It’s Tuesday morning, math class, fifth grade and the teacher is demonstrating a complex word problem that requires percentages and multiple steps in division to arrive at the answer. The material is new and not easy. Some of the students are bewildered. Others are attentive, though tentative. However there is one student in the class who hardly seems to be following at all — not because of difficulty, but because of ease. Although she has the capacity to do algebra with eighth-graders and test scores that indicate readiness to move on, her chronological age says, “Not so fast.”

That script is played out in classrooms across America — only the characters and scenery change. Students well above the academic ability and readiness of their grade-mates who want to be and should be accelerated to a higher level are kept in place by attitudes and policies that are not based on the research.

Our two-volume report, A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation is based on the abundant research on acceleration covering the past 50 years. The essence of the report is that America’s schools routinely avoid academic acceleration, the easiest and most effective way to help highly capable students. The research is uniformly positive, and is in stark contrast to the negative attitudes, which result in anti-acceleration practices. This report highlights the curious dilemma wherein attitudes and personal perceptions trump evidence.

Acceleration is defined as an educational intervention that moves students through an educational program at a faster than usual rate. It means matching the level, complexity, and pace of the curriculum with the readiness of the student. A Nation Deceived delineates 18 types of acceleration that are organized into two broad categories: Subject-based and Grade-based.

Subject-based Acceleration demands 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) is another example in which the student takes college-level courses while still in high school and remains to graduate with his class.

Grade-based Acceleration requires both cognitive ability and emotional maturity or readiness. By grade skipping, gifted learners progress more quickly from kindergarten through 12th grade, leaving high school earlier than the typical age/grade lock-step system permits. With each advance, the student must adjust to a new, older peer group. In her research, Dr. Nancy Robinson of the University of Washington concluded, “…for many gifted students, acceleration options can provide a better personal match with peers than do non-accelerated programs.”

For most educators and some parents, Subject-based Acceleration is easier to accept and implement. It seems safer and less dramatic. Multiple grade-skips and very early entrance to college are considered radical. Educators worry more about Grade-based Acceleration because it involves breaking routine and traditions. In terms of the research, both categories of acceleration have been found to be effective.

Our immediate and ambitious goal for the Templeton National Report on Acceleration is, “To change the conversation about acceleration and gifted students in America’s schools.”

That conversation began immediately after the September publication of A Nation Deceived, with articles in Time and Education Week as well as newspapers and radio coverage across the country. The Time article — “Saving the Smart Kids” — captured the complexity of the lives and needs of high ability students and lauded the report for its persuasive evidence, concluding, “Perhaps A Nation Deceived will convince schools that the gifted sometimes need to run ahead before they can walk at their own pace.”

Clearly there is broad public interest in this research. When the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa set up a website on the report — www.nationdeceived.org — there were 334,948 hits; 16,771 downloads; and 17,954 print copies ordered in the first eight weeks.

The report represents a national perspective. While it is primarily authored by three people, A Nation Deceived represents the collective voice of some of the most respected scholars in gifted education. A total of 17 scholars contributed chapters to Volume II of the Templeton Report. These chapters were the foundation for our synthesis of the research which constitutes Volume I.

Acceleration is one of the most researched topics in education and certainly in gifted education. As Professor James Kulik of the University of Michigan reported, “No other arrangement for gifted children works as well as acceleration.” Research results are uniform and compelling: acceleration of gifted students works and works better than the alternatives; it is positive both academically and socially for gifted students. All are rather powerful and unambiguous statements. Further, findings indicate that acceleration is not only the most effective intervention for gifted children but it is also virtually cost-free.

The results of the research seem almost too good to be true. The fact is that the research is very positive. The paradoxical reality is that in the face of all the evidence, many schools either prohibit or discourage acceleration and a number of educators hold views contradictory to the evidence.

While the myth says that students who skip will rarely fit into society, the reality is that those very students tend to lead American society to greater heights. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the civil rights movement graduated from high school at 15. T.S. Eliot was accelerated. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor graduated from high school at 16. And a young pediatrician recently responded through the web site: “Last night, I said a thank-you prayer for A Nation Deceived. As a slightly accelerated student, I was extraordinarily lucky to have parents and educators who were able to offer me challenges… maybe not up to my potential, but enough to keep my mind from stagnating and enough to keep my soul growing.”

Acceleration is not just about one isolated, under-challenged child. It’s about many thousands of children and the future of America.

Looking forward, our ambitious goal is to coordinate a national effort to promote awareness of the research and practice of acceleration and to establish a center for further study and policy analysis, where none currently exists. We are optimistic about the future for bright students in America’s schools.

Links of Interest
      Belin-Blank Center
      GERRIC
      Davidson Institute

Dr. Nicholas Colangelo is Myron & Jacqueline Blank Professor of Gifted Education and Director of the Belin-Blank Center in the College of Education at the University of Iowa.
Dr. Susan G. Assouline is Associate Director of the Belin-Blank Center.
Dr. Miraca U.M. Gross is a faculty member of the University of New South Wales and Director of the Gifted Education Resource and Education Center, GERRIC.

Editor’s note: We are grateful to the authors for offering this unique, first-hand commentary on their own research.

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Milestones is a publication of the John Templeton Foundation.