Enrichment, Extension, and Acceleration

“Such indicators suggest that adequately challenging gifted learners in heterogeneous, regular classrooms may be more delusion than dream.” - Carol Tomlinson Meeting the Needs of Gifted Learners in the Regular Classroom: Vision or Delusion?

Pre-Assessment

Concept

Entrance Card Solve for the area of: 7” 6'

Standardized Test Scores Teacher Prepared Tests Initial Test Battery Skill/Knowledge Checklist Initiating Activities Previous Work Samples Concept Illustrations

Now What?

Acceleration Extension Extension Enrichment Extension Extension Curriculum

Enrichment... Motivation Engine: Autonomous Mastering Purposeful Curriclum/Products: Personal Interest Area of Strength Authentic Product Student Choice

Extension... Motivation Engine: Autonomous Mastering Purposeful Curriclum/Products: Based on Curriculum Strength and Weakness Authentic Product Teacher Choice

Enrich/Extend not Enough "Acceleration is one of the most curious phenomena in the field of education. I can think of no other issue in which there is such a gulf between what research has revealed and what most practitioners believe" - Borland, J. H. Planning and implementing programs for the gifted 14

Types of Acceleration Grade-Skipping Partial Acceleration Early Admission to Kindergarten Early Admission to First Grade Grade-Skipping Continuous Progress Self-Paced Instruction Partial Acceleration Combined Classes Curriculum Compacting Telescoping Curriculum Mentoring Extracurricular Programs Correspondence Courses Early Graduation Concurrent/Dual Enrollment Advanced Placement (AP) Credit by Examination Acceleration in College Early Entrance into Middle School, High School, or College - A Nation Deceived

Practitioner Objections Acceleration is not as suitable as enrichment for gifted students. Acceleration will cause stress and lead to problems of emotional adjustment. Accelerating a gifted child places too high a level of academic demand on the child. 73.1% 64.0% 35.4% - Practitioner objections to the academic acceleration of gifted children 16

Why Acceleration Isn't Accepted in America Reason #6: Acceleration is not taught in Colleges of Education. These organizations, which train teachers, do not prepare teachers and administrators to make decisions about acceleration. - A Nation Deceived 17

Changing Attitudes Teachers who attended the information meeting and received written information expressed more positive opinions about accelerated students' social competence and school achievement and motivation and less negative opinions about emotional problems after intervention. - Teacher attitudes toward academic acceleration and accelerated students in the Netherlands 18

Positive Development The results from this meta-analysis suggest that the effects of acceleration on high-ability learners’ social–emotional development were slightly positive, although not as large as the effects on academic achievement. - The effects of acceleration on high-ability learners: A meta-analysis 19

Radical Accelerands Significantly, the only children scoring more than one standard deviation above the mean on the social self-peers subscale of the SEI are children who have been radically accelerated. - The use of radical acceleration in cases of extreme intellectual precocity 20

Emotional Adjustment [Accelerated students] displayed levels of emotional adjustment and feelings of acceptance by others that were higher than those of regular students and about the same as those of older students identified as gifted. - Social, emotional, and behavioral adjustment of accelerated students, students in gifted classes, and regular students in eighth grade. 21

Accelerand Perceptions These findings indicate that gifted female students as well as gifted male students do not perceive their acceleration to have negative effects on their social and emotional development. - Long-term effects of acceleration on the social-emotional adjustment of mathematically precocious youths. 22

Positive Achievement On the SAT-M, Groups 1 and 2 scored significantly higher than Groups 3 and 4... Groups 1 and 2 had significantly higher GPAs than Group 3, and the mean for Group 4, while not significantly different statistically from the other groups, was almost the same as Group 3. The majority in all groups were in the top ten percent, but this was more frequently true for Groups 1 and 2, where 84% and 83%, respectively, were in this category, than for Groups 3 and 4, where 72% and 68% were in the top ten percent. - Accelerative strategies: How effective are they for the gifted? 23

Planned Acceleration This study found that the students’ personal adjustment and family environment, assessed at the beginning of the academic year, were consistently predictive of their adjustment over the course of the year. - Socioemotional adjustment of adolescent girls enrolled in a residential acceleration program 24

Planned Acceleration Pt.2 Whatever some proponents will argue, the potential risks of postponing school admission are rarely major; they can be easily overcome through later educational decisions. - The socio-affective and academic impact of early entrance to school. 25

Grouping vs. Acceleration Both acceleration and grouping are integral components of a program designed to meet adequately the learning needs of gifted students. Ironically, in the current educational climate acceleration and grouping are being pitted against each other in absurd ways. - Educational decision making on acceleration and grouping 26

Grouping & Acceleration When possible, students who are grade skipping or making an early entrance to college should do so as part of a cohort. There appear to be benefits to cohort acceleration that are more difficult to replicate when students go it alone. - The socioaffective impact of acceleration and ability grouping: Recommendations for best practice 27

Grouping Benefits For example, XYZ grouping, in which little or no effort is made to adjust curriculum to the ability level of the classes, raise the test scores of higher ability students by about 0.1 standard deviations, or by about 1 month on a grade equivalent scale. Benefits are larger in special classes for higher aptitude learners. The average gain from [enriched] classes is 4 months on the grade-equivalent scales of typical standardized tests... students spend as much as half their time on cultural material (e.g., foreign languages, music, art) that is not directly tested on standard achievement tests. - An analysis of the research on ability grouping 28

beneficial academically. beneficial behaviorally. beneficial socially. Acceleration is... beneficial academically. beneficial behaviorally. beneficial socially. Acceleration is not... right for all gifted students. enough for some gifted students. only for gifted students. Acceleration needs... teachers to advocate. teachers for planning. collaboration between all parties. 29