S4.8.2 Grade-Skipping, Subject Acceleration, and Early Entrance to Kindergarten: Developing Academic Acceleration Policies

Acceleration is a well-documented success story. State and local acceleration policies help us to make fair, consistent decisions about student placement and to give appropriate credit for work completed. Presenters will discuss revised guidelines for developing whole grade, single subject, and early entrance to kindergarten acceleration policies. Sample policies and a discussion of policy implementation will be included, as well as the rationale for implementing these research-based policies in international settings. Presenters will share three different perspectives on acceleration, indicate why acceleration policies are important, and lead small group discussions.

Author(s):

Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik
ann-shoplik@uiowa.edu
University of Iowa Belin-Blank Center
United States

Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik, Ph.D. is Administrator, Acceleration Institute and Research at the University of Iowa Belin-Blank Center. She founded and directed the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary Students (C-MITES) at Carnegie Mellon University for 22 years. She co-authored Developing Math Talent: A Comprehensive Guide to Math Education for Gifted Students in Elementary and Middle School (2nd ed.), and the Iowa Acceleration Scale, and co-edited A Nation Empowered: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students. She recently co-authored Developing Academic Acceleration Policies: Whole Grade, Early Entrance, and Single Subject with Wendy A. Behrens and Susan G. Assouline. www.accelerationinstitute.org/policies.

Wendy Behrens
wendy.behrens@state.mn.us
Minnesota Department of Education
United States

Wendy Behrens serves as the Gifted and Talented Education Specialist for the Minnesota Department of Education, providing leadership and consultation services for educators, administrators, and parents. She is a frequent presenter on instructional strategies, assessment, comprehensive service design and evaluation, and policies that support gifted education. Wendy is the current treasurer of the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted, a member of the NAGC Policy Task Force and advisory councils for the Northwestern University Center for Talent Development and the University of St. Thomas. She is a U.S. delegate to the World Conference on Gifted.

Susan Assouline
susan-assouline@uiowa.edu
University of Iowa Belin-Blank Center
United States

Professor Susan G. Assouline directs the UI Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development and holds the Myron and Jacqueline N. Blank Endowed Chair in Gifted Education. She is especially interested in twice-exceptionality, specifically gifted students who also have and autism spectrum disorder or gifted students who have a specific learning disability. She conducts research on the academic talent development of elementary students and co-authored Developing Math Talent, is lead author of The Iowa Acceleration Scale, and co-edited A Nation Empowered: How Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students.