Six reasons why acceleration should be included in your school’s gifted plan:
Schools, parents, teachers – PLEASE
consider acceleration for some students. Acceleration works. The research
backs it up and anecdotally, I could tell you story after story about how well
it works. Obviously it doesn’t work for each child, but there are tools to help
you decide which students are good candidates and which ones are not.
Acceleration can mean early entrance to Kindergarten or first grade, whole
grade or subject acceleration, dual enrollment, or early entrance to college.
1. Dividing children by age is
outdated. It was a good idea in the beginning of the modern era to
order students into groups solely by age, but it is now outdated.
Consider grouping, at least part of the day, in ability groups, instead.
2. Children are comfortable with
peers who share interests, not age. A child who is out of sync with
age mates and loves to discuss manga, for example, might do better with older
classmates who share his interests. So, socially, whole
grade or subject acceleration can work.
3. It relieves stress on classroom
teachers who already have so many kinds of kids with different
kinds of needs in the classroom. Trying to differentiate is hard for some
teachers, whole grade or subject acceleration is an easier process to find
appropriate levels for some kids.
4. Differentiation means too many
things. Some teachers do it well, some don’t. Some gifted kids
perform so out of level that they need more differentiation than the teacher
can consistently provide. Acceleration solves this issue.
5. An argument like the child’s
peers will be able to drive before she will –– is moot for many
families. Finding an appropriate education is the goal now, worrying about
driving age will come later. Kids who need challenge need it now.
6. Acceleration is the most
effective type of curriculum accommodation for gifted students;
research says it is more effective than differentiation. Highly and profoundly
gifted students benefit from radical acceleration (2 or more years) greatly.
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