On Deciding to Accelerate: High-Ability Students Identify Key Considerations

Acceleration is a well-researched educational intervention supporting positive outcomes for high-ability students. However, access to acceleration may be restricted due to educators’ misapprehensions about this practice. To better understand whether students share educators’ concerns, our study explored 26 high-ability students’ beliefs about important considerations in grade-based acceleration. Seventeen high-ability students who had accelerated (age 9-14 years) participated in group concept mapping activities, which involved sorting and rating a list of student-generated considerations. We applied multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis to the sorted data to create a structured conceptualization of students’ advice on deciding to accelerate. Our analyses revealed the following six key concepts, from most to least important: (a) Best Learning Environment, (b) Child’s Preferences, (c) Abilities Across Different Subjects, (d) Peer Group, (e) Context and School Support, and (f) Social Considerations. Our interpretations include comparison of high-ability students’ advice to existing acceleration guidelines. Practical implications are discussed.