Freeman, J. (1998). Educating the very able: Current international research. London: The Stationery Office.
Objective: To present a summary of current international research concerning educational provisions for very able students, including grouping strategies, enrichment and acceleration.
Design: Literature Review
Setting: A monograph written as part of a series of research reviews for the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), London. The relevant section is entitled: “How to educate the Very Able:
Forms of Acceleration”.
Assessment of Variables: Information is presented concerning educational interventions adopted by countries across the world to address the needs of very able students. Interventions are described and comment is made regarding evidence for success of such interventions.
Main Results: The author begins by presenting information regarding ability grouping of school students. She suggests this practice can be problematic due to a tendency for students to be retained in a group regardless of development of skills and knowledge that would enable them to move into a different group. The report then moves on to address enrichment and acceleration. The author describes these two strategies as the two main types of provisions used to cater for very able students.
Acceleration is defined as any process that enables a pupil to move faster through school. The main forms of acceleration are listed as early entry into a new phase of education, grade-skipping, subject acceleration, vertical grouping, out-of-school courses, concurrent studies, compacting studies, self-organised study, mentoring, and correspondence courses. It is suggested that educators are strongly resistant to acceleration because it runs counter to notions of healthy social development. She acknowledges the vast research base attesting to positive social and cognitive outcomes following acceleration, the author remains unsupportive of the provision. She speaks about the ‘hurried’ child who may be neither physically nor emotionally mature enough to fit in socially with older children in
a new class. She suggests that, for language arts, students need life experience to enable the development of conceptual understandings before they can tackle advanced learning material. She expresses particular concern for boys who accelerate at young ages, citing their apparent late physical development as a problem leading to exclusion from participation in many activities.
Information is presented concerning provisions for acceleration in various countries. The author states that acceleration is not allowed in either Spain or Denmark and is rare in Russia, although no references are cited to support this information. Provisions for acceleration in China, the United States of America, and Israel are outlined briefly. A description of the schooling system in Germany reveals acceleration as one means of providing for very able students but there is no mention of provisions for radical acceleration. The author outlines case study reports of radical acceleration in Australia.
In Britain, students can accelerate within school and can study part-time at higher education institutions whilst still at school. The author quotes Associated Examination Board figures to illustrate the fact that a small but significant number of students in Britain are taking advantage of provisions for acceleration. Of 493,069 General Certificate of Education (GCE) candidates in 1988, there were 434 O-level entries from pupils under 15, including 30 from children aged 9-12. There were 170 A-level candidates under 17, of which one was aged 11 and another 9. The results of these young students were as good as or better than those of older candidates. At the O-level, 35% of entrants under 15 received a grade A, compared with 9% overall. At the A-level, 11% of younger than average students received a grade A, compared to 6% overall. In 1995, there were 43 candidates under the age of 15 taking A-level examines but only 7 students under 15 taking GCSE grade (O-level equivalent) examines.
The author laments that there is little information available about these young students as no
research has been done to investigate variables associated with their acceleration. For instance, there is the information regarding characteristics of their school or home environment, and no data about personal characteristics. There is no mention as to whether these students were subject or grade accelerated and as such it is impossible to know if any of them were radically accelerated.
After a short review of studies into the emotional effects of acceleration, the author concludes that acceleration can work, particularly for students advanced in mathematics and languages, but only when particular criteria, as identified by Benbow (1991), are met. These criteria include level of
intelligence in the top 2%, positive agreement from receiving teacher, support from parents, emotional stability in the student and an expressed desire to accelerate by student.
Recommendations are made for future research concerning the socio-emotional adjustment of accelerated students. The author suggests that a single measure of self-esteem is inadequate and that multiple measures should be used; studies should not rely on self-reports as students may be
defensive or lack awareness; behavioural observations are valuable; comparison groups need to include non-accelerated students matched for ability and achievement; emotional development should be assessed before and after acceleration; and students for whom acceleration does not prove successful should be included in any study.
Conclusion: Associated Examination Board figures (results for tests completed towards the end of high school) confirm that acceleration occurs in Britain. This information reveals that some students, at least, are studying subjects at levels three or more years above what would be expected for their age. From the information supplied, it cannot be determined if grade acceleration is occurring across 3 or more years.
Commentary: This monograph comments on educational provisions for gifted students in countries across the world, including Australia, Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States of America. Along with descriptions of provisions, the author notes some research findings regarding the advantages and disadvantages of ability grouping, acceleration and enrichment. Personal comments concerning research findings provide interesting yet partial views of the benefits and drawbacks of these provisions. The paper outlines the different forms of acceleration, factors to take into account when considering acceleration and suggestions for further research on the
socio-emotional adjustment of accelerated pupils. Personal comment is also offered concerning the quality of the existing research addressing acceleration, and suggestions are made for future studies.
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