The National Center for Research on Gifted Education is seeking school districts interested in expanding their use of subject-specific and whole-grade acceleration as a way to meet the needs of advanced learners. We are seeking participants for research that can begin in academic year 2024-25. Academic acceleration is the intervention for advanced learners that has shown the greatest effect on learning and achievement. This project seeks to (a) provide professional learning around what acceleration actually is and how it can be used with compensation for participating grade 2-5 teachers, (b) develop a universal screening process to determine which students should be considered for acceleration, and (c) provide resources and professional learning to schools to help them implement subject-specific and whole-grade acceleration decisions for students who meet the criteria.

What you would get from us:

1. Free access to online professional learning modules for second- through fifth-grade teachers and others who would be involved in acceleration decisions. Each educator who completes the set of four 45-minute modules will receive a $100 Amazon gift certificate.
2. Technical support implementing a universal screening system with your existing data to determine who should be considered for acceleration.
3. Access to the Integrated Acceleration System (Acceleration Institute, University of Iowa) for making whole-grade acceleration decisions. Educators who participate in a one-hour Integrated Acceleration System meeting will be compensated for their time with a $100 Amazon gift certificate.
4. Funding necessary to purchase any additional assessment tools.
5. Ongoing facilitation of accelerated placement decision making.
6. Compliance with all district policies. We understand that working with your district may require a data-sharing agreement and/or approval by a district or school research institutional (ethical) review board. We will comply with all district policies.

What we would want from you:

1. A commitment to have second- through fifth-grade teachers and administrators work through about 3 hours of online professional learning related to acceleration. We will compensate them with a $100 Amazon gift certificate.
2. De-identified academic achievement and ability data for all district students in second and third grades (if possible, disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, and ideally free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL), language, and special education status). We will compensate the district for the cost of pulling the data. We will use the data to assist you in determining students to consider for acceleration.
3. Willingness to work through the Integrated Acceleration System process for some students (approximately 1 hour with our support); any decision to accelerate students is determined by the district.
4. A willingness to share student ability and achievement test data for participating students as part of the IAS process. We will pay for those tests if they are not already given.
5. A commitment to have second- through fifth-grade teachers and other school personnel provide feedback about the acceleration process.
6. Data on how often acceleration is used in subsequent years after the project.

District requirements:

1. Ideally, you have at least two elementary schools in the district participate. Some exceptions can be made for districts with one school.
2. Must have academic achievement test data for all students in grades 2-5 –ideally a computer-adaptive test such as Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), STAR, or iReady. Preference given to districts that administer the MAP.
3. Be willing to share available aptitude test (e.g., CogAT) data. Preference will be given to schools that have administered an aptitude test to all current grade 2-3 students. However, we will pay for testing for high achieving students in math and reading who do not have an aptitude test score.
4. Must be willing to accept random assignment of schools to receive the professional learning resources in Fall 2024 (Group A) or Fall 2025 (Group B)–ultimately all participating schools will receive access to the training and resources.
5. Must be willing to participate in the study for two academic school years.
6. At schools interested in participating, all second- or third-grade classroom teachers should give consent to participate for the school to participate (exceptions can be made).

Timeline:

If you start the study in 2024-2025

September– February

• School representative signs agreement with expectations for school and NCRGE.
• Schools share recruitment video and distribute informed consent information to classroom teachers at grades 2-5 and other educators (g/t specialist, counselor/psychologist, and administrator) working with 2nd-, 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade students.
• Participating educators complete “Educators’ Attitudes about Acceleration Survey.” (about 15 minutes)
• Schools organize 2nd and 3rd grade students’ achievement and aptitude data and select potential student participants following NCRGE guidance. NCRGE will assist with this task and reimburse the district for the time needed to download that data.

December– March

• NCRGE assigns schools to treatment (Group A) and control (Group B) within districts.
• Potential parent and student participants in treatment schools (Group A) receive printed or email-linked REDCap Parent Permission Form A from school (requesting agreement to complete “Parents’ Perceptions of Students’ Academic Challenge Survey” and “Students’ Perceptions About School Challenge Survey,” allow NCRGE use of student’s school data, and participate in IAS meeting).
• Potential parent and student participants in control schools (Group B) receive Parent Permission Form B from school (requesting agreement to complete “Parents’ Perceptions of Students’ Academic Challenge Survey” and “Students’ Perceptions About School Challenge Survey” and allow NCRGE use of student’s school data).
• Parent and student participants who agree to participate return signed permission forms to schools or complete online permission form.
• Parent/Student pairs who agreed to participate complete “Parents’ Perceptions of Students’ Academic Challenge Survey” and “Students’ Perceptions About School Challenge Survey.”
• Participating educators in Group A complete four professional learning modules.

March — May

• Educators in treatment schools (Group A) prepare for and participate in IAS meetings.
• Parents in treatment schools (Group A) who agreed to the study participate in IAS meetings with educators.

May — June

• Teachers complete post “Educators’ Attitudes about Acceleration Survey.”
• Treatment schools (Group A) begin transition for students who will participate in subject-specific or whole-grade acceleration.
• Schools share students’ achievement and aptitude scores, students’ grades, and report on acceleration decisions with NCRGE researchers.

2025-2026

• Schools share achievement data and grades for students who were considered for acceleration during 2024-25 (grade 2, 3, 4, or 5 data, depending on whether accelerated).
• Parents and students who were part of those acceleration decisions in 2024-25 are asked to complete the online “Parents’ Perceptions of Students’ Academic Challenge Survey” and “Students’ Perceptions About School Challenge Survey” again.
• Educators complete “Educators’ Attitudes about Acceleration Survey” at the end of the year.
• NCRGE provides control school educators (Group B) with professional learning modules and access to Integrated Acceleration System.

If you started the study in 2021-2022 click here for timeline

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What will be expected of teachers?
   1. Teachers in grades 2 through 5 will
      1. Complete brief surveys about their views of subject-specific and whole-grade acceleration (about 15 minutes),
      2. Complete four, 45-minute modules related to academic acceleration (if your school is assigned to Group A),
      3. Participate in an Integrated Acceleration System (IAS) team meeting if a student they serve or will serve is being considered for acceleration (if your school is assigned to Group A).
2. What will be expected of students?
   1. Some students who score in the top 10% (in math and reading/English language arts [ELA]) on their achievement test, and who score above the 50%ile for fall two grades advanced (e.g., grade 2 student’s scores are at or above average grade 4 level) on both reading and math, and who score 120 or above (90^th percentile or above) on an aptitude test will be considered candidates to review for possible whole-grade acceleration via the IAS process. This is similar to an IEP meeting where a team discusses whether or not an accelerated placement would be appropriate for the student the following school year.
3. Will we be required to actually grade-skip students?
   1. Some students will go through the IAS process, but the decision on whether to accelerate a student is up to the district and families.
4. What is included on the Integrated Acceleration System (IAS)? How will acceleration decisions be made?
   1. The IAS is not a “test”–it is a guided decision-making process using achievement test scores; ability test scores; and information on student interpersonal skills, learning, attitude, and support for being accelerated.
5. Does acceleration have negative academic and social-emotional outcomes?
   1. Overwhelmingly, acceleration results in positive academic and social-emotional outcomes. Similar to any practice in education, students can have a range of experiences; however, research supports the positive outcomes of acceleration.
6. What about subject-specific acceleration?
   1. We will assist you in determining students who might be good candidates for subject-specific acceleration and provide some suggestions on how you might implement subject-specific acceleration. However, we will not hold an Integrated Acceleration System (IAS) meeting for those students. We only hold IAS meetings for students being considered for whole-grade acceleration.

Click here to complete a form to arrange a call to learn more about the study.

Click School-Agreement-Form-2024-25 for a form to enroll your school.