I am probably in the minority here, but fwiw, when we looked for preschools, my over-riding concern was finding a place where my children knew they were valued and loved and the center of the universe - over academics. Although we landed in Montessori schools, if we'd plucked the same teachers out of those schools and put them in some other philosophy preschool I probably would have chosen the teachers over the school philosophy. I wanted them to be in places that helped foster their love of learning overall more so than I was thinking about whether or not they'd be challenged with reading and math. They didn't lose out on anything when it came time to enter elementary school, and it was a lot of fun along the way because they were exposed to so many fun projects and interesting nature walks and things like that - they learned a lot about the world in preschool and most importantly they were loved. I still love that about their preschools
RE IQ testing, I don't know much about testing at 3 years old - but if you are curious and can afford it and it's available, I'd do it. OTOH, I woudn't do it with the idea I could use it for advocacy at school - I think (and really, this is only a guess) but I think you might find that schools may question such early testing, and will require follow-up testing. Some schools also have a specific set of tests they will accept, so if you're going to pay for testing yourself and only want to do it once, I'd wait until you have a good idea what testing you'll need.
Re moving for a school or school district - I can see moving within a specific city or area to get into the residential zone for a better school district. I can't see uprooting and moving cross-country for the promise of something that might be a great school fit. There are just so many other components of what goes into a good family life (just for our family at least) combined with the cost of moving, having to rebuild a network of friends/relationships/etc, and most importantly - the unknown of what a specific school or school district will be like in 5-6 years. We've seen good schools in our district change dramatically when a principal was promoted and moved on to a different school. School funding can change from year to year etc. You can't ever know for certain from a website and survey rankings how well a school will fit your family - you can't really even know from a tour, the way you find out is to send your child there. And then what happens if it's not a good fit and you've changed your entire life just for that one school?
Anyway, that's just our family's point of view - we stayed put even though we are not in a great school district and we're far far away from any private schools that focus on gifted children. I imagine my ds12 would have had a better education elsewhere, but he's had a good education, and we've made it better than it would have been by advocating for him. In the meantime, we've also had the family life outside of school that we'd dreamed of for each of our children, and my dh and I have stayed in an area where we had the career connections that we value. I feel very at home here. I wish I could have given my kids a little bit more in their education but I also see them growing up with a solid foundation in the other things in life that are important and I think that ultimately that will be just as important for them as they move into adulthood.
I'd also add - don't discount the schools where you are at first glance and just based on what you've read. No matter what the school district, you may find some amazing teachers who really care about your kids.
Best wishes,
polarbear
eta - I wanted to add that no matter how great a gifted school looks - if you have an EG or PG kid, and possibly even for HG, chances are that no matter where you land, you're going to find yourself having to advocate for your child.
