We are in an affluent, high achieving district. If you just looked at the gifted offerings, you would head elsewhere. However, this district and the two neighboring districts have good, rigorous courses in HS, and over 90% of kids go to four year colleges.
Math is not even part of our gifted program; math differentiation starts in 5th and is based upon testing. There is advanced math in 5th grade, then students test again at the end of 5th. All students take math ERBs. If they score well on the ERBs, they are in advanced math (one year ahead). If they score really well on ERBs, then they take the Iowa. If they score well on the Iowa, then they are two years advanced.
There are plenty of enrichment opportunities as well - clubs, competitions, etc. I would say that elementary and even middle school may be boring for the gifted kid, but HS offers some great courses. Gifted is just some pull-out programs, and those seem to start and stop at random times during the year.
However, I suggest you look ahead to the HS years. While there may not be much in the way of gifted offerings, as others have noted on these boards, see how many National Merit Semifinalists (NMSF) there are each year. In our district, this year there are 24 (which is 8% of the class). I took a quick look at the college choices for the 2012 class, and there are at least 12 that went to Ivies and plenty of others went to top ranked schools (class size is 300 students).
My point is that even if the gifted program doesn't look so great, if there are lots of bright/gifted kids in the district, your kids will have friends at or near their level. While a stronger gifted program might help the kids in this district, they seem to do just fine. Lots of top students here are very engaged in a lot of extra curricular activities. I know that plenty of the kids here knew all the kindergarten stuff before they went to school, but very few are grade skipped. It may be tough to look beyond the elementary years, but I suggest you make sure that the HS is strong; a great elementary program is useless if the HS program is weak (and you don't plan to move again).
