Section 1.1 What’s the problem?

 

Image from Adobe Stock

This section of Module 1 focuses on defining the problems for which acceleration can be a powerful response.

 

By the end of this section, you should be able to answer these questions:

• In what ways does grade-level organization present limits on continuous learning for students who are capable of above-grade-level work?
• Why is appropriate academic challenge important to students’ engagement in the learning process?
• Why is new learning an important part of supporting student engagement?
• What are the contextual issues in classrooms that make acceleration an important consideration? For example, what percentage of students are performing above grade level?

 

As you explore the materials, please also use these reflective questions to guide your thinking:

• In your own classroom, what are the challenges of trying to respond to students who are already beyond the grade-level content and skills? What practices have you found successful in trying to assess and provide new learning and growth opportunities for these learners? What have your struggles been?
• Why do we focus our teaching and organization of schools on “grade-level content” when so many students’ skills do not match their grade level? What are some of the possible cultural shifts within schools that may make acceleration more widely accepted?

 

Section 1.1 Quotes

Acceleration is one response to these questions: What do we do with students who already know the material we are teaching or who learn it much more quickly than the rest of the class? How can we respond to their needs?

                                           
Image from Berley.co.uk

 

Consider the following as you engage with section 1.1:

• Mitzi, a first grader: “I just sit and wait for the stuff I don’t know yet” (Peine & Coleman, 2010, p. 233). How many students are spending a lot of classroom time sitting and waiting for new learning like Mitzi?
• “My almost 8-year-old daughter is in the 2nd grade. She is currently making all As. However, she hates going to school, shows little interest in her work, and says she’s bored. How can I keep my child’s enthusiasm for learning alive? Especially in a classroom that requires work that she has already mastered” (Schader, 2006, p. 16). What is the relationship between enthusiasm for learning and access to challenge?

Many people express concerns about acceleration based on some story they may have heard about an individual who struggled in an acceleration experience. “As we say in French, happy people don’t have stories to tell. You only need one bad example to make a whole project become unacceptable. People always forget the ninety to ninety-five percent for whom acceleration was the solution to boredom in school” (Gagné, 2015, p. 14). What positive experiences have you heard about related to acceleration?

Section 1.1 Read/View/Explore

 

     

Image from elsevier.com

Please review each of the following resources:

• Read: Blog Post, “Stop wasting money teaching millions of students content they already know”: https://dev.nagc.org/blog/stop-wasting-money-teaching-millions-students-content-they-already-know (Plucker et al., 2016)
• Watch: Slide show–Why acceleration?

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

Download

 

• Read: The Carters: Finding the right fit meant skipping a grade 

 

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

Download

 

• Watch: Visit http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Personal_Stories/Video_Stories.aspx. Find and watch the brief video of Mason Carter discussing his acceleration experiences (Belin-Blank Center, 2020).
• Watch: Acceleration and gifted services (This video, from an interview with gifted education expert Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska, explores the question of whether and why students who may be receiving gifted services also have needs for consideration for acceleration.)

 

 

Previous Page – Module 1 Overview

Next Page – Section 1.1 Check-Up

Go to the Index Page