenging course work is aimed at the high school age. There's not much for kindergarten and elementary grade in terms of giftedness in the public school system. It can vary widely from school district and within a school from year to year with teachers. In fact, you may potentially face open resentment and hostility with the term giftedness, especially with kindergarten if you mention it; that's what happened with me.

There is a new, private gifted school (Anova) which opened in Melrose and you might want to consider. Melrose is also supposed to be offering a full gifted program this year or next, partly to counter Anova and exodus to the Mystic Valley Charter Schools (which is supposed to be good).

I spoke to a parent in Watertown last summer who was able to grade skip their kindergarten student, but I am not sure if this was a system-wide process or an individual one based on the k's test scores, which the parents got privately.

I would say that you might want to play the school situation by ear and see what happens. A lot is going to depend on the child, the school setting, and how quickly he learns. If he's fine with 24 kids in a mix pre-k/k situation now, you might be ok next year with the public schools in MA.

Thanks for the links, suggested towns and other google-able information. Some of this reinforces other information we've gathered so far on towns, which is great.

I am wishing we had more than just our sense of his intellect and ability to go by. Maybe he's optimally gifted, meaning he'll probably be ok in a regular classroom? Particularly a classroom with some other OG/HG kids?

Is it really possible that we could have him evaluated by a professional familiar with gifted kids, and we might be told he can't be served well in a regular classroom with his age peers? Or are we borrowing trouble to worry too much about this, given that he's doing pretty well in current school situation?
How many questions can I get into this post!

I think its borrowing trouble to walk into a new situation smothering what the gut is worrying about. Not sure if the metaphore is breaking there but yes you can get help that will be useful...particularly from Aimee and maybe she will say that you won't get his needs met in the regular classroom. But she herself may advise you wait and see instead of testing now so call and ask. No matter what there will be some fiddling required but wouldn't it be nice to start off in the right ballpark. That is why you are even framing your home seach in these terms.
Peace
Grinity

You know Grinity, you are quite right. It's the ballpark I'm looking for, and it is worth putting effort into finding the right one!

I see Aimee Yermish is in Stow, MA...thank you for pointing me towards her site.

It's a few years down the road, but if you plan to stay in the Boston area for high school, I would look at Commonwealth School, and I think that I read somewhere that Boston University started a high school program that sounded very interesting. (I could be wrong. It's been a long time since I lived in Boston.)

Good luck.

I'd say take a wait and see approach. Perhaps get the testing done. But don't drive yourself silly with it.

Any decision you make with education at this age is reversible. Your son is young and it's not like any school situation at this age will cause him irreparable harm.

There's a lot of variation with kindergarten students today. The situation in MA is no different. Some kids enter K already reading; others barely know the alphabet. It really depends on far ahead your child is with the reading, writing, and math to other kids in the school or class OR how quickly your child will acquire these skills. With either scenario, you may not know what happens with your son until he is placed in a more academic setting and confronted with the material/curriculum. Even then, there are other aspects of education besides the academics that you might want to consider.

I just caution using the term and concept giftedness in MA because in my experience I encountered some public school teachers and schools who were completely hostile to it. You may find some public school teachers who are not so opposed to it. I hope you do for your sake.

My advice would be:

1) spend some time in his classroom right now and see what's going on.

2) Test.

3) If you were considering buying, maybe consider renting, or maybe buy on the low end so if you have to go private, you can do it without breaking the bank. I wish we had rented for a while following our move. The first years of school k-3 may give you a really good sense of what's going to work for him, although your child's needs may change over time. Once you've recovered from the move/testing/acclimating whirlwind, you will (hopefully) have made contact with other gifted parents which will help you make a well-informed decision. I can't tell you how many stories I know of people buying a house in a "really good school system" and realizing after a year that it wasn't going to work for their child. In this market, it is an expensive, time consuming process to correct course if you have to sell your house.