Elementary school for the highly gifted? (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: 2014, how much, house)

[Rosa727]

I have searched through the threads but have not found anything recent, so I figured I was OK to start my own thread.

My family will be moving to the Atlanta area this summer for my husband's job. I have three children, ages 3,5, and 8. Although I am concerned with schooling for all three, it is my oldest who I am the most concerned with. He will be entering third grade and had been accepted to a public school for the highly gifted here in South Carolina. It starts in 3rd grade, so he hadn't started yet. Up until now he has been attending a great Montessori school. We love it and had planned on keeping our other children there, but my oldest still needed more challenge, despite their efforts to challenge him. His MAP scores put him off the charts for his age group and around average for 9-10th grade, across the board, in all subjects in which he has been tested. His IQ is at the 99th% and puts him on the border of "highly" and "profoundly" gifted. Although he maxed out on several areas, so I'm sure he is in the "profound" level if we were to do more testing. I say all this to avoid the comment of "everyone thinks their child is gifted". He LOVES to learn and (despite having ADHD) is a high achiever as well.

So my question is this: what are the best educational options for him in the Atlanta area? My husband will be working in Duluth, so that is a consideration, but we are willing to consider different areas. Right now I am leaning towards private school because I don't think a pull out program in public school would be nearly challenging enoug. But are there any charter schools that may have a great gifted program? Also, does anyone know much about Midtown International or Fulton Science Academy or any other private schools that could be great for a highly gifted child? I do stay home and could potentially homeschool him, but I would like to avoid that, as I worry about what he would miss out on. He is very social and outgoing and would thrive in an atmosphere where he could be with academic peers, whether they are his age or not. He is also very musical (very involved with guitar) and artistic, so I would like to find a school with a decent arts program.

Any suggestions? I am getting anxious as summer is going to go quickly. We are house hunting next week and could tour some schools, so I need to figure this out!

[Clayton white guy]

I don't know about "highly gifted"; I am assuming we are talking "Dugi Houser" criteria here, but Dekalb County Schools do have magnet programs for the gifted. Kitredge (spelling help please Dekalb friends) is the older magnet elementary school for the gifted in Dekalb and has a highly valued reputation for decades even with the problems within Dekalb County Schools over the years. I have been told they also have a newer program at another elementary school in the South Dekalb area, too, uncertain about the quality of the newer program. I have been told that both schools are highly selective. Perhaps a more familiar poster with the Dekalb County programs can fill in the blanks here; I know I have left many.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by Clayton white guy

I don't know about "highly gifted"; I am assuming we are talking "Dugi Houser" criteria here, but Dekalb County Schools do have magnet programs for the gifted. Kitredge (spelling help please Dekalb friends) is the older magnet elementary school for the gifted in Dekalb and has a highly valued reputation for decades even with the problems within Dekalb County Schools over the years. I have been told they also have a newer program at another elementary school in the South Dekalb area, too, uncertain about the quality of the newer program. I have been told that both schools are highly selective. Perhaps a more familiar poster with the Dekalb County programs can fill in the blanks here; I know I have left many.

Kittredge is a mess just like the rest of the Dekalb school system.

Public school magnet lotteries: Why do we have winners and losers? | www.ajc.com

"Students are selected to enroll in the programs using an automated random student selection process."

"I talked to parents whose daughter’s Iowa scores put her in the top 1 percent nationwide, but she never won a seat at Kittredge. It upset the parents that classmates who scored at the 75 percentile -- putting them right above the average range -- won spots at Kittredge and their daughter, despite outperforming 98 percent of her peers in the country, did not."

[cwkimbro]

Honestly, You would be crazy to overlook the value of Public schools in that area of Gwinnett County, the adjacent Johns Creek area (if you can afford it), or Southern Forsyth Co. That area, straddling the borders of Gwinnett, Fulton, and Forsyth Counties, is probably the single area that has more of the state's top rated school districts than any other.

I would strongly recommend looking in Suwanee or Buford area.

It is one of the best school systems in the state and has many of the state's top high school clusters. They have a special legislated loophole from the state that allows them to have larger classroom sizes, specifically so they can budget smaller classes for those doing worse and better than avg. You will also be hard pressed to find any high schools in the state that offer more AP classes (it is has actually gotten absurd. My niece as a freshman, in the top 1% of her class, and she took several AP classes).

Another thing is being in Gwinnett will allow them to get in the lottery to go to the Gwinnett School of Math & Sciences. It is a large intellectually demanding high school students choose to go to. It is not a magnet school, so anyone can get in the lottery for it, but it is demanding enough mostly just top tier students go to it. It is commonly the top ranked high school in the state, because of this.

I would also highlight that unlike Dekalb and other places intown, most Gwinnett school custers don't need to separate kids into magnet programs to keep kids in a good school. Most systems use magnets to separates kids from poorer performing school districts to help encourage more families move into the area.

Where exactly in Duluth is your husband working? Depending on where you might want to expand your search towards the Brookwood HS area.

[AtlJan]

First off, I am a pro-private school person. Almost all of my posts on this forum have to do with private schools in the Atlanta area. However, from your description of your child and your situation, I think he would be best served at a public school.

Public school teachers are pros at serving a wide spectrum of learning abilities and are more likely to move a child up a grade, etc. than most of the private schools. If this were the Fall, and you had time to go through the private school admission cycle, I would say Westminster or Paideia could meet the needs of your child, but at this point, you have missed that, and honestly, that would put your husband in a wretched commute situation and/or you and the kids also.

I would talk to administrators in both Gwinnett and North Fulton, research those two school systems. Extremely bright, academically driven families move into North Fulton--Alpharetta, Milton, Northview--for the express purpose of finding good schools. These excellent schools are supported by PTAs that fund the arts, and your son would quickly find a peer group to challenge even him.

[Rosa727]

Thank you so much to everyone for the great and helpful responses! I don't have anything against public school (I was a gifted child, though not as highly as my son, and did well in public schools in MA) but for some reason I keep thinking that private will be the way to go. But you all are definitely giving me some things to think about! I was thinking about Paideia, but I guess I would have to consider that for next year, from the sounds of it. The nice thing about public would be that my kids could all be in the same school eventually. I am definitely not against acceleration, as recent studies seem to show it can be very good for children in my son's situation. So if I can find a school system that would be willing to consider that, it could be a good option. I just wonder how much good skipping one grade would do for him.

Well anyway, in looking at Suwanee, the elementary schools look great, across the board! I wasn't even considering it, as it was farther from the city than I wanted to be (we are very into the arts and museums, as a family, and would like to take advantage of those things) but I may need to. We are already thinking of Roswell, Alpharetta, John's Creek, and Sandy Springs.

Anyone else knowledgeable about gifted programs, please feel free to add your thoughts! I truly appreciate it, as I feel this is very important for him. He loves to learn, like I said, and I need to keep it that way!

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Rosa727

Thank you so much to everyone for the great and helpful responses! I don't have anything against public school (I was a gifted child, though not as highly as my son, and did well in public schools in MA) but for some reason I keep thinking that private will be the way to go. But you all are definitely giving me some things to think about! I was thinking about Paideia, but I guess I would have to consider that for next year, from the sounds of it. The nice thing about public would be that my kids could all be in the same school eventually. I am definitely not against acceleration, as recent studies seem to show it can be very good for children in my son's situation. So if I can find a school system that would be willing to consider that, it could be a good option. I just wonder how much good skipping one grade would do for him.

Well anyway, in looking at Suwanee, the elementary schools look great, across the board! I wasn't even considering it, as it was farther from the city than I wanted to be (we are very into the arts and museums, as a family, and would like to take advantage of those things) but I may need to. We are already thinking of Roswell, Alpharetta, John's Creek, and Sandy Springs.

Anyone else knowledgeable about gifted programs, please feel free to add your thoughts! I truly appreciate it, as I feel this is very important for him. He loves to learn, like I said, and I need to keep it that way!

Accelerated Programs and Gifted Education


Teaching & Learning / Gifted Education


Students and Parents Talented and GIfted

[aries4118]

^^^^
Information about Gwinnett County Schools, Forsyth County Schools, and Fulton County Schools (Suwanee, Duluth, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Roswell, South Forsyth/Sharon Springs, and Cumming)

[aries4118]

Also...

http://giftedatlanta.com


Georgia Association for Gifted Children - Home

[Rosa727]

aries4118: thanks so much! That is truly quite helpful. I think I shall call the directors of the gifted programs and see what they suggest.

Alpharetta schools look great too! I'm still thinking Fulton Science Academy may be a good fit For my oldest. Luckily, I think the east side of Alpharetta could work for us to live, and my husband's commute wouldn't be bad. Of course Suwanee or Johns Creek would also work well.

Thanks again!