I'm going to play the skeptic here, mostly because I've learned the hard way about how easy it is to get excited about a school that doesn't deliver what you thought it would.
Some points to ponder and other random ideas:
1. What, precisely, do kids in the GT pullout do? Games and puzzles? Extra grade-level work? Horizontal enrichment that's also on grade level? Or do they get bona fide acceleration? I agree with the person who suggested sitting in on a class or two. I'd also ask to see examples of what the kids do.
2. As someone else asked, what's the school's policy on grade and subject acceleration? Get it in writing. Don't settle for verbal assurances. I've been burned by these more times than I care to count. This means that sometimes an idea seems so obvious to everyone in the conversation, you forget to get stuff in writing.
3. What are the IQ cutoffs for this program, and does the school understand levels of giftedness? There's a huge ability difference between someone at the 95th percentile and someone past the 99th. Sports analogy: if athletes at the 95th percentile of ability could compete well against people past the 99th, millions of people would compete at the Olympic games.
Now that I think about it, this point may be one of the most critical ones. If the school is defining gifted as students with IQs at the 95th percentile (some use the 90th), and your kids are past the 99th, your kids' abilities will still be way past most of the pullout kids. This means their needs may still not be met.
4. Does being in the gifted pullout mean a child has to miss other stuff that might be fun and/or educational? Like PE or art or whatever?
5. What, precisely, is in-class differentiation? Does it just mean a greater volume of the same stuff the other kids are doing? Does it mean doing things that are only marginally more difficult, if at all (e.g. 6543 + 5891 instead of 728 + 142)? You might want to ask for examples of differentiated work and then compare to non-differentiated work.
6. Public schools are completely wrapped up in test scores. Getting more GT children will help their scores, which may inspire them to market the school to you. Beware of promises made by the marketing department.
7. Is the funding of the GT program guaranteed? If so, for how long? Some GT programs are losing funding right now because of the economy.
Last, and most importantly, GET STUFF IN WRITING. If they say they'll accelerate your child, get it writing. If they say they'll let your child write about what she's learned about nuclear physics instead of making a list of solids, liquids, and gases, get it in writing.
