Grade Acceleration

Grade Acceleration: The concept seems to frighten people, from parents to teachers, principals and school board officials. Why?

To fully understand why grade acceleration has generally been viewed negatively by our society it helps to look at the education system as a whole.

School boards want schools to be successful. Emphasis and money tends to be placed on those children that are not doing well.

Teachers are trained to look for and help those with learning difficulties.

Therefore, gifted children are often ignored. How can we possibly benefit from ignoring children with such potential?

Grade acceleration is a economical and constructive way of helping the gifted child. Especially if letting these children sit idly bored in class is the alternative.

Teachers fear it because they don't know enough about it. How much time is spent on gifted education at teacher's colleges and universities?

Some educators see it as being pushy. They wonder what these gifted children will miss both academically and socially.

This is often what is cited when parents ask about early entrance into kindergarten.

Since these children tend to be more mature then their age related peers, they quickly adjust to new situations.

Gifted children thrive and excel when they advance a grade. It seems we look for the bad in things and overlook the benefits.

Obviously, not every single child will do well with it, but the vast majority will.

When a school board does not offer gifted classes because of budget issues, what other alternative is available to the gifted child?

Boredom, frustration and a dislike of school is all that becomes of keeping a child in an age related grade as opposed to advancing him to where he needs to be.

There are those who disagree with the whole notion of grade acceleration. Their rejection tends to be based on the social aspect.

This seems to be the issue most often raised when someone is snubbing the idea of grade advancement.

The research simply does not support the idea that advancing a grade will cause social problems.

As always, every child is different and their needs must be looked at and considered when deciding on what is best for them.

More Information...

In my view, grade acceleration has been a very positive and rewarding experience for my daughter.

In grade one she was very bored. She would sometimes come home from school and be crying because it was such a boring day for her.

She was good at hiding her feelings of boredom while at school. She didn't complain to the teacher or misbehave.

I knew that I needed to do something. After having her tested and upon advice from the psychologist, she skipped grade two.

Our school board does not provide gifted classes in any form, therefore there were few options.

I will consider the option of skipping another grade at the high school level.

All the research I have read shows that children who skip a grade do very well socially.

They fit in because these older children are on their level. They tend to want to play with older children anyways.

The one thing gifted children remark on when asked about grade acceleration was that they wished they could have skipped more then one grade.

I always encourage parents to advocate for their children. Read and ask questions. Be informed and make the decision that is best for your child.

Every child is different and reacts differently to situations. Parents are the best judge when it comes to the needs of their gifted children.


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