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I teach at a k-8 public Charter school. This means we follow the rest of the public school requirements in terms of providing adequate programs for gifted and talented students. However, we have a lot of flexibility in how we work with our students to provide these opportunities.

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Top 5 reasons to accelerate learning for gifted students.

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Top 5 reasons to accelerate learning for gifted students.

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1. Acceleration is the most effective curriculum intervention for gifted children.
2. Gifted children are better matched in terms of maturity and curriculum development with older peers.
3. There is abundant research about the success and viability of acceleration. Most problems with acceleration have stemmed from incomplete or poor planning.
4. Testing is highly effective in identifying students who would benefit from acceleration.
5. There are a multitude of acceleration options that have been shown to benefit gifted students both academically and socially.
These will expanded upon in the three following categories: Grade-Based Acceleration, Content-Specific Acceleration, and Extended Learning Opportunities

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Mentorship in student’s area of interest

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Students enroll in after school or summer programs that offer advanced instruction and/or credit.

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Distance Learning or Online Learning Opportunities

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Distance Learning or Online Learning Opportunities

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Often paid for by parents, students enroll in online course and earn advanced credit for work that is completed.

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Students earn credit by demonstrating mastery of material through independent study or internship experiences.

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Students may enter/be promoted from an entire grade earlier than is typical.

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Students may enter/be promoted from an entire grade earlier than is typical.

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Early admission to Kindergarten or First Grade

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Early admission to Kindergarten or First Grade

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Student enters kindergarten or first grade earlier than is typical.

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Student is moved ahead an entire grade level in order to be academically challenged.

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Early Entrance into middle, high school, or college

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Early Entrance into middle, high school, or college

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Students enter next level of schooling at least one year earlier than expected.

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Early graduation from high school or college

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Early graduation from high school or college

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Students graduate college in 3.5 years or less, accomplished through increasing coursework undertaken each year, dual enrollment, distance learning, or other programs.

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Students may complete more than the typical amount of coursework in a particular year. This can occur through adjusted pacing and content being taught, as well as through specialized programs that provide additional rigor. These are usually content-specific. 

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Students may complete more than the typical amount of coursework in a particular year. This can occur through adjusted pacing and content being taught, as well as through specialized programs that provide additional rigor. These are usually content-specific. 

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The teacher moves at students’ paces, even when it goes beyond the traditional pace of their peers.

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Similar to contiguous progress, but the student controls the pace of instruction rather than the teacher.

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Students are placed with older peers or have higher curricula material within their original classroom.

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Multiple grades are taught in the same classroom. (Note this option is typically grade-level acceleration, but often has areas where students are working at different levels based on background in particular subject areas.)

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Teachers adapt curriculum based on pre-assessment data.

Barbra Norton (2009). Curriculum Compacting [Slide], Retrieved November 14, 2021, from

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Content is taught in less time than is typical. For example, all of middle school content may be taught in two years rather than three.

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Take a class in one place and earn credit that transfers to another institution as well.

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Students enroll in AP courses through high school, take AP test, and earn college credit for work completed.

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Program offered at some schools, with possibility to receive additional standing at select universities depending on IB test scores.

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Accelerated/Honors High School on College Campus

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Accelerated/Honors High School on College Campus

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Students complete high school graduation requirements in tandem with college coursework offered at specific colleges.

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Students complete two or more majors in 4 years or earn an advanced degree in lieu of bachelors.

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Barbra Norton (2009). Curriculum Compacting [Slide], Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://player.slideplayer.com/82/13533624/slides/slide_8.jpg

Colangelo, N., Assouline, S.G., Gross, M. U. M. (2004). A nation deceived: How schools hold back America's brightest students. The Templeton National Report on Acceleration, 15. http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Nation_Deceived/ND_v1.pdf

Davidson Institute (2015, March 17). Types of acceleration. Davidson Institute. https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/types-of-acceleration

De Valk, Penny (Author). (2016). Mentoring: [Graphic] Future Talent. https://www.changeboard.com/images/7081/default/mentoring-3-.jpg

Desmond, M./Warner Bros. Entertainment. (2018). “Gluons, Guacamole, and the Color Purple” – Pictured: Sheldon (Iain Armitage)[Photograph]. https://www.telltaletv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/112210_WB_0214b.jpg

Stop wasting money teaching millions of students content they already know. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute. (2016, September 19). Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://fordhaminstitute.org/ohio/commentary/stop-wasting-money-teaching-millions-students-content-they-already-know.

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Grade-Based acceleration has been used at my school, usually for early admission to Kindergarten or First Grade.

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This is used frequently in my school, from k-8. We have teachers use self-pased and continuous progress instruction to continually monitor students' progress with learning content and helping them move on to learn new content.

We used to have combination 2/3 and 4/5th grade classes, though the school has expanded a bit and they do not continue this currently. By middle school, students are sometimes placed in content-based acceleration courses.

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I have had students who scored 100% on my pre-test for a math course, and while it would have been wonderful to put them in a course with older students, there simply weren't any higher courses available at the school. Some years, we have had students take a first period class at a local high school and then get driven to our middle school for the rest of the day. (Unfortunately, in our most recent year, they didn't offer an "honors" level of the 9th grade math course during first period, so it was difficult to meet the needs of the students participating in the program.) With this group, I have also utilized online learning opportunities to provide instruction when I didn't have enough periods in the school day to teach another course. Gifted students were enrolled in an online math class with me there to answer questions and discuss applications.

I frequently use curriculum compacting, using pre-test data to determine what students know, and focus their learning on new important content rather than reteaching what they already know.

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We have some community mentors who worked with students during out electives period. For example, one year a group of gifted students designed and built a hoverboard. We have also had some work with coding mentors to build and program robots outside of the school day.
There are a few other acceleration opportunities we have offered that align more with project-based learning. For example, this year the school got chickens, and 5th grade gifted students have started an egg-selling business. They had to determine the costs of raising and feeding the chickens so they could set a price point for selling the eggs, and have worked on advertising as well, learning business and leadership skills along with mathematics and graphic design.

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Check out the egg order form the kids helped make! I don't have any digital copies of their flyers, though!