By Héctor Rivera, Ed.D.

For decades, there have been many myths about academic acceleration for students with special needs for advanced education. The supposedly skipped stages, the emotional effects, and the social problems all serve as deterrents to deny an adequate and necessary process for these students.

In 2004, the Belin Blank Center's Acceleration Institute published a meta-analysis of 20 viable alternatives for working with gifted students (Report: A Nation Deceived). It outlined the importance and effectiveness of acceleration, that while it is not for all gifted students, there are many gifted students who would benefit from it. In 2015, a new report comes out (A Nation Empowered) conforming and expanding on the 2004 findings. In 2020, Vanderbilt University releases more positive results on acceleration. What are we waiting for?

Acceleration has been used on many occasions in our society. However, it is an option that has a lot of resistance within the school environment. So, I wonder: why do teachers and schools teach us to do research, if they will eventually not give importance to the results?

Examples of acceleration cases in history have a lot of variety. Let's look at some of them:

  • Radamel Falcao - young Colombian boy at the age of 13 started his career in professional soccer.

  • Diego Armando Maradona - Ten days shy of his 16th birthday, he made his debut with Argentinos Juniors in 1976. He is considered the best player of all time and was World Cup champion in Mexico 1986.

  • Pelé - Before his 16th birthday, the Brazilian star made his professional debut. He is the youngest player to win a World Cup, Sweden 1958 at the age of 17.

  • Víctor Mañón - The Mexican played his first game in Liga MX in the Apertura 2007, at the age of 15.

We can observe the same in other disciplines:

  • Swimming - Michael Phelps, at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, he was the youngest swimmer at 15 years old. He did not win a medal.

  • Baseball - Joe Nuxhall, at the age of 15, made his Major League debut in 1944, pitching for Cincinnati.

  • Volleyball - Regla Torres Herrera, made her debut at age 17, at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, youngest player to win a gold medal.

  • Golf - Ye Wo-cheng, at the age of 12 became the youngest player to debut on the European golf circuit.

  • Tennis - Tracy Austin, youngest champion (Portland 1977), Kathy Rinaldi (Kyoto 1981) and Jennifer Capriati (Puerto Rico 1990). All at the age of 14.

  • Professional Basketball - Bassala Bagayoko and Ricky Rubio (14 years old when they made their professional debuts), Andrew Bynum (2005), the youngest player in the NBA at the age of 18.

  • Boxing - Wilfredo Benítez began boxing professionally at the age of 15. At 17, he defeated 31-year-old champion Antonio Cervantes (Kid Pambelé).

  • Psychology - Dafne Almazán (Mexico) became the youngest psychologist in the world at the age of 13.

  • Anthropology - Michael Kearney , youngest graduate, at age 10 received his bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of South Alabama in 1994.

In other sports:

  • Nadia Comaneci, 14 (Romania, gymnastics)

  • Kusuo Kitamura, 14 (Japan, swimming)

  • Marjorie Gestring, 13 (United States, diving)

  • Gaurika Singh, 13 (Nepal, swimming)

  • Sky Brown, 13 (Great Britain, skateboarding)

  • Dimitrios Loundras, 10 (Greece, gymnastics)

  • Hend Zaza, 12 (Syria, table tennis)

  • Noël Vandernotte, 12 (France, rowing)

  • Paris 1900 Olympic Games, a Dutch boy (7 years old) was hired as a last minute replacement as coxswain, his team became champion in rowing.

There are many situations where acceleration has been used in various ways. The essential question for all these cases is: did the disciplines or systems change because people entered at a younger age than usual? The reality is NO. It is not about changing systems or imposing new regulations. What we are looking for is: to provide opportunities for exceptional beings. Not to close doors, not to discriminate, not to restrict rights. It is to make a true inclusion to establish new challenges and allow these people to develop at the level they need.

At the Research Institute for Gifted and Talented Students in Puerto Rico, 16% of its students have been accelerated. Their results show a 100% effectiveness rate. Of course, there are cases that have been easy to work with and others that have needed a trained environment to deal with the day to day.

These are some of the recommendations offered by the institute for effective acceleration alternatives:

  • Seek out professionals with up-to-date information on gifted students

  • Have recent evaluations for decision making (two years or less).

  • Specific recommendation for acceleration from the practitioner

  • Good knowledge of the different acceleration alternatives

  • Guidance to parents about academic acceleration

  • Discussion with student about possibilities and options for acceleration

  • Discussion with school

  • Follow-up appointments with student

  • Re-evaluation in 2 to 3 years

  • Adjustments to academic plan (if necessary)

  • Continued follow-ups

In short, acceleration:

  1. It is the simplest measure for the school and the student. Since no curricular changes are requested from the educator or the school. Only the student's placement. Some say it is not fair.

  2. The gifted student does not lose years bored and unmotivated, he/she finishes his/her studies earlier and can dedicate those extra years to other activities (online courses, courses abroad, advance university courses, enter university earlier, etc.).

  3. Gifted students prefer to be with older students, by accelerating them their peers are older and they have more in common with them than with their age.

  4. As they are in higher school levels they have to make more effort, as a consequence they do not pass through the primary grades without learning to study and when they reach high school or university studies the probabilities of school failure are lower.

  5. They do not have any problem to assimilate knowledge from higher grades since their mental age is much higher.

  6. It is the measure with the greatest success demonstrated at local and international level.

  7. It is common sense. Early entry to school for children under 5 years of age, identified as gifted, is feasible. Likewise, subject or grade acceleration is of great importance in providing services to the gifted student.

  8. All research indicates that acceleration is the best solution.

  9. The emotional maturity of students with high intellectual abilities is in line with their brain maturity, only their experience is less than that of their peers, but their superior intelligence allows them to easily adapt and overcome these differences.

  10. There is less rejection and bullying among gifted students who are accelerated than among those who stay in their grades.

  11. Problems of low self-esteem, withdrawal and consequently depression and school phobia are lower among accelerated gifted students and their emotional well-being is higher.

I find it impossible to understand that with so much positive evidence about acceleration there is still doubt about its importance and effectiveness. There is so much rejection of these options that for some countries it is considered a violation of the law to accelerate a student academically. Other societies think it is cheating the educational systems. Unfortunately, myths still prevail over reality.

References:

Acceleration Institute at the Belin-Blank Center, accelerationinstitute.org

Institute of Research and Development for the Gifted - Puerto Rico (Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo para Estudiantes Gifted - Puerto Rico), prgiftedinstitute.org

Vanderbilt University, news.vanderbilt.edu

Héctor Rivera

For the past 20 years, Héctor Rivera has been a pioneer involved in providing identification services, advising parents, and training school faculty to support the interests and needs of gifted students in Puerto Rico. He has participated as a speaker at various forums, conferences, and public hearings around the island and in the US. He developed the first research project on the social and demographic characteristics of gifted students and their families for the University of Puerto Rico. As an advocate, he has achieved the acceptance of multiple laws for the gifted, including the Bill of Rights. Highlighting his years of experience working with this population, he authored a guide for parents and educators titled, Gifted Students: Special Education on the Other Side of the Curve, 2018 (Spanish Edition).

The Research and Development Institute for Gifted Students is a Silver member of THE G WORD’s Global Partnership Network.

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