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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would avoid Nysmith at all costs.  It was a horrible experience for my child.  They like the children smart, but not too smart.  They are a lot of talk but not much action.  Cookie cutter kids for a cookie cutter program, but they throw in school for the gifted and parents flock to the hype.[/quote]

Since we have a child at nysmith we would be interested in the alternatives you found - was it GDS?  Holton?  the ffx county AAP?  I know there was one poster with a daughter who started off at nysmith, left for holton, and then decided to home-school because holton didn't have enough flexibility either.

Part of the challenge in creating a gifted school is being able to attract parents who self-select (albeit those who can also afford private school tuition) to send their gifted kids there.  And you can't do that without enough of a brand about being a school for gifted children so that parents will look at the school and send their kids there.  So the school has to try to get those kids.  Whether or not the program is the most perfect in the world for all children is a different question - and the answer would also be relative to the other options.   But why would you avoid nysmith at all costs?  We would be interested to hear more specifics about what you found lacking rather than "all talk no action".  Our child is doing well and the curriculum is more advanced that the same age at Sidwell, at least for math and science.  For humanities it is probably about the same as other private schools.  Would you use the same terms to describe the options for a super-smart kid at the other DC privates?
 [/quote]

Glad your pglet is thriving at GDS, but I recommend that the OP ask a lot of questions and talk to some parents before considering GDS L/MS for her child. GDS HS is open to acceleration and dual enrollment and is a good place for pg kids. GDS Lower and Middle Schools don't seem to offer much in the way of meaningful acceleration and certainly wouldn't have met the needs of my pg kids. The parents of pg kids in GDS L/MS with whom I have spoken didn't think their kids' academic needs were being met. There's no way you would get 4-5 years of acceleration there. You might get some acceleration in math, but it has been a struggle for even the most talented GDS math students to get significant acceleration in math before HS.[/quote]

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