Acceleration of Gifted Learners
Acceleration-From the Davidson Institute
Acceleration is a strategy that allows a student to progress through school at a faster than usual rate and/or younger than typical age. There are several forms of acceleration to consider for any individual student. The main ones are:
- Subject acceleration, where students are promoted to a higher grade level for one or more of the subjects in which they excel (i.e. display talent, in Gagné’s terms). A graphic example of this was the profoundly gifted Terry Tao, now a successful and well-adjusted young man, who was doing high school math at the age of 7, while still attending his elementary school for other subjects.
- Subject acceleration may be sufficient in itself for many gifted students, but it can also be seen as a form of trial for a possible full grade skip.
- Grade skipping, where students are promoted to a higher grade level for all subjects, e.g. Jordan who was moved from 1st grade at the end of one school year into 3rd grade at the beginning of the next, or Cassie who was skipped from 6th grade into 8th grade.
If a highly gifted student needs more than one grade skip it is usual for only one grade to be skipped at a time, with a settling in and reassessment period before the second (or third) skip is effected. - Early entry, which usually means that a gifted child who displays academic and social readiness begins school at a younger age than most other children do (eg at age 4 rather than at age 5). This is a form of grade skipping but has the added advantage of being the most unobtrusive/least disruptive form of acceleration.
- Telescoping, where a student, or a group of students, completes two years in one, or some similar rapid progression through material.
- Radical acceleration, where highly/profoundly gifted students skip several grades, and/or experience several forms of acceleration, during their school years.
What does the evidence tell us?
The research evidence on the effectiveness of acceleration is very positive. For example, contrary to many people’s expectation, the evidence shows that acceleration does not damage students socially or emotionally.
In fact, grade skipping has been found to aid social relations (as well as academic achievement), while concurrent enrolment has been found to enhance psychological adjustment.
Most forms of acceleration have been found to produce substantial academic benefits::
- Gifted early entrants to school were found to be on average six months ahead in their achievement, compared to their age peers, while there were also slight gains in social skills and self-esteem.
- Studies of single-subject acceleration have found that it produced academic gains of about three-fifths of a year’s growth. Telescoping was found to have similarly large positive effects.
- For concurrent enrollment the academic gains were small but positive.
- The research on grade skipping has produced very positive findings, with over one additional year’s academic achievement resulting, ‘and the students performed at least as well as their older-aged gifted peers in the new grade level’
The Senate Committee (2001, p. xiv) concluded that 'there is overwhelming research evidence that appropriate acceleration of gifted students who are socially and emotionally ready usually has highly advantageous outcomes.’