ERIC Number: EJ840366
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1040-1350
EISSN: N/A
Musings: "Hasten Slowly:" Thoughtfully Planned Acceleration
Gross, Miraca U. M.
Understanding Our Gifted, v20 n2 p6-8 Win 2008
Acceleration is one of the best researched interventions for gifted students. The author is an advocate of acceleration. However, advocating for the thoughtful, carefully judged employment of a procedure with well researched effectiveness does not imply approval of cases where the procedure is used without sufficient thought--especially where it is used in violation of the very safeguards that research has shown to be necessary for its optimal effectiveness. The author sometimes comes across cases where parents have argued repeatedly and forcefully for acceleration in situations where it has been, quite clearly, inappropriate for their child. Giftedness, by itself, does not indicate that acceleration is desirable; everyone has to look at the whole child, not only his intellectual capacity. The author offers a list of guidelines for acceleration that should be followed when schools or parents consider advancement for an intellectually/academically gifted student. She asks schools and parents to use acceleration with the thought, care, and respect that it demands. They should hasten gifted children's progress through school--but they should not "hurry" it.
Descriptors: Academically Gifted, Acceleration (Education), Intervention, Gifted, Theater Arts, Intelligence Quotient, Evaluation
Open Space Communications LLC. P.O. Box 18268, Boulder, CO 80308. Tel: 303-444-7020; Tel: 800-494-6178; Fax 303-545-6505; Web site: http://www.our-gifted.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A