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Suburban Superintendents agree more that they have concerns over logistical scheduling needs associated with with single-subject acceleration.

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transportation concerns associated with Single -Subject acceleration?

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transportation concerns associated with Single -Subject acceleration?

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Transportation associated with single-subject acceleration does not seem to be a point of concern for the majority of respondents.

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The financial impact of single-subject acceleration does not seem to be a point of concern for the majority of respondents.

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PA Suburban District Superintendents report using single-subject acceleration at nearly twice the rate of rural districts.

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Qualitative interviews will seek to learn more about those who have utilized single-subject acceleration Agreeing less on the Likert scale with:

My school board would support subject-specific acceleration.

My district’s use of single-subject acceleration can arise from a variety of different initiators.

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This research can help those creating policy at the national, state, and local level understand the perceptions of acceleration from the school leaders' perspectives. Previous research in the field helps school leaders understand the impact of acceleration on students; this research might help school leaders understand implications of using single-subject acceleration on their organization from others who have had experienced its implementation.

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LITERATURE review themes & RESEARCH REferences

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LITERATURE review themes & RESEARCH REferences

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Ethics, equity, equality, and excellence

Gifted education

Governance (Federal, State, Local) and school policy

Organizational dynamics and turbulence

School history and reform

School district leadership

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Research aligns to the PASA Fellows strands of:

Curriculum and Instructional Leadership

Educational Leadership and Management

Transformational leadership and school change

Educational Policy and Organizations

School accountability issues and mandates (ESSA)

Creativity and Innovation

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Joseph P. DuCette, Ph.D

Senior Associate Dean of Assessment and Evaluation

Professor of Educational Psychology

Steven Jay Gross, Ph.D

Professor of Educational Leadership

Christopher McGinley, Ed.D

Associate Professor

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In the face of ESSA, School Districts are being called upon to teach "ALL students in America high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers." (http://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn) As the federal focus has shifted from poorly performing students to supporting all students'  growth, how to serve the highest performing is gaining increased spotlight. Single-subject acceleration is one tool to meet the needs of students who are performing 1.5-2 years above curriculum.

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Research exists on:

Teacher and counselor perceptions of acceleration;

Whole school grouping and tracking philosophies;

Longitudinal impact of acceleration on students;

Types of acceleration utilized;

Minnesota superintendent perception of gifted ed and correlations to background factors;

Impact of superintendent leadership;

Organizational dynamics.

There is a gap in the research and literature to explain when and why acceleration is employed for students (Shoplik, personal communication, 2014) .

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96 of the 500 Public School Administrators on EdNA (Educational Names & Addresses database on PDE) responded to the quantitative survey, resulting in a 19% response rate.

Superintendents confirming use of single-subject acceleration in an elementary setting:

67% suburban districts (n=46)

37% of rural districts (n=46)

25% of urban districts (n=4)

Positive correlation between size of district and concern of financial implications of single-subject acceleration.

Positive correlation between district size and overall support on Likert scale for gifted education.

Positive correlation between superintendents with training in acceleration agreeing that the school board would support single-subject acceleration.

The larger the district, the less agreement with Likert question "...concerns that many parents would want their child considered (for single-subject acceleration) even though it may not be an appropriate placement."

Those who have utilized single-subject agreement tend to:

Agree more with the statements:

Gifted children could become vain or egotistical if they are given special attention

If single-subject acceleration were utilized for some, I have concerns that many parents would want their child considered, even though it might not be an appropriate placement.

Agree less with:

My school board would support subject-specific acceleration.

My district’s use of single-subject acceleration can arise from a variety of different initiators.

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Questions focus on two main areas:

1. What factors impact Pennsylvania superintendents in adopting the practice of single-subject acceleration in their districts?

2. How might the personal and professional background of Pennsylvania superintendents, including experience and training, affect decisions in regard to use of single-subject acceleration in an elementary setting?

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This research surveys only Commonwealth of Pennsylvania public school superintendents; caution surrounds extrapolating this research to other states, particularly states with different laws regarding gifted education or acceleration use.

The 19% response rate limits broad applicability of the research. Only four of the respondents represent urban districts which also could pose a limitation to applying findings.  The capability to skip any question could provide a response bias among respondents.

Some data is confounded in that rural districts may also be smaller. Caution needs to be used.

Purposeful sampling from survey respondents only could bias qualitative research.  In an effort to keep the interviews at a manageable quantity and representative sample, the qualitative research targets two superintendents in each urban, suburban, rural districts selected between those who use acceleration and those who do not.  Interviewing only one in each category could provide bias due to the small sample.

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Acceleration is an intervention to education curriculum that moves a student at a faster rate for the chronological age than typically prescribed.  A Nation Empowered has identified 20 types of acceleration; these can be used singularly or in conjunction with each other to meet students’ needs (Southern & Jones, 2015).   This study focuses exclusively on single-subject acceleration.

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and was signed by President Obama.  It placed emphasis on both excellence and equity.  Although districts are not bound to follow ESEA, federal funding is tied to compliance.  ESEA replaced the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) signed under President Bush (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.).

Present Level of Educational Performance (PLEP) is a summary describing the student's current achievement in the areas of need as determined by an evaluation.  It can also be used to determine students’ levels for the purposes of acceleration.  It is also known in some circles as PLOP, present levels of performance (Pennsylvania Department of Education Standards Aligned Systems, n.d.).

Specially designed instruction (SDI) is the section of a student’s IEP or GIEP that indicates modifications or accommodations for a student which the entire educational community is legally bound to provide.  This section could include single-subject acceleration as an SDI (Morret, 2011).

Single-subject acceleration (also called subject-matter acceleration, partial acceleration, or content-based acceleration) is a type of acceleration utilized to move the student faster in a subject rather than in all subjects as with a grade skip.  In subject-matter acceleration, students can spend part of their day with an older cohort or the students can remain in a same-age cohort and have advanced curriculum brought down (Southern & Jones, 2015).

Universal Screening is the systematic assessment of students on measures valued by the school and community on a pre-determined schedule.  This can serve to determine needed interventions and to measure longitudinal progress.

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This mixed-methods study has preliminary quantitative survey findings from 96 school superintendents in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The survey intended to understand the use of single-subject acceleration as a practice for meeting the needs of students in the elementary setting; analysis was done for relationship between superintendent/district characteristics and use/beliefs about acceleration.  Qualitative research interviews are ongoing and seek to more deeply understand how administrators make decisions about using this tool and the impact on their organization of its use or lack of use.
Link to quantitative questionnaire

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Jill Vizza
Teaching and Learning Specialist
Delaware County Intermediate Unit
Temple University, August 2017
2017 Receipient of the PASA Fellowship