The best solution is to offer accelerated math classes in public schools, in both elementary and middle. Mostly in middle school because elementary math can usually be handled through differentiated instruction by the teacher, unless the child is exceptionally advanced.
I really like the way my kid's middle school does it: accelerated 6th grade math covers the entirety of the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade standard math curriculum, which sets the kids up for algebra in 7th grade and geometry in 8th. Because the standard middle school math curriculum is essentially just advanced arithmetic, it's pretty straightforward to bundle this way. It also makes it easy to inject 7th graders who missed 6th grade accelerated math into the accelerated track if they pass the algebra qualifying test before 7th grade.
When I was growing up the G&T program started in 4th grade and cohorts from multiple schools were pulled into a school that ran the "gifted" program. Essentially all the kids were tracked from 4th grade through high school graduation and there was no real possibility for non-G&T kids to get into the "gifted" classes in middle school. In HS that just transitioned into APs and college dual-enrollment; by the time I graduated HS in '99, I had 22 credit hours of college classes banked, including dual-enrollment bio and calc 1 + 2, plus a bunch of humanities APs.
Today -- at least in our bay area public high school -- there's no tracking outside of math and the vast majority of classes can contain students in multiple grades. That absolutely was not the case when I was in school, and imho it's an improvement.
I really like the way my kid's middle school does it: accelerated 6th grade math covers the entirety of the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade standard math curriculum, which sets the kids up for algebra in 7th grade and geometry in 8th. Because the standard middle school math curriculum is essentially just advanced arithmetic, it's pretty straightforward to bundle this way. It also makes it easy to inject 7th graders who missed 6th grade accelerated math into the accelerated track if they pass the algebra qualifying test before 7th grade.
When I was growing up the G&T program started in 4th grade and cohorts from multiple schools were pulled into a school that ran the "gifted" program. Essentially all the kids were tracked from 4th grade through high school graduation and there was no real possibility for non-G&T kids to get into the "gifted" classes in middle school. In HS that just transitioned into APs and college dual-enrollment; by the time I graduated HS in '99, I had 22 credit hours of college classes banked, including dual-enrollment bio and calc 1 + 2, plus a bunch of humanities APs.
Today -- at least in our bay area public high school -- there's no tracking outside of math and the vast majority of classes can contain students in multiple grades. That absolutely was not the case when I was in school, and imho it's an improvement.