Iowa Acceleration Scale: A Guide for Whole-Grade
Acceleration K-8
by Susan Assouline, Ph.D., Nicholas Colangelo, Ph.D., Ann
Lupkowski-Shoplik, Ph.D., and Jonathan Lipscomb, B.A.
Purchase
Iowa
Acceleration Scale Manual (without forms) from Amazon.com or
Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual from Barnes & Noble.
First and foremost: this is the best tool I've ever seen to help make an
objective decision on whole- grade acceleration. It's full of research
based questions, and addresses pretty much every aspect you can think of, plus a
few more!
The name is important - grades K-8. The scale seems most appropriate for the
moderately or highly gifted kid, though it doesn't rule out the profoundly
gifted, or multiple grade skips.
My basic summary is that these scales turn a subjective decision - grade
acceleration - into an objective decision: "Exceptional candidate, good
candidate, marginal candidate, or whole-grade acceleration is not recommended
(but that means that single-subject acceleration, mentoring, enrichment or other
alternatives should be considered).
There are a few critical issues that make a whole-grade acceleration not
recommended. I'm not sure I agree, but... they drew the line somewhere. IQ less
than 115, no problem there. Student is against the acceleration, again I agree.
The next two are the ones I have trouble with: sibling in the same grade, or
sibling in the receiving grade. According to the scales, these are critical
items, and totally negate the idea of whole-grade acceleration. I disagree there
- in my opinion we should always treat our kids as individuals, and
though a lot more care needs to be taken, these two issues should not
make whole-grade acceleration a total "NO".
But that's pretty much the only thing I disagree with.
The rest of the form / evaluation is thorough, and gives weight (more or
less) to every factor that any parent, teacher or administrator has ever
considered, including size and motor coordination (which it finds a minor
issue), behavior, social participation, both inside and outside school
activities (separately counted - they think having outside activities that
aren't affected helps a lot), even attendance, motivation, self-concept and
attitude towards learning. But all these items are considered together.
And given most weight are the ability and achievement tests, particularly in and
out of grade level achievement tests.
A student who hasn't had out-of level achievement tests loses 14 points,
right off the bat, but this does not eliminate him or her from the possibility
of acceleration. Achievement test levels of 90%+ on grade level and 50%+ on
out-of-grade level count for 2 points in each subject, up to 7 subjects
including 'other'.
Oh, that's another "NO" reason - ability and achievement testing
(profoundly gifted kids will all have gotten 4 points for ability) total less
than 10, so without out-of-level ability testing, that will be a little tougher
to make, but they only need 3 percentiles above 90 on the grade level test to
make the minimum of 10...
Anyway, the form goes on and on, 0,1,2,3 points for this and that, including
school system attitude and planning (you can lose 5 points there, but if the
school is filling the form out, that should give them at least a 2). And when
all is said and done, you have a grand total, a number that quantitatively
answers a previously subjective question: should this child be grade accelerated
at this time.
Then the book concludes with 2 student analysis (one gets a two grade skip,
and the footnotes mention that the skip actually took place 3 years ago and is
very successful), the other does not get a mid-year skip he didn't want, but is
recommended for an end-of-year skip review), and then 11 pages of great research
citations as to why whole-grade acceleration is a good and effective educational
alternative for these kids, and then another 8 pages of references.
If a school will purchase this book, and use this form to make quantitative a
decision process that used to be purely emotional, I think we will see far more
appropriate use of whole-grade acceleration, and far more comfortable folks
involved, from the parents to the district personnel to the student themselves.
This is good stuff - it really puts down on paper the what and whys and
wherefores into numbers that linear-sequential type teachers and administrators
and even parents can sink their teeth into.
The only place the Iowa Acceleration Scale disagrees with any literature I've
read is one point on the timing of a skip - it recommends that children NOT
skip the last year in a school, the transition year, when trips to the new
school and other adjustments are made. Instead it recommends skipping the first
year in a new school. But, again, this is not a stopping factor, just a
suggestion that is weighed with all the other factors in the decision. And, it
says, if a skip is recommended for that last year in a building anyway,
the only changes that need to be made is some extra district planning for the
transition services that the child will miss.
Iowa
Acceleration Scale Manual; A Guide for Whole-Grade Acceleration published
by Great Potential Press,
2nd edition © 2003.
Purchase
Iowa
Acceleration Scale Manual (without forms) from Amazon.com.
A Parent's Experience, by Beth
Just read this article on the Iowa Acceleration Scale, and wanted to let you
know that we used it last spring to advocate for a grade skip for each of our
boys, ages 7 and 6. Really, for the educators involved, it was the deciding
factor.
Our school system is open to many options in gifted education, but no one in
our elementary school could remember the last time, if ever, they had skipped a
child a grade. I believe that many schools, like ours, rarely practice grade
skipping because the decision is just too "fuzzy," too full of
"what ifs" and "down the road" concerns. This is a shame as
grade skipping is a good method for accommodating gifted students in the early
elementary grades, where gifted programming is often very minimal or
nonexistent.
In our case, the scale allowed the educators to feel that this was a decision
made objectively. In an era in which our children's educations are constantly
being evaluated by proficiency exams, SATs, ACTs, and the like, the ability to
"quantify" the decision definitely fits the mindset of the modern
education professional.
By the way, our sons are doing exceptionally well; my oldest son was on the
"A" honor roll the very first school quarter following the skip. And
other children have benefited - another child was moved forward a grade at
mid-year in our elementary school.
I would recommend this scale to anyone considering a grade skip for their
child (also look at the article here on Hoagies' Advocating
for a Grade Skip by Sandy - very useful). Get a copy of this scale and
get it into your principal's and/or gifted coordinator's hands.
Beth
Thanks!
