Hi SAHM,
We live in the Bellevue School District and have been mostly happy with the public school system for our PG daughter. That said, the district has recently revamped their gifted programs for elementary students. I do believe that the Gifted High School program is excellent if you have a really motivated high achiever. If the child is not motivated, the district's high school program will not be a good fit as it appears to be solely based on academic achievement. The biggest advantage to Bellevue's program is that the students were/are concentrated from around the district, so the chances are good that other students with similar talents and interests will be found in your child's class. If you want more information, the district website is quite helpful. DD did attend a private gifted school here for a time, but we found the curriculum to be quite limited: no real music, limited languages, poor math textbooks, etc. We have friends in the Seattle School district that tell us that the Seattle district is a nightmare to navigate with no clear vision for gifted students and constantly changing gifted criteria. From the outside, it does seem that the Seattle district has struggled with high turnover in leadership positions, scandals, and contentious redistricting plans.
Sorry that I'm not more up to date with the elementary age, but thought some info was better than none.
Hope this was helpful!
