Acceleration: Is It right for your Child?

Kim Carroll Boham

Acceleration is allowing a student the opportunity to move through an educational program at a younger age or at a faster pace than typical. It is the most research-supported intervention in gifted education. A whole-grade acceleration (“grade-skipping”) or a single-subject acceleration (skipping a year of math, for example) are just two forms of acceleration that can make a positive impact on a student’s achievement, attitude towards school, and social and emotional development. Many uninformed parents, administrators, and teachers perpetuate the myth that acceleration has negative effects on a gifted child’s social experience. This has been refuted over and over in research studies. In 2021, a longitudinal study determined that there are  “no negative long-term effects on the psychological well-being of gifted youth.” A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students provides two FREE volumes of excellent information about the benefits of acceleration (Volume I and Volume II). 


Acceleration is an excellent option…but is it the right intervention for every gifted child?  The answer is “no.” An IQ score in the gifted range does not guarantee that a child is a good candidate for moving ahead. There are many factors to consider when making this important decision.


Gifted Development Center is pleased to offer a new service for parents considering acceleration for their gifted child. The Acceleration Consultation and Study Report is a comprehensive process designed to determine if your child is a good candidate for rapid advancement. If you are working with a school district resistant to the idea, often the resistance is a result of not having an acceleration policy or experienced personnel with expertise in gifted education. Any form of acceleration is a permanent intervention and schools don’t want to get it wrong. This is where we can help.


Our in-depth process includes an analysis of your child’s testing history, including IQ and achievement testing. Developmental factors and other qualitative data are collected along with information about your child’s school and programming options. A holistic interpretation, summary, and recommendations are included in your final Acceleration Study Report.  The Acceleration Consultation and Study Report can be an add-on service to our Comprehensive Assessment or a stand-alone service, if you have had testing completed within the past year. Although we cannot guarantee a recommendation to accelerate, or that a school will follow our recommendation to approve your child’s rapid advancement, the documentation provided in the report is often just what a school needs to feel comfortable approving such a permanent decision. 


This is an excellent time to consider acceleration for the upcoming year. Schools will begin their classroom placement and planning for next year in the upcoming months. 


Kim Carroll Boham
GDC Acceleration Consultant
My Journey

Next month marks the 13th anniversary of my very serendipitous first meeting with Dr. Linda Silverman. I’ve worked with Linda as a tester for GDC since 2010.  This past fall marked the beginning of my 21st year as a proud public school educator, with 16 years as an elementary gifted coordinator in two elementary schools in suburban Omaha. As an educator, I have extensive experience with the development of integrated curricula, program design, and identification and acceleration procedures.  

Although I have had the pleasure of accelerating several students in my career, my first experience was with my eldest daughter. In 1994, I was a 3rd-year teacher in the midst of my gifted education masters program. The more I learned in my graduate courses, the more I realized that my extremely social, independent-minded, and intellectually and verbally precocious 4-year-old either needed to go to first grade or she was going to make that sweet kindergarten teacher’s life miserable for the next year! (I did not need that kind of colleague complication in my career!) Although the district did not have an official acceleration policy back then, we muddled through it and my daughter was tested and allowed to skip kindergarten and enter 1st grade at age 5. 

There was never a day that I regretted this decision. And neither did she, although for a short time when she was a 15-year-old junior, and all her friends were driving, she was more than a little annoyed at my horrible decisions that ruined her entire life!  She survived this unfathomable hardship, graduated with honors from high school and university, and is now a successful professional, a wife, and a mother of 3 littles. Her three younger siblings are also gifted, but because of different factors, acceleration was not a necessary intervention.


As a gifted coordinator, I have worked with hundreds of gifted students and advocated the acceleration of quite a few. Some skipped an entire grade, while others skipped a year in a particular subject, usually math. Our high-performing district’s acceleration process is very thorough to ensure that the placement is successful in the long term. I have yet to have a student or family tell me they wished they hadn’t skipped. From time to time, I receive letters, emails, and texts from their parents and from the students themselves. I think the sentiments speak for themselves. 

“My acceleration through 3rd grade took me from being in a group of people that I didn’t mesh well with socially and put me into a group of people that I was more suited to. This definitely helped to counter any social fallbacks that happened due to being in a social group in which I didn’t or couldn’t socialize. Beyond elementary school, the acceleration allowed me to take classes that were consistently challenging in some way, and therefore interesting. It provided me the opportunity to engage in every class that I have taken and eliminated the chance of me failing classes out of sheer 

boredom. Being accelerated also kept me in an age group that was older than me. Due to the age of the social group that I was in, I learned quite a few life lessons and acclimated to a wiser environment, as small as the difference in wisdom between a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old may be. Although I am 16 now, I am already going into college due to the acceleration and have a peer group of 18-21-year-olds who have varied wisdom that they share. By virtue of being around them, I have become a lot more mature and well-rounded in my interests and hobbies than other 16-year-olds.”  

Dylan, currently 16, skipped 2nd grade, letter to District Administration

“‘I think I’m ready,’ I said with a nod. Today was a big day for me. It was the start of fourth grade, but it was more than that. It was the start of who I am today. It changed my life. Socially, personally, and curricularly, those first steps into the building were my first steps to becoming me…

…Questions like ‘Is he socially capable to make this different type of new start?’ or ‘Is he physically able to perform with athletes a year older than him?’ were everywhere, with everyone asking them. ‘Can he do it?’ ‘Is this going to work in 5 years' time?’ All of the questions people had about me were answered with a single word. ‘Yes.’...

…All things considered, it turned out very well. I found the rhythm of my life in the classes and the melodies from the music and people. I was happy and thriving, and I was doing just fine. I found confidence. I found happiness. I found me.” 

Max, currently 14, skipped 3rd grade, excerpt from a personal narrative English assignment

I am so thankful that I was able to go through the acceleration process.  It is exciting to actually dive deeper into what I am good at and what I enjoy.  Before the acceleration, I was frustrated because school was too easy and boring.  Acceleration helped me learn more and become more engaged in school.  I am excited to see where this acceleration will take me throughout the rest of my schooling, along with the rest of my life.  I am grateful to my GT teacher for advocating for me.

Gavyn, currently 13, skipped 4th-grade math


Previous
Previous

America’s Gift to the World

Next
Next

Honoring Lee Ann Powell