Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Good schools/areas for PG kids...suggestions?

Hi all - I had written a post a little while ago about DS4 being in the process of being tested. Well, we received the full report today and it turns out he's officially PG, (FSIQ 159+ on the WPPSI-IV) which we maybe thought but...it's nice to have the official confirmation, as well as additional info.

He was also given the PIAT-revised achievement tests for math (Grade 4.8) and reading (total reading = grade 2.7).

So now what? We are in the unique situation of being able to move somewhere (anywhere, within reason) because DH is going to be applying to astrophysics post-docs in the fall. So it makes sense to us that we should not only look at locations that are good for DH but that also have options for DS. So...please, throw me some ideas! What are really great programs/schools, areas that can work with PG kids...places where there are gifted co-ops, etc. We haven't ruled out homeschooling, but DS is very social so there needs to be SOME kind of interaction, plus, we really would love to have him be around kids that he could relate to.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

anyone...anyone...testing?

Besides University of Washington (which the psych recommended to us), and Primoris in North Jersey, we really don't have a great idea of what's out there, school-wise (especially outside of NJ). I mean, we have looked on hoagies and all that, but I feel like it's one thing to look online, and another to hear it from the people who are actually 'living' it. Any recommendations would be very appreciated!

I know people who have been through the UW-Seattle program, and it has it's strengths and weaknesses. Honestly, the range has drifted down from it's early days, when the kids were true PG (scoring above 200 on the old SBLM), to its current population skewed toward MG kids. OTOH, the UW itself is very welcoming of PG students, because there are so many MG+ students there. The Seattle area does have an active gifted and homeschool community, to my knowledge. You might try picking a handful of the communities you are thinking about based on Hoagies, etc., and googling homeschool/gifted homeschool groups or their forums. The Northwest Gifted Child Association is also a good resource in the Seattle area.

jklm, yes, I do know - they essentially take out the memory and timed tests to calculate the GAI. Some people think GAI is better view of "pure intelligence". I can give you more specifics if you need, but I'm on my way out the door...pm me if you need more info than that! Hope that helps!

You can calculate GAI on the WPPSI-IV, but not the earlier versions. If you have an FSIQ, you can derive a GAI. The tables for doing so should have been in the manual. (And yes, you do just take off the wm and ps subtests.)

I can certainly understand why you'd ask this, and you might as well find out what you can, but it seems quite risky to choose a location based on potential schooling, when the schooling could turn out to be far below expectations. (Sorry, I don't have any information about such schooling.) I'm also surprised that one could find an astrophysics post-doc "anywhere, within reason". I thought the academic job market situation was rather grim.

We are in a similar situation (Post-doc & gifted-school search)only that:
1. We are looking for anywhere in the world, not only US options
2. We know that our DS 6.10 is gifted but as he tested with WISC-IV without the extended norms we do not know how gifted he is (he hit the ceilings in some sub tests). With a 142 in the VCI and a GAI 140+ in a sub-optimal testing situation (he even ran out of the room once, hid under the table etc.) we realize that it may be good to retest in a year or two.
3. We have a few additional requirements- clean environment (air, water), balance in life (not terrible working hours)etc.
4. Both parents want to work (homeschooling not an option).

We are considering Boston (i.e Acera school), Stanford (i.e Helios new school), Canada (tricky thing is that in some parts the kids will be required to go to French-language schools, but then again, that may be a good thing)(Westmount charter school), Australia, Singapore (No 'perfect' option found yet). But all those places are not specifically for PG kids. I realize that you probably need to be more selective.

I hope you (we) can learn more from those with experience. Are you considering Davidson Institute? (Sorry not from US so I don't know if you may do astrophysics post-docs in Nevada).

Well don't come to NZ. We have fairly clean air and nice weather and scenary. But we have terrible life balance, no gifted schools and very few or no gifted programmes within schools.

I would be hesitant to send my child to school in Singapore or South Korea or Japan based on their reputations for cramming. Germany doesn't allow homeschooling, but the school day is short, so you can enrich at home.

But what I really want is an academic field where you get to choose not only country but city where you'd like to live. Very jealous.

It's not about picking a location based on schooling, more the fact that we could theoretically end up anywhere in the world, due to the post-doc search (DH has talked about the possibility of Sydney and Cape Town, for example.) Obviously there has to be an appropriate program for him, but again, it could be anywhere so we mainly wanted to gather some info about any excellent gifted programs/areas so we would have at least some ideas of what's out there, when having to make our decisions.