Academic acceleration

File:"Interior view of Oakdale School near Loyston, Tennessee. From 30 to 40 pupils usually attend." - NARA - 532648.jpg

A one-room schoolhouse, the original multi-age classroom.

File:Shimer College Discussion Class.jpg

A discussion class at Shimer College, which has offered an early entrance program since 1950.

Academic acceleration is the advancement of gifted students in subjects at a rate that places them ahead of where they would be in the regular school curriculum. Because it provides students with level-appropriate material, academic acceleration has been described as a "fundamental need" for gifted students. Although the bulk of educational research on academic acceleration has been within the United States, the practice occurs worldwide.

Impact

Well-administered academic acceleration programs have been generally found to be highly beneficial to students. Effective administration involves ensuring student readiness, both academic and emotional, and providing necessary support and resources. Cohort acceleration programs, in which a number of students are accelerated together at the same time, are often especially effective. However, acceleration programs often face difficulty due to many teachers, administrators and parents being skeptical of the benefits of acceleration. Adults who have experienced acceleration themselves, however, tend to be very well-disposed to the practice.

The influential 2004 U.S. report A Nation Deceived articulated 20 benefits of academic acceleration, which can be further distilled into four key points:

1. Academic acceleration provides greater benefits than any approach, such as differentiated instruction or enrichment.
2. Research has provided no evidence of social or emotional maladjustment due to acceleration.
3. Academic acceleration contributes to meeting a gifted student's social and emotional needs by providing a better-matched peer group and removing them from a difficult social environment.
4. Failure to accelerate a student who is able to accelerate is likely to have adverse effects on motivation and productivity, and may even lead to dropping out.

The 2015 follow-up to that report, A Nation Empowered, highlights the research that has occurred over the past decade, and provides further evidence that academic acceleration, when applied correctly, can be highly beneficial for gifted students.

Types of academic acceleration

Academic acceleration comes in all shapes and sizes. One influential study has defined 18 forms of academic acceleration.

Early admission to kindergarten

File:US Navy 090303-N-3666S-003 Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Rasheema Newsome, assigned to Commander, Navy Region Hawaii, reads Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat to kindergarten students at Lehua Elementary School.jpg

A kindergarten class

See also: Redshirting (academic)

In early admission to kindergarten, students enter kindergarten prior to the minimum age for school entry as set by district or state policy. This form of acceleration poses fewer obstacles than others, as places the student in a peer group with whom the student is likely to remain for some time. In many US school districts, early admission requires evaluation, which may include a mock class to test emotional readiness.

Early admission to first grade

Often occurring where early admission to kindergarten is not permitted, this practice can result from either the skipping of kindergarten, or from accelerating the student from kindergarten in what would be the student’s first year of school. This second approach, of skipping kindergarten entirely, is however often resisted by US school administrators.

Early entrance to middle school or high school

Early entrance to high school enables the student to avoid being stuck in the "holding pattern" of middle school.

Grade skipping

Main article: Grade skipping

One of the best-known forms of academic acceleration, grade skipping involves moving the student ahead one or more grades. Where grade skipping is inappropriate, other forms of acceleration may be recommended instead.

One metric used for determining whether grade skipping is appropriate is the research-based Iowa Acceleration Scale, which entered its third edition in 2009. In particular, the IAS identifies four conditions under which grade skipping is unwise:

1. If the student's intelligence quotient is less than 120 (i.e. less than one standard deviation above the mean)
2. If the student has a sibling in the student's current grade
3. If the student has a sibling in the grade into which the student would accelerate
4. If the student does not want to skip a grade

Advanced Placement

Main article: Advanced Placement

Advanced Placement is a program unique to the United States and Canada, originally developed by the Fund for the Advancement of Education and now administered by the College Board.

Concurrent or dual enrollment

Main article: Dual enrollment

In dual enrollment, the student is simultaneously enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions, most commonly a high school and community college or university. One sub-type of dual enrollment is concurrent enrollment, in which the student simultaneously receives both high school and college credit for a single course. Dual enrollment programs can allow students to graduate early, or to enter college with advanced standing.

Early graduation from high school

In early graduation, the student graduates from high school or college in three-and-a-half years or less. Generally, this is accomplished by increasing the amount of coursework undertaken each year in high school or college, but it may also be accomplished through dual/concurrent enrollment or extracurricular and correspondence coursework. In the United States, however, some states do not allow early graduation.

Early entrance to college

Main article: Early entrance to college

Early entrance to college, sometimes called "early admission", is the practice of allowing high school students to enter college one or more years before the traditional age of college entrance, and without obtaining a high school diploma. In some cases this is done individually, and many universities and colleges allow such admissions on a case-by-case basis. However, it is also often done as part of a cohort acceleration program, in which many such students are accelerated into college together at the same time. These programs may provide their students with a social support network and help in dealing with the adjustment.

Early entrance programs take a number of forms. Some, like the Advanced Academy of Georgia and The Clarkson School, are special programs within larger colleges. In others, like the Early Entrant Program at Shimer College and the Early Entrance Program at CSULA, early entrants study side-by-side with traditional college students. Bard College at Simon's Rock is a four-year college designed exclusively for early entrants.

Acceleration in college

The student completes two or more majors in a total of four years and/or earns an advanced degree along with or in lieu of a bachelor's degree. Academic acceleration also occurs at the graduate and professional level, with dual degree programs and combined bachelor's-professional programs such as accelerated JD programs.

Continuous progress

See also: Continuous Progress Mathematics

In continuous progress education, the student is given content progressively as prior content is completed and mastered, moving on to more advanced material as soon as the student is ready for it.

Self-paced instruction

Main article: Self-paced instruction

In self-paced instruction, the student proceeds through learning and instructional activities at a self-selected pace. Self-paced instruction differs from continuous progress instruction in that the student has a greater degree of control.

Credit by examination

Students taking a test at the University of Vienna

Often referred to as "testing out", credit by examination involves giving a student advanced standing credit (e.g., in high school or college) for successfully completing some form of mastery test or activity. Studies of gifted college students suggest that this may have slightly negative effects on psychological well-being.

Multi-age classrooms

Main article: Multi-age classroom

Classrooms with students of diverse ages allow younger gifted students to be grouped with older students who are closer to their academic level. They also create opportunities for peer instruction, leading to heightened self-esteem in gifted students.

Combined classes

A combined class is one that combines two adjacent grades. While not, in and of itself, a practice designed for acceleration, in some instances this placement can allow younger students to interact academically and socially with older peers.

Curriculum compacting

Curriculum compacting involves analyzing an assigned curriculum unit, determining which parts of it a student has already mastered, and providing replacement strategies so that the student can complete the unit without repeating this already-mastered material. In a compacted curriculum, the student’s instruction entails reduced amounts of introductory activities, drill, and practice. Instructional experiences may also be based on relatively fewer instructional objectives compared to the general curriculum. The time gained may be used for more advanced content instruction or to participate in enrichment activities. Curricular compacting not only saves time, but also reduces student boredom and apathy.

Telescoping curriculum

In a telescoped curriculum, the student is provided instruction that entails less time than is normal (e. g., completing a one-year course in one semester, or three years of middle school in two). Telescoping differs from curriculum compacting in that time saved from telescoping results in advanced grade placement.

Subject-matter acceleration/partial acceleration

This practice allows students to be placed with classes with older peers for a part of the day (or with materials from higher grade placements) in one or more content areas. Effective subject-matter acceleration requires the cooperation of teachers in subsequent grades, so that the student is not forced to repeat the material.

Mentoring

Main article: Mentorship

In mentoring, a student is paired with a mentor or expert tutor who provides advanced or more rapid pacing of instruction. Mentoring of gifted high school students by successful adults often has beneficial long-term effects, including improved focus on career goals. The career effects are especially pronounced for women students.

Extracurricular programs

Main article: Extracurricular activity

In extracurricular acceleration, students elect to enroll in weekend, after-school or summer programs that confer advanced instruction and/or credit. In some cases this will allow especially radical acceleration in content, such as a primary-school student taking university-level extension classes.

Distance learning

Main article: Distance education

As with extracurricular acceleration, when using distance or correspondence courses, the student enrolls in coursework delivered outside of normal school instruction. Instruction may be delivered traditionally by mail, but increasingly online courses are used. Effective use of distance learning requires a high degree of independence and motivation.

External links

• Acceleration Institute