8 Useful Tips for Choosing the Right School for Your Gifted Child
Choosing the right school for a gifted child is extremely difficult and the criteria differ from child to child. Another problem arises when the school may define giftedness in a different way than yours. In that case, the educational requirements of the child may not suit their school. Actually, every school should consider certain characteristics. If you are blessed with a gifted kid, read the following tips not as surefire solutions, but only a help to make your mind clear of any confusion. Choosing the right school for a gifted child may not be right forever and you should remember that you will have to be flexible.
1. Flexibility
Remember that your child is gifted and the school should understand it. So, there should be a lot of flexibility in the school’s overall program, based on the child’s needs. Here you should also remember that they have to be flexible for all children and not only gifted children.
2. Low Students-to-Teacher Ratio
Some parents choose a small school. However, a bigger school is fine until they have a low students-to-teacher ratio. For example, Accelerated Schools, a famous Denver school for the gifted children, has an average ratio of students-to-teacher 7:1.
3. Enthusiastic Teachers
You should see to it that the teachers are passionate for teaching and teaching gifted children. You should check how enthusiastically they teach along with how advanced their degrees are.
4. Field Experience
Does the school offer field trips and other opportunities to give your child a lot of scope for her/his creativity?
5. Considering Ability and Pace of the Child
This is similar to the criterion of flexibility. Does the school consider the ability and learning pace of the child rather than grade and age? This should be applied to all children and not just the gifted ones. However, it is also quite difficult to find.
6. Curriculum
You should check the school’s curriculum about whether it includes various subjects like art, music, computers and sports, along with community service. If it does, your child has a lot of fields to explore and satisfy her/his curiosity.
7. Facilities
What facilities they are offering? Do they offer big grounds, science laboratories, performing arts theatre, fine arts workshops, and particularly an excellent library?
8. Traditional Activities
Checking if the school offers lots of traditional activities is also important. Such activities create delightful memories for the present and future.
Choosing a good school for your gifted child can thus make you check a lot of things. But you should not limit to these and not temporarily. You should keep checking your child’s progress and comfort level with the school. If s/he is not feeling comfortable with the school, you need to consider a change.
