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Old 12-01-2007, 05:27 AM
 
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My kid has 99% percentile score on cogat, itbs etc. I want to find the best schools in the dallas area . Most schools are good . However given that the child is gifted I am really looking for absolutely the best option . I live in the coppell area.

How is Northhills, Hockaday , HighlandPark. I would like to go to a school that is really challenging and can keep her genuinely interested . Most materials covered at her grade level is a bit too easy and I do not want her to think life is that easy and things can be done without a lot of work. Even the Gifted programs are not that challenging for her level.
Please give your feedback .
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Old 12-01-2007, 06:03 AM
 
Location: Dallas, Texas
3,589 posts, read 4,147,531 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dallasdad View Post
My kid has 99% percentile score on cogat, itbs etc. I want to find the best schools in the dallas area . Most schools are good . However given that the child is gifted I am really looking for absolutely the best option . I live in the coppell area.

How is Northhills, Hockaday , HighlandPark. I would like to go to a school that is really challenging and can keep her genuinely interested . Most materials covered at her grade level is a bit too easy and I do not want her to think life is that easy and things can be done without a lot of work. Even the Gifted programs are not that challenging for her level.
Please give your feedback .
Hockaday is a fine school but very expensive and the girls grow up in a rarefied environment. A friend of mine since childhood went to Hockaday and is now an investment banker; she was as gifted as your daughter and Hockaday was a good fit academically but she didn't care for the environment. Both of her parents are doctors and they're very wealthy people, but they're self-made. She's one generation from the "poor white trash" the Hockaday girls accused her of being. She didn't care for that.

Prior to going to Hockaday she was in public school with me; she's a year younger than I am but skipped first grade due to her incredible academic talent. I think she would have done just as well in public school, but her parents pulled her out because she was being teased mercilessly and chose Hockaday because they felt a private school would be more accountable in that respect, and also because it was the closest one to our neighborhood.

So...Hockaday's a good school, but that's something to consider.

The HPISD is good, but I think its outstanding academic record has more to do with the motivated students...and their engaged, successful parents...than the caliber of the district itself or the quality of the teaching. Kids like those in the HPISD would do well anywhere.

I've never heard of Northhills so I can't really say anything about it.

Incidentally there were plenty of kids in my elementary school who scored in the 95th-99th percentile on the ITBS every time they took it. I was one of them. None of us aside from my childhood friend were permitted to skip a grade and had to make do with the unchallenging TAG program we were presented with. Most of us turned out great.

Good luck.
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Old 12-01-2007, 06:49 AM
 
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Hockaday. If you have the money (about $20k a year) go with Hockaday. If she wants co-ed look at Episcopal School of Dallas and Greenhill.

Public, I don't know. You could use that Hockaday money to buy a house in the Park Cities. There's a lot of academic competition at Highland Park. No question.

So far I am not impressed with North Hills. It's probably a good alternative to sending your kid to Irving ISD, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be much special about it. They obviously have a lot of kids taking the AP test or they wouldn't be on Newsweeks list, but I don't hear anything else about them. What else do they do good?
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Old 12-01-2007, 08:36 AM
 
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Hi,
I'm guessing you are looking at private schools as opposed to the public school districts since you already live in coppell.
If you go to the Hoagies website
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page
there are private schools for gifted kids listed from all over the nation. Here's the link for private schools in Texas. As you can see there are two schools in the DFW area The Anderson School and the Winston School. Both have their own websites that you can look at.
Hoagies' Gifted: Schools for the Gifted
If Public schools are an option you might consider looking at Carrollton for their unique program for the highly gifted - kids who score in the 140 range on IQ and achievement tests. The kids are clustered in one class in one school and are bussed in from all over the district. My son ins in the program at the moment and I thing very highly of it. The difference is that the district recognises the special gifts and needs of these children even as compared to other gifted kids over the 130 mark.
There are also gifted magnet schools in garland ISD but momof2dfw can tell you more about that.
Good luck with your journey. It can be a hard one with many difficult decisions to make.
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Old 12-01-2007, 09:16 AM
 
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Carrollton ISD offers a LEAP program for the highly gifted child. Of course Carrrollton ISD also offers an ACE program for the gifted child in every school (these children are bright as well but are not to the calibur as the LEAP children). The chidren in the LEAP program are all working at levels at least 2 to 3 years above in all subject areas. It is based at McCoy Elementary and LEAP is also in the middle school. When you reach HS the academies come into play. Law, International Business, Math,Science, Technology, and a few others including a film and technology type (I can't think of the exact title for the academy)

For info. you can call the main district number at 972 968-6100 and they will be able to get you to the right dept. to ask about these programs and how they accept students etc.
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Old 12-01-2007, 10:24 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bookworm2768 View Post
Hi,
As you can see there are two schools in the DFW area The Anderson School and the Winston School. Both have their own websites that you can look at.
Hoagies' Gifted: Schools for the Gifted
The Winston School requires kids to have learning disabilities and/or ADHD to attend. Great school though.
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Old 12-01-2007, 07:27 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
1,528 posts, read 6,288,872 times
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America's Top Public High Schools | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com
I go to CFBISD, its one of the better school districts.
I have a teacher who has her kid goes to north hills, I know her daughter she is in the same grade as me. We both went to the same middle school, but my teacher (her mom) deiced it would be too odd having her child go to the school in which her mom teaches.
My Teacher says that most of the Curriculum I get is more advanced then that of North Hills.
Schools, IMO don't have too much to do with how you kid does or who is surrounded by...as long as your school isn't like THAT bad. Bad things will occur at every school.
In fact I think it is better for a child to go to a good school, but not one of the best. The best tend to be wealthy people, this helps but you kid loses the value of being able to cooperate with the scum of the earth, which doesn't sound good at first. But your 'little baby' will eventually get sent out into our unforgiving world, and the ability to deal with scum is an essential skill. That being said I am definitely not saying to take your kid to some kid where the scores a deeper then the sea. All I am saying is you should reconsider the fact, Coppell IDS is not a bad school program. You child will get a great education there, and anyways at the end of life or even school we all end up knowing just about the same things(basically, lets not go into fine print such as career and numbers of years in college and degrees etc.) Your Kid is smart but preparing them for the real world isn't all education, it is Social skills, Ability Skills etc.
Your kid will inevitably want to get married, have to do something none of us would want to do, and meet someone who is just flat out mean and nasty. Your Child will receive these things best in a Public School rather then some snooty school.
ALL THIS BEING SAID
who am I to tell you what is best for your kid? I apologize if i offended you, and I sincerely and trying to help. Please feel free to do as you please, I am no one to tell you what to do.
Best of luck.
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Old 12-01-2007, 08:18 PM
 
Location: Dallas, Texas
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Depending on what district you live in and how old your child is, you could also consider the DISD's TAG magnets for junior high and high school, which consistently rate VERY highly in national surveys. At the moment the DISD's TAG magnet outranks HPHS by almost 20 places in the US News & World Report's list of top high schools in the country (TAG is #14, HPHS #33) and I think Newsweek ranked the TAG magnet #1. It's also better than HPHS in that your child would get a more realistic view of the world around them, since it's far more diverse.
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Old 12-01-2007, 08:57 PM
 
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For what its worth, I wanted to point out that Hockaday is a diverse school. One third of its students are minorities. They gave out over 2 million in financial aid last year. The boarding students come from 7 states and 9 countries.

The Hockaday School (http://www.hockaday.org/about/stats/ - broken link)
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Old 12-02-2007, 09:45 PM
 
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Thankyou to everyone for a lot of good information.

Anyone heard of GoodShepardEpiscopal school? Is it good? They have co-ed and the fees are a tier below the other big name private schools.
Are parents of kids going to Hockaday/Episcopal/StMarks/Greenhill etc extremely well off . We do not want to be a misfit coming from a upper middle class background mostly living off paychecks .

As far as HP-ISD is concerned is the school curriculam more advanced than say coppell/CFB etc ?

My criteria is
- Give the best education possible to our children , we are willing to stretch a bit to go the extra mile
-very very strong emphasis on academics , focus on advanced curriculam
-Good to be in a disciplined environment..
-CO-ed is preferable since I have a girl and boy , Both parents have to juggle with our work day schedules to transport kids to/from school.

Once again thx to everyone for sharing a lot of good information. Every comment posted here I found to be quite insightful.
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