Gifted/Talented programs in Fort Worth area (Dallas, Arlington: house, neighborhoods)

[djswalter]

Hi! We're looking to maybe relocate to the Fort Worth area later this year. I am trying to find out info about the gifted/talented programs in Fort Worth area schools. We currently live in Corpus Christi and my 1st grade daughter attends our district's wonderful Gifted & Talented magnet school. We are so happy with her current school, but there's a chance my husband might get a job at the children's hospital in FW. We would like to live no more than 30-40 minutes away from Cook Children's Hospital and hope to spend not more than $300K on a house in a safe, newer area. Does anyone know of any excellent gifted and talented programs in schools/districts that we should look at/consider? Any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

[Isaiah30:18]

Hi, can't believe no one's answered this so far. I don't live in TX or Dallas/FW, otherwise, I would. Am in education, too, so this subject is of interest, while looking at relocation options.

[j1jean]

Most school districts around here don't really have magnet schools. It looks like in your price range you will be able to find an excellent school district not too far from the hospital (Northwest ISD, Southlake, Keller). Basically in each elementary school your child will test for the gifted and talented program within that school and attend certain classes if she is accepted. Really the only districts with magnet schools are going to be the big Dallas and Fort Worth, and I think you will get a better (and safer) education at the previously mentioned school districts than you might at these big city magnet schools. There might be private schools that cater to gifted and talented, but as for magnet schools in the area I think your answer would be no. Hope this helps.

[six17]

can't say enough good things about those guys!! or this school both my kids go there.
[url=http://hsafortworth.org/?page]Harmony Science Academy - Fort Worth[/url]=.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by j1jean

Most school districts around here don't really have magnet schools. It looks like in your price range you will be able to find an excellent school district not too far from the hospital (Northwest ISD, Southlake, Keller). Basically in each elementary school your child will test for the gifted and talented program within that school and attend certain classes if she is accepted. Really the only districts with magnet schools are going to be the big Dallas and Fort Worth, and I think you will get a better (and safer) education at the previously mentioned school districts than you might at these big city magnet schools. There might be private schools that cater to gifted and talented, but as for magnet schools in the area I think your answer would be no. Hope this helps.

While it is not on the Ft Worth side of the metroplex I do live in a city w/ a school district that does have Gifted & Talented magnet schools. My daughter is in middle school and has been attending one since kindergarten. It would be a drive for the OP but the Garland ISD does have a HUGE and GREAT G&T program that is not a pullout program or a school w/in a school.

[jdtaylorco]

Consider Kennedale. About 3,050 students in the whole District and a great place to be for many reasons as well as an easy shot to Cook's. Kind of a small town atmosphere in the big city surroundings. The elementary school faculties are like families. Our children both went though the Quest program for G & T and on to great success through elementary and secondary schools here. (One is a senior this fall, the other in the honors business school at TCU.)

[evergreen4]

We recently moved to the Keller School District and enrolled our third grader in one of the Exemplary schools in the district. We were told that all of the schools in KISD had gifted programs, and they do, but they are not dedicated classrooms. If your child was in an excellent Gifted Program at their previous school, as ours was, you will be dissapointed by the GT program in the public schools here. The GT children are clustered in a regular classroom for their grade and the GT instruction consists of 3 hours of "pull outs", with the GT specialist, per week. Not the optimal education model for a gifted student. So far our child is doing work he mastered in first grade. I would advise researching private schools in the area if you have the resources to do so.

[loves2read]

the HEB ISD is another that does pull-out G/T programs in elementary schools--children are tested in 2nd grade for 3rd grade I believe and when students go to junior high there are separate classes in English and social studies--but not math/science--at least when my son and daughter were in the program probably 20 or so years ago--I don't think it has changed...
in the high school, the G/T classes are again in history and English--but there are AP classes in science and math and honors classes in other subjects ...there are also the IB and pre-IB classes in high school and middle school...

[ItsIntheMix]

We are in a similar situation. Unfortunately, there are very few private schools in the D/FW area that are worth paying for when getting an advanced education for a gifted child is your primary criteria, and I haven't found any on the Fort Worth side. Hockaday (Dallas, all-girls), St. Mark's (Dallas, all-boys), and Greenhill (Dallas, coed) have good reputations, but they are very difficult to get into after Pre-K. As for the other private schools, you might choose to go to one for small class sizes or a certain culture, but they don't appear to offer anything more (and often much less) than their public school counterparts when it comes to gifted education. I had a friend with a gifted son at a prominent Fort Worth private school (where many Cook and Harris docs. send their kids), and their idea of gifted education was sending extra work for him to do at home (while still completing the regular work at school). He thought he was being punished. The reality is many private (and charter, eg, Harmony Science Academy mentioned in an earlier post) schools can't afford to provide quality services for children "on the fringes" (which includes both gifted AND special needs students). Public schools are required by law to have the services (as are charter schools, but they frequently don't know it), and they do a much better job implementing them. However, the ones around Fort Worth (generally speaking) are behind the times when it comes to providing the best education for G/T students (check out the recommendations in the article "What Each Level Needs During the School Years" under Resources/Articles and Research at Educational Options). Most use the pull-out model and then challenge the kids outside of school hours with programs like Destination Imagination, Odyssey of the Mind, etc. These are valuable programs, but they don't fulfill the year round educational needs of the gifted.

j1jean's recommendations of Southlake and Northwest ISD might be good places to start. Southlake at least has pull-out math classes (for all students), taught by math specialists. Northwest ISD is growing incredibly quickly and wants to be the most desirable district in Texas, so they are in a position to toy with some innovative approaches that may help G/T students in the long run. They are starting an accelerated high school, but no magnet school for elementary yet. HEB (Hurst-Euless-Bedford) has a variety of innovative programs (Spanish immersion, Suzuki strings, Core knowledge, PLUS IB in high school), but they are all (except IB) highly desired and spaces are filled by a lottery system...too risky when you are making a move specifically to get your child the education they need to thrive.

btw, my comments are based on G/T education in the area for elementary-level students. By middle school, the public schools take things up a notch, and students are finally challenged through Honors and then AP courses. Some charters and private schools also improve in the later grades since SAT scores, etc., provide numbers for them to share when they are recruiting new families. In fact, I have found many private/charter schools to be overly focused on older students (to the point that younger students are ignored) specifically for this reason. With no numbers to contribute to the school's profile, it is easy to ignore the younger students.

[loves2read]

regarding public schools with magnet G/T--that is not the way it is done in Tarrant county area
the public schools run G/T programs within the neighborhood schools--there is no ONE G/T school for the ISD--they want to keep the better testing students within neightborhood schools
many people don't understand that technically/psychologically a student who qualifies as G/T is not just a student with high IQ or ability to make good grades but a student who actually processes/learns differently than other high achieving students--
in ELEMENTARY schools there is usually a pull out program in Elem schools where GT kids go for two or three days a week in classes for ELA and math--as they enter middle schools with individual class periods--the schools start to offer G/T strands and pre AP or IB strands--so the G/T students take G/T English and sometimes social studies --not so sure about the math/science classes...

frankly I don't think there is a charter school-different from magnet public--that does a G/T specific/only curricula except like the school for the music kids in TX boys choir in FTw--and that is music talent only--not IQ ability which is what G/T kids are tested for...

there are good G/T programs in Tarrant county isds--but regarding NEW neighborhoods that severly limits your choices in your price range
Southlake Carroll is not goint to be in your price range
the better ISDs in this area that are IN your price range--new or old--and a 30-40 min commute are Grapevine Colleyville, HEB, Birdville, south part of Keller ISD (say south of Mid Cities Blvd),
Coppell ISD and Lewisville ISD are both very good but the commute is more difficult and price point might be little iffy as well certainly for something new
then what I would conside good but not as good ISDs--Arlington, Mansfield, Northwest ISD maybe, Aledo,