The Real Problems with Academic Acceleration

T here are few procedures in education that share a common label as do the procedures re­ ferred to as acceleration. Ac­ celeration refers to diverse procedures including early entrance, grade skipping, subject matter advancement, advanced placement testing, and concurrent high school/college enrollment. All the various forms of acceleration share the notion that the student will "progress through an educational program at rates faster or ages younger than convention­ al" (Pressey, 1949, p.2). Variations of acceleration usually share two other features. First, acceleration options are considered because of an apparent mismatch between the student's previous achievements and the curriculum offered. Second, there usually seems to be a great deal of concern about and hesitation to use acceleration options. This article will discuss some of the concerns about acceleration and will identify a set of practical and preventable problems that may confront accelerants, their parents, and their teachers. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, in both urban and rural schools, student performance steered decisions about placement, promotion, and graduation. Parents and educators did not appear to worry that academic acceleration would pose potential harm for academically precocious children. Pressey (1949) observed that evolution of grade-level structures began in the early part of the twentieth century. The emerging field of cognitive psychology may have provided some impetus for the development of the grade structure. However, more impor­ tant were social and economic factors such as: (a) mandatory attendance policies which resulted in enrollments of large numbers of children, (b) concern about child labor and exploitation, and (c) the need to assimilate large numbers of immigrants had greater effects (Southern & Jones, 1991). Very strong and popular sentiments have emerged over the years that children are best educated with their same-age peers. The debate about the effects and value of academic accelera­ tion of precocious children came forth with the development of a grade-level school structure. That debate which has persisted for over 7 decades. Researchers have examined the ef­ fects of acceleration on the achievement and socio-emotional adjustment of gifted students. Studies of the academic accel­ eration and achievement have consis­ tently reported that accelerated students do not suffer as a result of the exper ience . Their achievement generally exceeds that of both the sameage peers in the former placement and their older classmates in the new place­ ment. None of these studies have found that the academic achievement of accel­ erated gifted students is consistently dis­ advantaged by their more rapid progres­ sion through the curriculum (Kulik & Kulik, 1984). The results of studies of social emo­ tional adjustment have been less conclu­ sive (Kulik & Kulik, 1984). Several studies show positive effects for social emotional adaptation. A few others sug-