What are your(/her) thoughts on gifted programs? I can say personally that gifted programs saved me from this fate of slogging through high school during these pandemic years. For some reason some gifted programs get dragged but having actual difficult assignments instead of just crap I can google, honestly 100% saved me from mediocrity.
She likes them. Her school has a really high quality GT ("gifted and talented") teacher. It is an honor to get into the program and allows kids the opportunity to do longer-term project type learning like you are talking about. This also gives her more time to focus on the kids that are struggling while not holding back the kids that are already exceeding expectations. In our experience though, it really depends on the teacher, I suppose that goes for all classes in all schools. You were lucky to have a good one it sounds like!
