Texas gifted- school -age to start?

[skark7]

So if public schools all require that students should be age 5 to enrol in Kindergarten and 6 to enrol in 1st grade, do private schools require the same thing? Anyone know of schools in the DFW area that are especially good for gifted children? If it helps, we are in Dallas county. I have tried researching this online and have found very little information. We are new to the area, and feel completely lost. Do schools here offer any sort of acceleration or skipping grades or any such for children who might show potential?

TIA.

[TiredX2]

Hi!  Welcome to MDC. 

I don't know very much about the Dallas area schools.  You might get more responses in the Texas Tribal Area:

http://www.mothering.com/community/f/95/texas-oklahoma-new-mexico

Good luck!

[karne]

If you're thinking about private school, be sure to check on their enrollment age standards.  Several of the private schools in our area have earlier cut off dates than the public school, and often prefer that the students are older rather than younger when entering 1st grade.  

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by karne 

If you're thinking about private school, be sure to check on their enrollment age standards.  Several of the private schools in our area have earlier cut off dates than the public school, and often prefer that the students are older rather than younger when entering 1st grade.  

Yeah, you definatley just need to check.  Where we live (and my sister who has a daughter with a 9/9 birthday in a state with a 9/1 cutoff) the private schools were much more accomidating of early start.

[skark7]

Thank you everyone. Haven't been on this forum for a while, and just saw your replies.

[KCMichigan]

http://mb2.ecs.org/reports/Report.aspx?id=32

Above should be a link stating ages, rules for skipping, exemptions,etc for public schools.

This is what it says about TX:

Texas

6  (TX EDIC § 25.085)

5 on or before September 1  (TX EDUC § 29.151)

A student younger than 5 may be admitted to kindergarten if the student performs satisfactorily on the assessment given to 3rd grade students and if the district has adopted a policy for admitting students younger than 5 years of age (TX EDUC § 42.003).

A child who has completed kindergarten in another state may attend 1st grade before he has turned 6 (TX EDUC § 42.003).

Kindergarten attendance is not required in this state (TX EDUC § 42.003).

Permissive  (TX EDUC § 42.003)

YIKES! Looks like TX skipping or starting 'early' is pretty strict.- I could not figure out how to cut/paste...but they would have to pass the 3rd grade level test to get early entry!  (that is in all subjects---probably writing would be the hardest to meet).

We loved in a Sept 1 state and 90% of the private schools actually preferred a June1 cut-off. We only found one that would allow early admittance, but decided it was not a good fit.

Then we moved to a state with a Dec1st cut-off. Most if not all private schools here have Sept. 1st or Dec.1st as cut-off- no early entry.

Both (private) GT schools here had a Sept 1 cut-off strictly enforced. (they both also had PreK programs). They have good reason to stick to it since the schools really dont have many GT programming.....but we could not afford either one. So far public has been OK.