Twice exceptional student - best public school district in MA? (Boston: school districts, to live in)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Massachusetts public schools are really geared towards inclusion for all students. Other than in high school, where honors or advanced placement courses may be offered, the lower grades no longer offer any type of "gifted" programs.

If your child is truly at the upper reaches of academics, they may be better served by a private school and that could be in any state.

This inclusion stuff is nonsense. Gifted kids are "special needs" just as much as the kids with learning disabilities are. Maybe if enough parents sued them...

[Iced_Coffee]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Well, I was in such a program. Looking back at it, if i was a parent of a kid who wasn't in such a program, but thought they should be, i might be a little upset about it, especially if i didn't have the resources to do such a thing on my own or finance it.

We had extra activities that the other students couldn't partake in. I remember staying late 2 days a week because outside teachers would come in and give us extra lessons pertaining to STEM. Chemistry, engineering, math, etc. Was definitely a lot more in-depth with hands-on work. It was definitely different than the normal class routine. Also, class in general was much more easier without the distractions of trouble-makers and having to slow down to allow struggling students to catch-up.

And this was Revere public school system...

I remember building an RC airplane in 6th grade after class through the program. Prob my best memory of it due to the lasting impact. Flew it a couple times and then it hung in the lobby for a few years. That sorta jump-started it as a hobby for me which led me down a path of where I am today in terms of career choice (engineering). My parents didn't really push these sorts of things on my as my dad was busy working all day long to make ends meet and my mom was raising 3 kids on her own pretty much. So it's a shame more programs like that aren't offered today.

We had a similar program where I went to school (NY). In elementary school it was called AEP (Academic Enrichment Program) and I remember feeling a bit weird about it since they would call a handful of us out of class and take us elsewhere in the school to work on more advanced projects. Then we'd stride back into class and sit down like nothing happened, getting strange looks from the rest of the class. By junior high, it was a STEM focused program where they advanced us a year in Science, Math, and Tech classes (so in 7th grade we covered 7th and 8th grade material and in 8th grade we took 9th grade classes, etc). That set us up to be free to take a number of AP courses come senior year of high school. All told, it was hugely helpful for me, but I definitely remember feeling a bit strange as a freshman taking biology with 10th graders (and even some 11th graders). It did, however, give me a chance to meet older girls which was cool as a 15 year old!

The technology side was the best part, IMO. Similar to you, we got to do all sorts of cool projects where we built model rockets from scratch, created mag-lev vehicles to race pinewood-derby-style, and designed airplanes to test in wind tunnels and then shoot them down the hall with CO2 cartridges along a tightly run wire, etc.

[Southshorebound]

Originally Posted by massnative71

This inclusion stuff is nonsense. Gifted kids are "special needs" just as much as the kids with learning disabilities are. Maybe if enough parents sued them...

You have to wonder what the long term implications are for the country.

[msRB311]

I'm guessing the issue is funding. But really if a kid is gifted will they lose that 'gift' if they don't get special help in public elementary school?

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I'm guessing the issue is funding. But really if a kid is gifted will they lose that 'gift' if they don't get special help in public elementary school?

They very easily could become bored and lose motivation, happens all the time.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by massnative71

They very easily could become bored and lose motivation, happens all the time.

Parents need to help with that too. Parents also should help with kids with learning disabilities...but we know how lazy parents can be these days. They don't even want to deal with lunch.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Parents need to help with that too. Parents also should help with kids with learning disabilities...but we know how lazy parents can be these days. They don't even want to deal with lunch.

True but that doesn't help them while in the classroom waiting for the other kid's to "catch up", learn English or all the other stuff we always find "funding" for.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by massnative71

They very easily could become bored and lose motivation, happens all the time.

Especially with how easy it is for a kid to just bury their nose in their phone and parents who let them.

[msRB311]

so we are kind of putting it on public schools to do what parents wont. Again.

My guess is that public school has too many kids who need IEP for issues like ADHD, austism, dyslexia along with many other issues that are diagnosed more often these days. There are more kids who need help than those who are gifted

[charolastra00]

The most important thing for kids to learn in school is how to struggle, persevere, and work through challenges. A lot of kids classified as gifted wouldn't get this experience without more advanced classes. I didn't have to study to do well in most classes, including doing well on AP exams, and so getting to college was like an absolute ton of bricks. Some of the most successful people I went to school with who are now doctors, surgeons, lawyers, and other intellectual professions weren't in gifted at all and really struggled in school. I suspect that early training helped them excel later on!

Gifted programs are inherently flawed, though. My brother is far more intelligent than I am but didn't qualify for gifted because he didn't value performing well in school the way that I did. He also is likely autistic, though not apparent enough to have gotten a diagnosis in the 90s. Similarly, I only got my ADHD diagnosis in adulthood, but masked it very well in school. We both would have benefited significantly from twice exceptional programs which would have forced some of that struggle on us while also giving us more tools for managing our differences before real life smacked us in the face.

I don't know that I agree that the answer to the issues with gifted programs is getting rid of them altogether, but unfortunately that's the direction Mass and many other states have chosen to take. Only a handful of districts offer gifted programs, and they seem to be overrepresented by low income communities (Brockton, Lawrence). It seems like the recommendation for gifted kids in Mass is for parents to move to a wealthy community where the baseline of education and opportunity is already very, very high.

Choosing a district with strong academic rigor and options in the curriculum that resonate with your child's interests (STEM focus, lots of foreign language classes, a humanities academy, etc) may be the best bet. Acton-Boxborough, Sharon, Sudbury and Hopkinton are all strong school districts that particularly perform well for STEM and are closer to your budget than the standard recommendations of Lexington or Newton.

OP - how old is your child? Something that was particularly transformational for both my brother and I was the Odyssey of the Mind program. It was an after school competitive group that is tailor-made for the bright, neurodivergent kids who tend to self-select for this kind of thing. Teams are given "problem" prompts either in advance to work on as a team or spontaneously at competitive events. Some problems are more focused on skits, acting, and improv but others are more engineering focused - and generally it takes teams with both skillsets to be successful. I'm not able to find a list of schools with OM teams due to safety, but maybe others can chime in if their child's school offers it! We started on early middle school, but the division goes as young as 2nd grade. My mom actually ended up as our team's coach, so that might be a possibility.