Both schools say they use a "qualitative assessment" of giftedness in children that goes beyond the traditional IQ definition.
Superintendent Kevin Skelly noted, "In a place like Palo Alto we have an extraordinary number of gifted kids."
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The article is informative, by why put "gifted" in quotes, as if the existence of gifted children was doubtful? Not having gifted programs or ability grouping in the name of equity drives some of the best students out of public schools.
Putting "gifted" in quotes might be related to the fact that they use "qualitative" assessments. I hope that the superintendent meant, "We have lots of gifted kids and we do everything we can to help them," but my understanding of the PA schools (from parents who live there) is that this isn't the case.
I don't know about Helios, but Synapse seems a bit California-kooky. They base their schools on the constructivist approach as well as on a corporate training and certification platform called
Six Seconds. IMO, corporate trends don't transfer well to elementary schools. ETA: Now that I remember, there was a
Simpsons episode that touched on that idea. A for-profit company took over the school and started implementing business strategies in the classroom or something.
