What do Martin Luther King, Jr., Eudora Welty, T.S. Eliot, and Sandra Day O’Connor have in common?They all were accelerated and finished school early. When most people think of acceleration, they think of skipping grade levels.While this is one option, there are in fact many other choices.Nicholas Colangelo has done extensive research on the subject and three years ago produced the Templeton National Report on Acceleration, which was published as “A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students.”In the report, acceleration is defined as an educational intervention that moves students through an educational program at a faster than usual rate.The book describes 18 types of acceleration that are organized into two broad categories, Subject-Based and Grade-Based.
Subject-Based requires cognitive ability – the work is faster paced and more complex – but not necessarily social/emotional maturity.It allows gifted learners to master material beyond their expected age or grade level while remaining with their age and grade peers.Advanced Placement (AP) courses are an example in which students take college-level courses while still in high school.
Grade-Based requires both cognitive ability and emotional maturity or readiness.In this type of acceleration the student does not remain with chronological classmates, but is advanced by one or more grade levels.
Acceleration really means matching the level, complexity, and pace of the curriculum with the readiness of the student. Students who have already mastered the material need to advance through the curriculum without relearning what they already know. Studies show that students who are accelerated tend to aspire to careers requiring advanced education degrees and accelerating will not only get them there, but will challenge them to develop the study skills needed to be successful when they arrive.
The report also addresses the social concerns.If grade-based acceleration is chosen, will they be able to make good friends and enjoy an appropriate social life for their age?Will there be gaps in the knowledge between grades?What effect will it have on the child’s self-esteem.The research concludes that gifted students tend to be more emotionally and socially mature than their age-mates and that their ideas of friendship are different.The games they enjoy and the books they read are more like those of older children.Age is only one indicator of readiness.For the child who is placed ahead because he is already ahead, there are rarely negative social consequences.Likewise, when bright children learn in a class of students who are not as bright as they are, their academic self-esteem can get a bit inflated.When they are accelerated to be with students who know as much as they do, they can develop a more realistic self-perception and a healthy confidence in their abilities.
Many schools address the learning and social-emotional needs of gifted students in a variety of ways.Some of the better known approaches include ability grouping, enrichment activities, pull-out resource rooms, classroom differentiation, independent projects, and cooperative learning.However, for high-ability students, none of these approaches has been as effective as accelerating the curriculum.To read the research for yourself, you can download a free copy of the report at http://nationdeceived.org.
Garland ISD offers several options for acceleration as well as advanced curriculum opportunities.The GT magnet program already incorporates an accelerated curriculum across the grade levels. If you would like more information on the district’s policies regarding acceleration, either by subject or grade level, visit their website at www.garlandisd.net and click on “About GISD” from across the top margin.On the “Board of Trustees” page from the sidebar, you will find “Board Policy Online” which allows you to access specific parts of the document for reference.A search for “Credit by Examination” will pull up the most relevant aspects of acceleration.
This is a parent group site — opinions expressed here shall not be attributed to Garland ISD.