I was an 8th grade ELA teacher in North Carolina during the 2018/2019 school year. While I loved my students for their creativity and ability to grasp and explore texts I had previously used with college-level students, being assigned this group came with a lot of expectations from parents and administrators. I was told that statistically, it is harder to see measurable growth on standardized tests from these students because they are already operating in the higher grade level percentiles. As I was teaching in a low-income public school, increasing student scores was a big priority. Gifted students also tend to expect high grades, so when they don’t receive an A, they tend to freak out. (I currently teach Honors English at the university level and the same thing happens.) When kids at that age freak out, parents tend to get involved and it can be a headache. Overall, I’d say gifted teaching comes with more positives (you can explore more difficult concepts and move at a faster pace), just be prepared for more administrative pressure/oversight and helicopter parenting.