Anonymous
10/01/2025 21:02
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Went to Sidwell open house, there's a lot to like but couldn't get a whiff of the "rigorous" academics they are supposedly known for... children are supposed to count to 100 by first grade, something my PK3 child does already? The focus was overwhelmingly on social justice. In the art class the students were not doing art but rather being led through a slide presentation on allyship.
As an international development worker, I feel global citizenship is vital and these are values I will impart to my children at the dinner table. However I will not teach them art and algebra.
What is the best school in DC for academics?
Thanks!
New-in-town
As a private school teacher with a MA in Elem. Ed., please keep in mind that learning is not a linear process. There is an ebb/flow to child development, and there are times when they will seem advanced/gifted and other times they will seem behind. Find a school that feels like a good fit beyond the academics.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 14:12
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Try the Washington International School. It’s the most rigorous international baccalaureate program and kids in the final two years of high school take college level courses. It’s not a program for the faint at heart.
Anonymous
09/25/2025 12:43
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Only like 0.1% of the world is truly gifted and the rest are below average to very smart.
Your kid doesn’t sound like they are the top 0.1%…those are kids reading at 15 months and doing algebra at 5. Parents with kids like that don’t usually view it as a positive because they are besides themselves trying to figure out what to do.
Sidwell will be plenty for your kid.
No not surpassingly at all. my 4th grader can solve college-level math. In this country, the education is a mess, especially in Math.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 16:09
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You’re better off homeschooling. Anyone who thinks that the better schools in the area are unqualified for the academic prowess that is your child is bound for disappointment. You’ll be annoyed by the school and they will bitterly dislike you.
Try again. Homeschooling for kids that are gifted rarely works. Parents are not teachers. They are one sided as well.
All of my children were at min 4 years ahead in math from elementary school on.
MCPS did a fabulous job of educating my children. MIT, Stanford, CMU, Princeton graduates.
OP you want public school.
MCPS today is not what is was in the past. I wish parents whose kids graduated years ago would stop saying how wonderful it is.
+100. MCPS was great once upon a time. It was slowly declining but really is not the same since COVID decline.
This is particularly true for gifted kids. I am watching the good programs get systematically dismantled and replaced with trash (ELC anyone?) I have two kids and my even the difference between their experiences is significant. We are considering private school for our 0.1% kid which we never thought we would do, because if they aren’t going to get meaningful accelerated instruction we might as well put them in a nice, calm environment instead of hearing about unacceptable behavior and chaos every night. MCPS is sending a very strong signal they don’t intend to make any effort for gifted kids.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 13:24
Subject: Re:What school is best for gifted students?
We didn’t consider Sidwell for this reason - everything about the school seemed totally nice and fine. But there was nothing particularly memorable about the academics IMHO.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 13:10
Subject: Re:What school is best for gifted students?
Talk with the people at the John’s Hopkins CTY program, and see what their suggestions might be.
https://cty.jhu.edu/
I get that your “count to 100” was just one example, so I hope you threw that out there realizing that that was one small goal — probably exceeded by most, if not all of the students, from a well-rounded curriculum that also emphasizes social and emotional growth.
Good luck OP.
https://cty.jhu.edu/
I get that your “count to 100” was just one example, so I hope you threw that out there realizing that that was one small goal — probably exceeded by most, if not all of the students, from a well-rounded curriculum that also emphasizes social and emotional growth.
Good luck OP.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 12:57
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Find out where Doogie Howser, M.D. went to pre-K and you'll have your answer.
I'm glad a few posters here got the joke (and reference), especially since I was the one that posted in response to the "humblebragging".
Anonymous
09/22/2025 13:50
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You’re better off homeschooling. Anyone who thinks that the better schools in the area are unqualified for the academic prowess that is your child is bound for disappointment. You’ll be annoyed by the school and they will bitterly dislike you.
Try again. Homeschooling for kids that are gifted rarely works. Parents are not teachers. They are one sided as well.
All of my children were at min 4 years ahead in math from elementary school on.
MCPS did a fabulous job of educating my children. MIT, Stanford, CMU, Princeton graduates.
OP you want public school.
MCPS today is not what is was in the past. I wish parents whose kids graduated years ago would stop saying how wonderful it is.
+100. MCPS was great once upon a time. It was slowly declining but really is not the same since COVID decline.
It is not just MCPS. Something happened to many places beyond MCPS, and this is not just "back in my day" wistful kind of talking. There are objective drops in test scores almost everywhere. I don't think it affects the very top students, but it changes the atmosphere of the classroom because the teachers must teach and grade to the mean. I pulled my student from a public school and into a rigorous private for this reason and they are being challenged again.
+1. The workshop model of teaching popularized by Lucy Calkins and Fountas & Pinnell impacted not just language arts (though especially that). It also infected math instruction. There's tons and tons that has been written about how trends in education the past decade or so actively go counter to what neuroscience says about how kids' brains learn, but education departments at colleges and universities didn't care. It took time for all of that to really impact schools - old teachers who taught using better methods had to retire, the impact of poor elementary education had to trickle up.
Compound that with the impact of screens on attention, with the impact of distance learning on critical years in education for many kids, with the pressures that IDEA and FAPE place on a system that can't hire enough special education teachers, and with the way education is used as a political football instead of anyone doing the hard work to solve real problems, and you get a refreshed educational crisis in the public schools.
Despite all the problems in public education for decades US test scores kept rising - until they didn't.
I know there are plenty of possible culprits, but I don't think we can simply blame factors specific to the US like Lucy Calkins, No Child Let Behind, or Common Core, which are the things I've seen most people in the US blame. Scores are tanking globally according to the last PISA test with only a few exceptions. The US even moved up in the rankings because other countries fell more sharply. The Pandemic is obviously a prime suspect, but scores started their decline before the pandemic. If I had to pick which factor is the worst, I think screens and digital distractions are really terrible things for the kids' attention spans, and are global in their scope of influence.
Anonymous
09/22/2025 11:17
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Find out where Doogie Howser, M.D. went to pre-K and you'll have your answer.
Anonymous
09/22/2025 09:36
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You’re better off homeschooling. Anyone who thinks that the better schools in the area are unqualified for the academic prowess that is your child is bound for disappointment. You’ll be annoyed by the school and they will bitterly dislike you.
Try again. Homeschooling for kids that are gifted rarely works. Parents are not teachers. They are one sided as well.
All of my children were at min 4 years ahead in math from elementary school on.
MCPS did a fabulous job of educating my children. MIT, Stanford, CMU, Princeton graduates.
OP you want public school.
MCPS today is not what is was in the past. I wish parents whose kids graduated years ago would stop saying how wonderful it is.
+100. MCPS was great once upon a time. It was slowly declining but really is not the same since COVID decline.
It is not just MCPS. Something happened to many places beyond MCPS, and this is not just "back in my day" wistful kind of talking. There are objective drops in test scores almost everywhere. I don't think it affects the very top students, but it changes the atmosphere of the classroom because the teachers must teach and grade to the mean. I pulled my student from a public school and into a rigorous private for this reason and they are being challenged again.
+1. The workshop model of teaching popularized by Lucy Calkins and Fountas & Pinnell impacted not just language arts (though especially that). It also infected math instruction. There's tons and tons that has been written about how trends in education the past decade or so actively go counter to what neuroscience says about how kids' brains learn, but education departments at colleges and universities didn't care. It took time for all of that to really impact schools - old teachers who taught using better methods had to retire, the impact of poor elementary education had to trickle up.
Compound that with the impact of screens on attention, with the impact of distance learning on critical years in education for many kids, with the pressures that IDEA and FAPE place on a system that can't hire enough special education teachers, and with the way education is used as a political football instead of anyone doing the hard work to solve real problems, and you get a refreshed educational crisis in the public schools.
Despite all the problems in public education for decades US test scores kept rising - until they didn't.
Anonymous
09/22/2025 09:25
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You’re better off homeschooling. Anyone who thinks that the better schools in the area are unqualified for the academic prowess that is your child is bound for disappointment. You’ll be annoyed by the school and they will bitterly dislike you.
Try again. Homeschooling for kids that are gifted rarely works. Parents are not teachers. They are one sided as well.
All of my children were at min 4 years ahead in math from elementary school on.
MCPS did a fabulous job of educating my children. MIT, Stanford, CMU, Princeton graduates.
OP you want public school.
MCPS today is not what is was in the past. I wish parents whose kids graduated years ago would stop saying how wonderful it is.
+100. MCPS was great once upon a time. It was slowly declining but really is not the same since COVID decline.
It is not just MCPS. Something happened to many places beyond MCPS, and this is not just "back in my day" wistful kind of talking. There are objective drops in test scores almost everywhere. I don't think it affects the very top students, but it changes the atmosphere of the classroom because the teachers must teach and grade to the mean. I pulled my student from a public school and into a rigorous private for this reason and they are being challenged again.
Anonymous
09/21/2025 13:17
Subject: What school is best for gifted students?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You’re better off homeschooling. Anyone who thinks that the better schools in the area are unqualified for the academic prowess that is your child is bound for disappointment. You’ll be annoyed by the school and they will bitterly dislike you.
Try again. Homeschooling for kids that are gifted rarely works. Parents are not teachers. They are one sided as well.
All of my children were at min 4 years ahead in math from elementary school on.
MCPS did a fabulous job of educating my children. MIT, Stanford, CMU, Princeton graduates.
OP you want public school.
MCPS today is not what is was in the past. I wish parents whose kids graduated years ago would stop saying how wonderful it is.
+100. MCPS was great once upon a time. It was slowly declining but really is not the same since COVID decline.