Schools for Gifted Students

In St. Paul, Highland Park and Central high schools both offer full IB programs. I believe that Highland junior high does, as well, but am not 100% certain.

Hi W.,

Welcome to MN (soon). My stepson is in the IB program at Cooper HS. His mother lives in Robbinsdale. Other suburbs that feed to this high school include: Crystal, Golden Valley, New Hope, Plymouth. The middle school that offered the early program leading to the high school was Sandburg in Golden Valley, and his elementary that provided a "focus" group that recognized his academic interest was Neil (not far from Sandburg).

Below is a link that shows all the schools in the Twin Cities area the offer the IB program.

http://www.mheso.state.mn.us/mPg.cfm?pageID=1069

St. Louis Park is also a great suburb. I bought my first house and really enjoyed the city (wish I was still living there). You are about 15 minutes to downtown (of course minus rush hour at times). It also offers a bike path straight to the downtown, that many people use (as well as for simple fun and exercise).

I know church families that attend Southwest HS in Minneapolis and there are some terrific neighborhoods in Minneapolis that feed to this school.

Champlin Park, I believe, is very far north metro suburb. It is a newer development (probably developed in last 10-15 years), nice area. Not sure how far you want to commute though-- if working in downtown area, I would discourage only because you may find yourself in more rush hour traffic (and subsequent delays) than you want - effecting your ability to participate in your kids' school programs (on occasion).

Minnetonka is west of downtown Minneapolis. It is a very large school (probably one of largest in Twin Cities). Has both new housing and established homes (many on Lk Minnetonka). Real estate is going to be higher in this area due to lake property, etc.

I don't know anything about the St. Paul schools and the neighborhoods within their registration boundaries, but I would caution about Patrick Henry in Minneapolis. It seems to me this is a rougher neighborhood, but if working with a realtor, he/she can direct you to an area right for your family and right for your budget of house.

Let me know if you need help with realtor -- have a great friend that knows the city a lot more than me since he grew up here in MN. Here is his website for reference:
www.michaeltierney.com

Good luck

Have you looked at the Northwest Suburban Integration District?
Anoka-Hennepin is one of seven partner districts in the Northwest Suburban Integration District. http://www.nws.k12.mn.us/ They have a Magnet School program that offers three K-12 strands: International Baccalaureate; Visual, Performing, Literary and Technological/Media Arts; and Math, Science and Technology. We live in Brooklyn Park. My daughter attends Fred Moore Center for the Arts in Anoka. Bus service is provided through the district for her. As a sixth grader, she had some wonderful opportunities in the arts along with advanced math and science opportunities. The cost of living in the northern suburbs is very reasonable. Check it out.

Robbinsdale Area Schools covers a large area of the NW suberbs. We have 3 middle schools, one with Advanced Placement, one with IB, and one with a technology and language focus. At the High School level, we again have one with IB, and one with AP. We also have a Spanish Immersion program for k-5th grade that is very good, sending many of it's students to the IB program after completion. They district has a wide variety of home prices, from very nice new large homes, to working class older neighborhoods. http://www.rdale.k12.mn.us/dist/ Feel free to contact me with any questions!! Also, check out http://www.twincitiespwp.org/. It is our local chapter of Parents Without Partners. It is a great way to meet new people!

Minneapolis has two middle schools involved with IB. One is Northeast Middle School, and the other is my school, Anwatin Middle School. Obviously, I know more about Anwatin, so let me tell you about it. We are a small school, less than 500 students, located in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood. Our school is against a nice wooded plot, with easy access to Wirth Park. Oftentimes, science classes take their work outside. We have a dedicated and motivated principal, Dr. Russell, and an impressively stable staff. I've just finished my 4th year there, and I'm still one of the new kids on the block in my school. In addition to IB, we also work with a wonderful not-for-profit group called Project Success. Project Success has been with Minneapolis and Anwatin for over a decade. They work with the English teachers to provide goal setting skills to students, as well as introducing drama. They take interested students on a trip to the Boundary Waters every summer and also do a wonderful school play-- this year, we did The Wiz. We offer three langauges, Spanish, French, and Japanese, and also have a school band. Students who are interested can also take the school trip each year-- for the 2007-2008 school year, Ms. Wernimont, our IB director, will be taking students to Washington DC. We offer GEMS, which is Girls in Engineering, Mathematics, and Science, as an extracurricular. We also have ties with NASA. This is a wonderful school, and in my twelve years of teaching (at 6 different schools) I've never been happier. Minneapolis also has two IB high schools, as well as a very nice liberal arts program at South. As your daughter's going into 7th grade, you won't have to think too much about that until next year. I really recommend our school highly. Feel free to call today (midmorning or later, as today is our staff breakfast) and ask to talk to Dr. Russell. Our number is 612-68-2450 We're also having an Open House on June 28th, which I sadly can't tell you too much about. Our number is ###-###-####.
I'm H., by the way, and I'm the 7th grade English teacher. I really hope you consider our school. I think you'll like it.

Have you tried searching for schools on http://www.ibo.org/? St. Louis Park borders Minneapolis and the schools offer the IB Programme. You'll find housing to be very affordable there.
Good luck with your move.

If your main concern is education, I would suggest Edina. It is also a lovely city in which to live, as it is a first tier suburb with convenient proximity to most everywhere. We moved here for the school system and the quality of life. Edina's schools have lots of money to spend on updates. The high school was just renovated this year and the teachers are excellent. They do put pressure on their students to excel academically and the parents are very involved. A friend who lives in Edina opted to move one of their children to a school in Minneapolis last year for its advanced program, but decided to transfer back to Edina this year because the school's budget was lean and there was less parental involvement. My best friend, who has a twelve year old daughter, moved back here from NYC when her daughter was three. She selected Edina after an exhaustive search because the schools were ranked the best and the homes really hold their values. I hope this helps.

Some of the Minneapolis Public Schools have IB programs. Check out the website http://www.mpls.k12.mn.us for more information! We live in St Louis Park and the schools here have an IB program as well. Quick drive to the city and nice neighborhoods too!

Hi W.

I know a mom who is sending her daughters to Capitol Hill or Capital Heights school in St. Paul. I think it is near 94, Victoria-Dale-Rice area.
I do not know much more about it.
It is in SPPS.

Good luck.