Articles are listed in descending order by year (most recent first), and then by first author's last name.
LeBeau, B. C., Assouline, S. G., Foley-Nicpon, M., Lupkowski-Shoplik, A., & Schabilion, K. (2023). Likelihood of whole-grade or subject acceleration for twice-exceptional students. University of Iowa.
Academic acceleration, which enhances challenges for academically gifted students, can be subject-based or whole-grade. Limited research has explored its application in the twice-exceptional population, where students possess notable cognitive strengths and challenges due to psychological diagnoses. Our clinical study investigates the likelihood of subject or whole-grade acceleration, considering IQ, age, and achievement differences across diagnosis types and demographics. Subject-based acceleration is more likely for students with diagnoses of depression or anxiety, gifted program participation, or medium socioeconomic status. Males with specific learning disabilities (SLD) are less likely to be subject-based accelerated. Whole-grade acceleration was likelier for students diagnosed with anxiety. At the same time, those with medium or low socioeconomic status, and ADHD, ASD, or SLD diagnoses, were less likely to be whole-grade accelerated.
Riegel, B. D., & Behrens, W. A. (2022). Subject-Based Acceleration. Gifted Child Today, 45(4), 192–200.
In its various forms, acceleration continues to be an evidence-based and widely used service provided to gifted students but remains controversial and unsupported in legislation in most states. Case studies, current legislation, interviews with state directors of gifted education programs, and a deep dive into the 2018–2019 State of the States in Gifted Education revealed vast differences in state policies and approaches to providing gifted services especially when it comes to acceleration. Of the 44 state responses regarding content based acceleration, nine indicated it is required, 12 said it is not, and 23 deemed it a local decision. When coupled with professional learning, subject acceleration triumphs as an effective method supporting student growth and talent development. With careful planning, the perceived barriers to subject acceleration can be overcome.
Hemelt, S. W., & Lenard, M. A. (2020). Math acceleration in elementary school: Access and effects on student outcomes. Economics of Education Review, 74, 1–21.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101921
This paper examines curricular acceleration in mathematics during elementary school using administrative data from a large, diverse school district that recently implemented a targeted, test-based acceleration policy. We first characterize access to advanced math and then estimate effects of acceleration in math on measures of short-run academic achievement as well as non-test-score measures of grit, engagement with schoolwork, future plans, and continued participation in the accelerated track. Experiences and effects of math acceleration differ markedly for girls and boys. Girls are less likely to be nominated for math acceleration and perform worse on the qualifying test, relative to boys with equivalent baseline performance. We find negative effects of acceleration on short-run retention of math knowledge for girls, but no such performance decay for boys. After initial exposure to accelerated math, girls are less likely than boys to appear in the accelerated track during late elementary school and at the start of middle school.
Rambo, K. E., & McCoach, D. B. (2012). Teacher attitudes toward subject-specific acceleration: Instrument development and validation. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 35(2), 129–152.
Despite the research supporting acceleration, some teachers are still hesitant torecommend acceleration for advanced students. The Teacher Attitudes Toward Subject-Specific Acceleration (TATSSA) instrument was designed to uncover the factors thatinfluence teacher decisions to recommend students for subject-specific acceleration.First, we describe the creation of the TATSSA and initial instrument validation process.Then we examine the validity of the established measurement model and explore theconstruct validity of the TATSSA. Scores on the TATSSA predicted teacher intent torecommend acceleration, were related to teacher past recommendation behavior,and discriminated between groups known to be more or less likely to accelerate.The most important findings were that teacher self-efficacy toward recommendingacceleration was universally important in predicting teacher acceleration attitudes andbehavior, administrative support of acceleration was critical, and teachers appeared togive more weight to potential negative outcomes of acceleration than positive ones
Young, A. E., Worrell, F. C., & Gabelko, N. H. (2011). Predictors of Success in Accelerated and Enrichment Summer Mathematics Courses for Academically Talented Adolescents. Journal of Advanced Academics, 22(4), 558–577.
https://doi-org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/10.1177/1932202X11413886
In this study, we used logistic regression to examine how well student background and prior achievement variables predicted success among students attending accelerated and enrichment mathematics courses at a summer program (N = 459).Socioeconomic status, grade point average (GPA), and mathematics diagnostic test scores significantly predicted achievement in accelerated courses, and age, ethnicity, and GPA significantly predicted achievement in enrichment courses. These findings may be useful in determining which students are more likely to do well in accelerated and enrichment mathematics courses at a summer program.
Ma, X. (2005). A longitudinal assessment of early acceleration of students in mathematics on growth in mathematics achievement. Developmental Review, 25(1), 104–131.
Early acceleration of students in mathematics (in the form of early access to formal abstract algebra) has been a controversial educational issue. The current study examined the rate of growth in mathematics achievement of accelerated gifted, honors, and regular students across the entire secondary years (Grades 7–12), in comparison to their non-accelerated counterparts.Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, hierarchical linear models showed that early acceleration had little advantage among gifted students, small advantage among honors students, but large advantage among regular students. Equity issues, especially gender, racial, and socioeconomic equities, are not a concern once regular students were accelerated, but there are serious concerns about racial gaps among honors students and both gender and racial gaps among gifted students once they were accelerated. Schools played an important role in early acceleration, with school context rather than school climate affecting accelerated students. Students, particularly regular students, having high achievement and attending schools with high average achievement were advantageous in early acceleration.
Rimm, S. B., & Lovance, K. J. (1992). The use of subject and grade skipping for the prevention and reversal of underachievement. Gifted Child Quarterly, 36(2), 100–105.
https://doi.org/10.1177/001698629203600208
Acceleration, including early entrance to kindergarten, grade skipping, and subject skipping, has been used as a strategy to prevent and reverse underachievement in a selected group of gifted students. Fourteen sets of parents and 11 students were interviewed to determine their perceptions of the effectiveness of the acceleration strategy. All the parents and all the students indicated they would make the same decision again.
Only two of the school administrators and six of the receiving teachers were initially positive about the skipping, but most of them changed their positions with the child's success, at least in regard to the specific accelerated child. There appeared to be a period (between one quarter and a semester) during which teachers expressed concern over the students' adjustment, but students did not perceive themselves as having adjustment difficulties.
George, W. C., Cohn, S. J., & Stanley, J. C. (Eds.) (1977). Educating the gifted: Acceleration and enrichment. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Revised and expanded proceedings of the Seventh Annual Hyman Blumberg Symposium on Research in Early Childhood Education.
