Gifted and talented Each NYC district offers programs for gifted and talented students; they may be entire schools, separate classrooms within local schools or special classes. Three schools, all in Manhattan, take children from anywhere in the city: the New Explorations into Science, Technology & Math School on the Lower East Side, the Talented and Gifted School in East Harlem and the Sarah Anderson School on the Upper West Side.

To apply, pick up an application at a school in early fall; it will likely be due in December. Your child will then be registered to take a city-administered exam in the winter. When you apply, the application form requires you to rank your G&T schools in order of preference. The city tries to match every qualifying child to a school on his or her list, but a match isn’t guaranteed. While nail-biting ensues as parents wait for placement letters (which generally go out in March or April), the results, most say, are worth it. Having trouble imagining your Dora-watching, juice-box-chugging tot as gifted? He doesn’t need to be reading Chaucer, says one mom—just apply and see if he gets in.

Charter schools These schools—such as the Bronx Charter School for the Arts or the Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Queens—are publicly funded but operate independent of the Board of Ed, so they can set their own curricula and have more flexibility in hiring and firing teachers, explains Hemphill of InsideSchools.org. They’re generally located in places where the public schools aren’t strong. Children are accepted by a lottery drawn in winter or spring, depending on the school.