Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions San Francisco - lack of GT schools vent

This city is "crawling" with HG+ kids! And, yet I can't find a single (elementary/middle) school in San Francisco that provides gifted education. I'd love to switch schools but I don't see any options. What's wrong with this city!?!? So many super smart kids and zero resources?!... are we all hiding our smart kids in schools that bore them to death and hope one day it will just get better (in high-school maybe)? ... or am I missing something?

Unfortunately, your observation is common among parents of gifted kids.

In USA public schools, there is a movement toward Equal Outcomes, also known as closing gaps between high performers and low performers. This includes capping the growth of students at the top. Teachers and schools are increasingly evaluated/rated/ranked on closing gaps and achieving equal outcomes. USA public school teachers who do not produce equal outcomes in their classes (data collection shows persistent gaps between high performers and low performers) may lose their jobs.

Here is a brief roundup including where this movement comes from, and a few of the grading practices to watch for as they may commonly be used to achieve equal outcomes:
- data collection is used to force equal outcomes
- ushered in by common core
- educational plank of party platforms
- rationing opportunities
- Nature versus nurture
- supplanting gifted students in "Gifted" programs
- replacing the classics with anthologies
- Grading practices (which tend to produce equal outcomes)
- list of grading practices
- policies which lack transparency
- requiring students to list new vocabulary words in the reading material, when there are none
- collective grading

A few brave souls still help raise awareness that gifted pupils have different educational needs, and that meeting these needs is NOT "elitist."
- Counterpoint statements
- The Gifted: Left Behind?
- one-size-fits-all

For continuing growth and development, kids need:
1) appropriate academic challenge
2) true peers
For typical kids, these needs may be met in a general ed classroom, however for children with higher IQ/giftedness, these needs may not be met without intentional effort in providing advanced curriculum, and grouping for instruction with academic/intellectual peers.

It isn't just the USA. Gifted kids are considered not to need help and not even deserve it because they did nothing to deserve those "gifts" unless of course we are talking gifted at sport. I think there is still a major confusion that gifted means very bright. Very bright NT will usually do well anywhere but their needs are not so different that more and a little harder might be enough.

What about the Proof School? It is for advanced math kids but seems great from what I have read.

[quote=ruazkaz]What about the Proof School? It is for advanced math kids but seems great from what I have read.[/quote]

Proof would be fantastic, unfortunately it doesn't start till 6G. My DD is in 1G, DS in 4G, so not quite ready...

Thanks indigo and puffin for your insights. I've got to say this is really depressing.

There are approximately 80,000 school-aged kids in San Francisco. If we assume that the top 2% are gifted (IQ > 130) then there should be about 1,600 gifted kids here. That's ~125 gifted kids per grade level in a city of less than 47 square miles!!! (Most likely the numbers are even higher because high IQs are over-represented in SF). So, where are all these smart kids? Where do they all go? Within the city there is not a single school, public or private, that offers gifted education. Evidently there is a market for it, so why is no private school jumping in? Is gifted education really that hard? Are we too egalitarian? What's the core of the problem?

I am sure this has been discussed many times, but I am new to this and I still have not accepted the bleak reality of GT education...

I have a HG (and quirky) third grader. I posted with frustration about this very issue when we were looking for kindergarten. We ended up at Alta Vista and it has been great for my son. I also know several families with gifted kids who transferred from other schools into AVS (including Nueva) who have been similarly pleased. While not a GT school, there are lots of gifted kids at AVS and the small classes, interesting curriculum, flexibility and and commitment to differentiation all make it a nice option for gifted kids. If you are interested in talking about it, I'm happy to talk offline.

Lepa, thanks, we already applied. I was convinced after I had the opportunity to talk to a parent of HG 3rd grader there, maybe you, LOL? :)

Can anyone recommend schools for PGs in Bay Area? I hear some schools avoid PGs.