School Decision Beaverton or Lake Oswego

[Twilighter]

Originally Posted by myhmjy

Thanks for the inf. We will visit the area during spring break. Also see how bad the traffic is from Beaverton to Wilsonville. Unfortunately, both Beaverton and Lake Oswego districts are having spring break in the same week, so we can not visit the schools.

If it is important to you to tour a school, you might try giving a call or email. There may be staff there despite the break.

[myhmjy]

We heard from friends that kids in Lake Oswego junior high schools can be tested and take courses in high schools if they pass the test. Anybody knows about this? If it's true, maybe a gifted program is not necessary? We would like to know in which grade the tests will be offered and what courses are available - math, reading, science? Do they bus the kids to high school?

Thanks for everyone's help.

Harriet

[Gary R. Prout]

Elitism in schools is inequity. As a retired teacher with GATE certification I observed PARENTS drive a culture of discrimination at their local school. A GOOD teacher can be sure all the students are on the growing edge. It is not right to leave some of the classrooms without gifted students as it harms the remaining classrooms. Never have I seen a gifted student learn less by being in a regular homogeneous classroom with a talented teacher.
My students wrote pro/con essays about implementing a GATE program and I posted them in the office hallway. I was asked to remove them. Wake up elitists and look in the mirror as you teach some kids that they are worth less because they cannot pass a GATE test.

[scrappycook]

I chose to rent in Beaverton because fo the SUMMA program at Whitford. My son was coming from an elementary school in MN with full-time gifted staff with the funding to actually administer a gifted program in elementary school. Very few school districts have something like SUMMA available for Middle School kids. He is now in 8th grade and we have LOVED the program. He is challenged, the classes and teachers are excellent and his group of friends are all of these wonderfully smart nerdy kids which is the perfect fit for my son. My daughter is also in the SUMMA program this year in 6th grade.

There is no real TAG curriculum in the elementary schools here. Both my daughter and her younger brother were tested for TAG at Raleigh Park, but it is kind of meaningless at the elementary school level as there simply is not funding for pull-out classes or groups.

I have no experience with High School yet. Most of my son's friends are going to Jesuit (which we cannot afford) or the Science magnet High School in Beaverton. I have heard excellent things about the West Linn High School and not so wonderful things about LO. We are still deciding what to do next year as we want to keep my daughter in SUMMA at Whitford.

[tigerlily]

I don't have children in school, but I happened to run across this article the other day. It may be of interest.

BPA Regional Science Bowl Middle School Competition final results

Beaverton's Westview High School takes first place at Regional Science Bowl | OregonLive.com